Not quite ASCII but ANSI, minimalistic but fancy!
How many characters, do you need to draw a cat in ANSI? 4. How many colors for the entire game? 2 will more than suffice! Snipes is a maze shooter in which you control a cat made out of 4 ANSI characters. But, you see, your mind puts the rest there, as we tend to create the round shape of a head if we think what we're seeing is eyes. Thus, our top down cat suddenly doesn't seem so graphically poor anymore, and the mazes, made out of blue lines are more than sufficient to simulate the most intricate of alleyways. Fire in any of the 4 directions when an enemy approaches and try to locate the exit. Rinse, repeat! That's the beauty of this classic, oldschool DOS game, it does so much with so little and it creates a world that is genuinely more than the sum of its parts. It's an addictive game, that's for sure, and one that can be your coffee break getaway if you just give it a chance. I love it and so will you. But, just in case this won't quench your shooter frenzy thirst, have a go at the original Castle Wolfenstein, another great minimalistic top down shooter, just a pinch more advanced than Snipes.
