More on Dope Wars

In my post on Dope Wars a couple days ago, I noticed that the screenshot in the image I borrowed showed a more fully-featured game than I remembered. If you’re running Windows or can emulate it, you can download that version here.

It does include a permanent store, which is one of the things I requested — although it seems to sell only weapons, which aren’t such an important part of the game. Having weapons allows you to shoot it out with the cops or other assailants instead of running away, but in either case you generally escape unscathed after a few clicks. The opportunities to buy more carrying capacity are still random, and that’s the part I’d really like to change.

In any case, this final Windows version seems to have been the peak of the game in terms of developing the core features. Among other things, it also features multiple loan sharks who offer different rates and terms. But apparently it hasn’t been supported since 2005, and all the mobile ports since then have had a far more limited feature set.

If ever there was a game that’s made for mobile, this is it. And despite all the half-assed clones that are already out there, we still haven’t even gotten back to where the desktop version was eight years ago, much less explored any of the basic improvements I discussed. There’s still a real opportunity here.