Thirteen PC game cases for 26 kroner at Mission Afrika genbrug in Frederikssund. Two kroner a case, and an extra game turned up when I opened Age of Empires: a loose Claw disc. No cover, no matching box, just a pirate cat sitting inside a strategy game.
I normally try to keep these second-hand PC purchases at 10 kroner per game or less, so this was a damn good little haul. There is Age of Empires, Empire Earth III, two Arkane games, racing, golf, space strategy, Pixeline and a couple of film tie-ins. Several are duplicates, and a few of the cases contain more than one game.
Everything I brought home
The 26 kroner paid for these thirteen cases. Claw was the loose bonus disc inside the Age of Empires box.
| Game or collection | The copy I found |
|---|---|
| Age of Empires: Collector’s Edition | Blue Ubisoft eXclusive collection |
| Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Deluxe Edition | PC CD-ROM edition |
| Dishonored: Death of the Outsider | PC DVD edition, with an old 229 kr. sticker |
| Pixeline Skolehjælp: Lær at Læse — Det magiske bibliotek | Danish reading game |
| Empire Earth III | Standard PC DVD edition |
| SimGolf | PC CD-ROM edition |
| Sega Touring Car Championship / Sega Rally Championship | PC Best Buy two-game package |
| Mobil 1 Rally Championship | Classic Collection edition |
| Pixeline: Stjernestøv | Danish PC game |
| De Utrolige / The Incredibles | PC/Mac CD-ROM edition |
| Galactic Civilizations | Original Windows PC CD-ROM release |
| Dark Messiah of Might and Magic | Ubisoft eXclusive edition |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | PC DVD edition |
The cases made a good first impression, but opening them showed a much bigger difference between the discs. Some are nearly spotless. Pixeline: Stjernestøv looks like somebody cleaned the floor with it. I have checked their appearance, not tested whether these particular discs install or run. De Utrolige also has a crumpled cover, thanks to a security strip hidden underneath the paper.
The ones I already owned
I already had the Age of Empires collection. At first I was not sure whether it was the same compilation, but it was. I also had Allied Assault, and I now own De Utrolige and Prince Caspian twice.
| Game | My earlier copy | The Mission Afrika copy |
|---|---|---|
| Age of Empires: Collector’s Edition | Already owned the same compilation. | A duplicate, with the loose Claw disc inside. |
| Medal of Honor: Allied Assault | 27 September 2026, Kræftens Bekæmpelse, 10 DKK. No manual. | Deluxe Edition, 2 DKK. |
| De Utrolige / The Incredibles | 4 June 2026, Kirppu, 10 DKK. | My second copy. The paper cover is crumpled. |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | 20 September 2026, Røde Kors Genbrug, 10 DKK. | My second copy, included in the 26 DKK haul. |
Ten kroner for the earlier Allied Assault copy without a manual, then two kroner for this Deluxe case. This one has its manual, an installation guide and four discs in the trays. For most of the other games in the pile, I do not think I have played them before.
Age of Empires and that priest’s voice
I have been gaming since the late eighties and early nineties, and grew up with the original Age of Empires. It is one of my favourite games ever. I still like it better than Age of Empires II. The first game is the one I spent my childhood with, and I love the old look of it.
This blue Ubisoft eXclusive case is the Collector’s Edition. The collection contains Age of Empires, The Rise of Rome, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and The Conquerors. Two main games and their expansions in one case.
The paper cover is damaged along the top, with wear and a crease visible in the close-up. The disc looks good, with only small scratches. Inside is one gold Collector’s Edition DVD. The back lists English game content and manuals on the disc, with Dutch instructions as a PDF. The front artwork advertises a compilation soundtrack, but the case photo shows the DVD, not a separate soundtrack CD.
The old red-roofed buildings and those little blue and red soldiers are immediately familiar. Microsoft uses this original-graphics image in its comparison with Definitive Edition. This is the version of the graphics I remember growing up with.
That priest’s voice is burned into my brain. “Hei ohio, hei ohio … nonono.” I can hear it while looking at a picture, as if I have the game running again. I do not even need to start it for that sound to come back.
Age of Empires II is still hugely popular. People play private matches, organise tournaments and keep the competitive scene going. The modern Definitive Edition had Red Bull Wololo: Londinium in April 2026. I understand why people keep playing it. I just prefer the first Age of Empires.
A Claw disc inside Age of Empires
I opened the Age of Empires box and found Claw inside. It is the PC Best Buy disc, with Monolith branding and the pirate-cat artwork printed on it. There was no matching case or cover with it.
Claw is Monolith’s 1997 side-scrolling platform game. Finding a completely different game in the box was a nice surprise. I went home with thirteen cases and ended up with an extra loose game as well.
Claw will go in my box of loose games. Those are separate from my boxed collection. I have quite a few loose discs, including Sims 2 games that have ended up in the wrong cases or tucked into boxes with other games. I do not know why so many of those get separated from their covers. This time, at least, opening the wrong game’s box gave me a bonus.
Empire Earth III, Shilka and the third-game problem
Empire Earth III is shit. Age of Empires III is shit. BioShock’s third main game, Infinite, is shit too. It is almost always the third one that loses me.
My friend Shilka introduced me to Empire Earth. He loved Empire Earth; I loved Age of Empires. They are two different styles of the same kind of game, and we never had the same favourite. I was a late teenager when I first played Empire Earth, so I had already spent years with Age of Empires by then.
I do not like the textures in Empire Earth as much, and it feels slower to play. I cannot quite put my finger on all of it. I just do not enjoy it as much as Age of Empires. Coming to it later might be part of that.
The case in this haul is Empire Earth III, the 2007 PC DVD release from Mad Doc Software and Sierra. Its original manual describes five eras: Ancient, Medieval, Colonial, Modern and Future. The three regions are Western, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern, each with different units and ways of building up an empire. World Domination puts a globe of provinces around the real-time battles, letting you choose where to expand. The screenshot below is from the Future era, with futuristic buildings and large green creatures on a desert battlefield.
I have already written about Empire Earth II in 2005: The Huge RTS I Only Really Enjoyed with Friends. PC Planet Denmark gave Empire Earth II 85% in 2005. I think that was too high. That review was in issue 8, dated 21 July–18 August 2005. My earlier post goes into the second game; the DVD I bought here is the third one.
The Empire Earth III DVD has some scratches, but nothing that looks particularly bad to me. The manual is present. The box pushes its persistent world campaign and three factions, with the same empire carried through history and into the future.
Galactic Civilizations
Galactic Civilizations is the original Windows game, with Pan Vision branding on this PC CD-ROM case. It is a turn-based space strategy game. You build colonies, develop technology, trade, negotiate and fight over star systems. Stardock’s original documentation covers those systems and describes a single-player game, so the other civilizations are controlled by the computer.
I mostly prefer single-player games. I do not think I have tried Galactic Civilizations.
My Galactic Civilizations disc looks as good as new, and the manual is inside. The back describes economic, cultural and military routes to victory, ships gaining experience and events that change each game. Its Metaverse feature let players upload games to Stardock’s site. That online feature is separate from the single-player strategy game. The box lists Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP, and carries a 2003 copyright.
SimGolf: build the course, then play it
SimGolf has Maxis, EA and DICE Multimedia branding. This is the older golf game, with a 1996 Maxis copyright on the back. You design a course in its Course Architect and then play it. The front advertises The Prince Course and Rancho La Quinta, with an interactive tour of The Prince Course. The back says the manual is on the disc and lists optional Internet and LAN play.
It is an English CD in a DICE budget case, with no paper manual sitting in the clips in my photo. The printed requirements go back to Windows 95 and 12 MB of RAM. My disc is almost spotless, but it has another of those bloody tight disc holders.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
The other blue Ubisoft eXclusive case is Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. It came out in 2006, developed by Arkane. The PC game uses Valve’s Source engine for a first-person fantasy action RPG with swords, bows, magic and stealth.
The fighting makes use of the scenery as well as your weapons. You can kick enemies into spikes, knock things down onto them or ignite oil. Its manual also describes parrying and counterattacking, along with skill points earned from completing objectives. Those points go into weapon skills, spells and other abilities.
The back of this eXclusive box advertises multiplayer for up to 32 players, with Kuju credited for the online mode. It specifies Steam activation for multiplayer. The game and manual are in English, while the quick-start guide covers the Nordic languages. My disc looks almost new.
The Kirppu sticker on the front says 10 kroner and is from Frederikssund, the same city as the Mission Afrika shop where I paid two kroner. My guess is that somebody bought it at Kirppu, found out about Steam and donated it. That would explain the sticker, but it is only my guess about its journey between the shops.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
I have completed Death of the Outsider twice. It is an okay game. It never really made me go “wow”, but I did not have this physical release in my collection.
Arkane released it in 2017 as a standalone Dishonored adventure. You play Billie Lurk, reunited with Daud, on a mission to kill the Outsider. It takes place in Karnaca and gives you supernatural abilities, with room to sneak through situations or fight your way through them. You do not need to own Dishonored 2 to play this release.
The case still has an old 229 kr. shop sticker on the cover. That stands out beside the two kroner I paid for it as part of this pile.
Death of the Outsider is more or less new-looking. There are a few light scratches that I hope came from somebody cleaning it, rather than anything worse. The clear case lets me read the keyboard commands, technical support and safety information printed on the reverse of the cover insert once the disc and leaflet are out of the way. There is also a leaflet advertising The Evil Within 2 for Friday the 13th of October 2017.
I played it on Linux using the Windows Steam client inside Wine. Both Steam and the Windows game were running through Wine, rather than native Linux Steam. Here is Part 01 of my Death of the Outsider recording.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Deluxe Edition
The Deluxe Edition pairs Allied Assault with the Spearhead expansion. War Chest adds Breakthrough as well. This case is Deluxe, while the digital version I have played is War Chest.
My other Allied Assault copy has no manual. This Deluxe case has the manual and a Danish installation guide, two Allied Assault CDs, a Spearhead CD and a soundtrack CD. The back advertises 40 single-player levels, 23 multiplayer levels and 36 weapons across the package. It also carries a 90% PCplayer review quote, says the manual is Danish and lists English speech and text. There is even an advertised preview of the then-upcoming Pacific game.
Some of the Medal of Honor discs have scratches. The holders are the kind I hate: so tight that I am afraid I will crack a disc while taking it out. It has happened to me before. Every time a disc refuses to release from one of those things, it gets on my nerves. I want to take the game out, not bend it until something gives.
I have not played a lot of Allied Assault. I did try the first Medal of Honor on PS1, and that was a pixel mess. I struggled to see the enemies. By the time I could make out where somebody was, I was already being shot at. That is the Medal of Honor memory that stayed with me.
I have also played Medal of Honor: Allied Assault War Chest, the GOG version, on Linux through Wine. The screenshot above is from GOG’s store gallery; the video below is Part 01 of my own War Chest recording.
GOG’s War Chest package includes Allied Assault, Spearhead and Breakthrough, with a DRM-free installer. That is the version in my recording. The Mission Afrika purchase is the older retail Deluxe case.
The Sega package and Mobil 1 Rally Championship
The Sega PC Best Buy case has Sega Touring Car Championship and Sega Rally Championship together. The front advertises two games, with a touring car and a rally car pictured on it. Touring Car and Rally are separate titles bundled in one case.
Both CDs are inside the clear case. They look almost as good as new, with small scratches. The installation instructions are printed on the inside of the cover, so you can read them through the plastic. It even tells you how to put the disc in and start the installer, for anyone who still thinks a DVD drive is a cup holder. And yes, people have actually done that.
The Nordic back cover describes Sega Rally’s Celica and Delta, an arcade mode against 14 computer cars on three tracks, time attack, ghost-car runs and replay and link modes. Touring Car lists the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI, AMG Mercedes C-Class, Opel Calibra V6 and Toyota Supra. Rally stages and touring-car races in one PC Best Buy package.
Mobil 1 Rally Championship is the red Classic Collection case beside it, with another old shop sticker on the front. That gives me three racing titles across the two cases. The different budget labels are easy to spot in the haul photo: PC Best Buy, Classic Collection and Ubisoft eXclusive, all mixed together.
The Mobil 1 Rally Championship disc looks almost new too, with just one or two scratches. Its old front sticker says 49.95 kr., with “TILBUD” across it. I paid two kroner. The back is packed with review praise, including a printed 9/10 from Edge and 5/5 from Maxim. Those are the scores on the box, not ratings from me. It lists Windows 95/98, a Pentium II 266 MHz and 64 MB of RAM, and the disc carries Magnetic Fields and Actualize branding with a 1999 copyright.
Pixeline: Stjernestøv
Pixeline: Stjernestøv is the colourful Studio 1-2 PC/Mac release, aimed at ages five to eleven. Pixeline and her friends are putting together a band in Glimmervig. The back describes jobs such as helping a DJ scratch, arranging a film shoot, designing posters and CD covers, taking pictures and finding clothes and instruments for the band. It also lets you choose the music style, with six options and three difficulty levels.
The case has the disc and a matching booklet. The Royal Danish Library’s Danish games list records Stjernestøv as a Krea Medie release; this copy has Studio 1-2 printed on its packaging.
The disc is bad. It looks like somebody cleaned the floor with it. From the front of the case you would never guess how rough the playing surface is.
Pixeline Skolehjælp: Lær at Læse
Lær at Læse — Det magiske bibliotek is the green Krea Medie PC/Mac release. The books in its library have come alive. Each of the four stories has five activities with three difficulty levels, covering letter sounds, rhymes, spelling, making sentences and breaking words into syllables. The back says it was developed with schoolteachers for the youngest school classes, from age six.
The disc and matching booklet are inside. This disc needs a cleaning and has scratches too, although Stjernestøv is the one that really looks abused.
De Utrolige and the bump in the cover
De Utrolige is the Danish-titled Incredibles game, with Disney/Pixar, THQ and Heavy Iron branding. This PC/Mac CD-ROM release is marked as fully Danish. The back shows the family’s different powers: strength, speed, invisibility, stretching and beams. The manual and a disc labelled Disk 1 are in the case.
I own it twice now. My earlier copy was ten kroner at Kirppu on 4 June 2026; this one was two kroner at Mission Afrika. Both discs are almost spotless. The annoying part is the bump in this copy’s paper cover.
When I tried to straighten it, I found a magnetic anti-theft strip underneath the paper. That had crumpled the cover. Bloody annoying, especially when the disc is so clean. I took a close-up along the edge to show the damage, although the bump is easier to notice when you have the case in your hand.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Prince Caspian is the Disney PC DVD release, with TT branding on the back, a disc and an instruction manual inside. The Nordic packaging lists an English and Nordic-language booklet, subtitles and on-screen text. The screenshots show sword fights and battles in Narnia. Its printed minimum requirements include Windows XP/Vista and 7.5 GB of hard-drive space.
The disc has some scratches, but nothing that looks particularly bad. This is another duplicate: my earlier copy came from Røde Kors Genbrug on 20 September 2026 for ten kroner.
I hate when people write on game cases and discs. This one has a name on the plastic case and on the disc label. At least the writing on the front is on the case rather than the paper cover. I have another game where somebody wrote straight on the cover and across the barcode. Why the hell would you do that?
I do not think I have played Prince Caspian or De Utrolige.
Which games need an account?
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider needs Steam activation. Bethesda’s PC requirements specify a Steam account and an internet connection for installation. If the key in a used case has already been redeemed, the disc does not give a new owner another licence. Steam’s retail-key guidance says an already-registered key cannot be registered to another account.
Dark Messiah separates single-player from multiplayer. My eXclusive box specifically lists Steam activation under multiplayer. The original retail manual describes a single-player disc installation and Steam for multiplayer and automatic updates, and warns about copy protection. The box does not say that all single-player play is account-locked. I have not installed this particular DVD yet.
Empire Earth III has an installation Key Code, which its manual places on the back of the manual cover. The manual and DVD are both in my case. The DVD installation described there does not specify Steam activation for single-player. GOG sells a separate DRM-free version; its multiplayer notice says the official Internet servers are closed and multiplayer requires a registered CD-key.
| Game or collection | Account requirement for the retail copy |
|---|---|
| Age of Empires: Collector’s Edition | No modern launcher-account requirement identified for this older disc compilation. |
| Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Deluxe Edition | No Steam-style activation identified for retail single-player. Installation keys and disc checks may apply. |
| Dishonored: Death of the Outsider | Steam activation required. A previously redeemed key cannot be reused on another account. |
| Pixeline: Lær at Læse — Det magiske bibliotek | The supplied PC/Mac box describes a CD-ROM game and does not state an online account requirement. |
| Empire Earth III | Manual specifies a DVD and Key Code. No Steam activation specified for retail single-player. |
| SimGolf | This older Maxis/DICE box lists local CD installation and optional network play, with no mandatory launcher-account activation stated. |
| Sega Touring Car Championship / Sega Rally Championship | No mandatory account activation identified for this older package. |
| Mobil 1 Rally Championship | No launcher-account requirement identified for the Classic Collection disc. |
| Pixeline: Stjernestøv | The supplied PC/Mac box describes a CD-ROM game and does not state an online account requirement. |
| De Utrolige / The Incredibles | No modern launcher-account requirement identified for the older PC/Mac release. |
| Galactic Civilizations | Original documentation describes a standalone single-player game. No mandatory launcher login identified. |
| Dark Messiah of Might and Magic | This eXclusive box specifies Steam activation for multiplayer. Original manual describes separate disc single-player installation and Steam-linked updates. |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | No Steam-style activation identified for this PC DVD release. |
The older discs can still need serial numbers or use disc-based copy protection, even where there is no launcher account involved. A readable disc can also be incompatible with a current Windows installation or need work to run through Wine. I have not tried redeeming the Death of the Outsider key. Its back cover also says additional Steam files must be downloaded: the single disc is not the entire installation.