AMID EVIL

Fantastic, vibrant, twisted levels pulls this one for me. The combat isn't bad, but I wish there'd be more fodder enemies to rip through with the flashy magic weapons. At some point the lowest-level enemies start taking 2-3 hits from your "shotgun" to go down, and 2 from your "super shotgun". Some don't even stagger. That's when the weapons start feeling less awesome. DUSK had its soldiers to fill out the arena, quick to deal with, but hard to ignore. There's no such low-level enemies in Amid Evil. And as a result all the enemies quickly feel like bullet-, or mana sponges. This slows down the feel of combat, as you spend too long focused on a single enemy. A bit of a shame since you're wielding legendary magic weapons, and yet they feel less powerful than plain old guns and rockets.

It would be wrong to deny that it's the game of the same kind as Dusk - a retro-inspired first person shooter with straightforward and fun gameplay. Thing is, Dusk wasn't just good because it was a retro-inspired shooter. Dusk was so much more due to its intricacies - really creative secrets, level design aware of rockedjump and strafejumping being possible and encouraging you to use them, highly interactive enviroinment, story that was genuinely mysterious and creepy. The game is no way near bad. Its combat is really satisfying and levels are a sight to behold. But if you aim to copy great games of the past, you need to be as good as Dusk, since you already stand on the shoulders of giants.

The game play is fast. You're nimble and have a great variety of weapons at hand. The weapons never feel redundant, and are really creative, even if they are similar in function when compared to the original Doom games. I was constantly switching back and forth with every weapon to dispatch the attacking hordes. Collecting enough enemy's souls allows one to access a secondary function of each weapon that enables you to kill more monsters in some really creative ways. e.g. pulling stars from the cosmos, shrinking them and launching them at enemies, or with the AMID EVIL "BFG" weapon, you summon a black hole which then can suck monsters into it. The artistic style of the game is fantastic. Classic looking, but yet modern, it has a vibrancy and art style like no other game I've come across. Meshes fantasy with astronomical motifs wonderfully and has interesting lore (make sure you read the codex!) Most of the maps are well done, play-ability wise, with secrets spread out to increase the replay-ability. The monsters and bosses are also well done, a huge variety each having a different style according to the world you're playing in. For example, the world which has cosmic mages, experimenting with the Universe, there is a flying enemy called the "Order of the Eclipse" which summons Solar Eclipse fireballs and launches it at you. The charge time is actually the transit time of the moon, until it reaches the total eclipse stage at full charge, then attacks. Lastly, I mention the sounds. The tracks are excellent, and all the sound effects are nicely done. From the level tracks to the "Welcome back champion!" after finishing each episode, its all such a joy to listen to. All these things any many more make AMID EVIL an all round new beast of the old, and I haven't had this much fun with a game in a long time.

Amid Evil is a single player first-person shooter set in a fantasy world. One can Think Amid Evil as a child from Heretic, Quake, and Painkiller. It is a shooter, the settings and the weapons are all fantasy-inspired, and once you collect enough souls you get a powerup a-la Heretic's Tome of Power. The first thing that stands out of Amid Evil is the graphic. In videogames far too often "retro" actually means "cheap" or "ugly-looking," because studios simply use low res without any of art skills that in the past made graphics memorable. In Amid Evil it is not the case, everything looks good, but fashionably old-fashioned. The gameplay reminds the classic Quake, but enemies are able to move through the map well. Levels are really well made, large enough to give satisfaction. But small enough to give a sense of progression. There are seven episodes each with its style and enemies. Enemies, as the styles, are very different to each other making each event a fresh experience. Weapons are well made, each has its quirks and good uses. The only exception is perhaps The Celestial Claw that is a bad-taste version of a rocket launcher. The difficult can be adjusted in multiple ways, there are four difficulty levels; one can start levels with only one weapon; and the souls-activated power-up can start automatically forcing a more tactical approach. Everyone can find something to fit their tastes and skills. So, it is a good game and definitely worthwhile to any fan of the old shooters. Yet... something is kinda amiss. After playing Serious Sam the difficulty (and the epicness) may seem a bit on the low side; some levels are weirdly magical looking, but not as much as strange or mind-bending as the 2006 Prey; no multiplayer at all means no LAN parties like in Quake. I have the feeling that Amid Evil is good in everything, excellent in nothing.

Borrowing heavily from fantasy shooters like Hexen/Heretic, Amid Evil is a fairly basic and yet well-crafted FPS game. It is extremely straightforward and takes no risk with the boomer shooter formula: you run at ludicrous speeds, look for keys and switches, and blast enemies in the face with weapons that you never need to reload. It’s simple fun: the movement feels good, you don’t get lost, and the projectile-based combat is exciting. However, several levels force you to fight and dodge enemies while navigating on tight beams and small platforms, which can be frustrating. To me, the high point of Amid Evil is its aesthetics. The environments consist of ancient castles and eldritch ruins, all of which have unique architectures, fantastic atmosphere, and are so expertly designed and gorgeous that it’s easy to forget that you’re looking at low-res, low-poly graphics. The visuals are different from what you’ve seen before in FPS games: it’s highly stylized and colorful, almost abstract and psychedelic, and very nice to look at. Overall, the game goes to great lengths to keep you engaged up until the end. Each of its seven episodes has its own monster roster, visual themes, and level design philosophy: you get constantly introduced to new brutal enemies to fight and gorgeous levels to explore, and never know what the game has in store for you next! In the end, the worst thing I have to say about Amid Evil is that from a gameplay standpoint, it’s good at everything it tries to achieve but does not really excel at any of it either. The mechanics could be deeper, the weapons could feel more satisfying, the level design could be more interesting… It’s all very competent but you’ve seen it all done better elsewhere. You’ll have a lot of fun, but probably not a blast. Still, Amid Evil is solid and unique. It’s not my favorite retro-inspired shooter, but it has more than enough style and satisfying combat to keep you hooked for a few hours and remain memorable after that.