Posted on: June 28, 2023
erikcleric
Games: 298 Reviews: 14
Raven's experimental title.
Cyclones is an interesting game. Raven certainly experimented alot. It has a rudimentary "free mouselook". Its not like the true mouselook defined by Quake or even the mouse-turning of Dos Doom, Wolf, instead it means you can freely move your gun's crosshair across the screen but you still turn with the keyboard. (Or by moving the mouse cursor to the edges of the screen). Cyclones i always felt could be better. It starts off pretty good looking, starts with a nice moody night outdoor scene, then you get inside a compound, its pretty much very same:y looking, constantly indoor levels from there. Lots of grey walls. I would liked see alot more variation between indoor and outdoor levels, it does make a big difference and the engine could handle it! As far as i read Raven spent much of their budget on the FMV's to use that as a selling point for the game and i think the overall game suffered from that. Anyway, they pushed their engine to the limits, an ID derived Post-Wolf3d-Pre Doom engine that was used in Shadowcaster but now heavily upgraded, which is interesting to see. Pros: Music is good! Bestiary is cool. Weapons aren't numerous but satisfying to use. The acting in cutscenes is hilariously bad! :) Cons: "Mouselook" system is clonky, sometimes the fire button can get stuck randomly. Keybindings are a mess, use Dosbox remapper to set them to your liking, while looking at the manual. Ending could be a bit better. PS: Ive yet to try the GOG release. Maybe the keybinds are better from the get-go, my experience is from having played Cyclones earlier this year, and years before, before its official digital release.
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