Daikatana

I will keep this short. I played the fully patched version of the game, the game got it's bad reviews and reputation from the it's first sewer levels (or the first episode which is a bit bland) and the use of LIMITED saves in the form of save gems and AI teammates that got themselves killed or got stuck. All those complaints are justified however the latter 2 have been patched out. Playing it patched up, it plays like just any other shooter of its time, i turned my AI teammates off ( only to see them pop up in cutscenes) and it played great. Keep in mind its running on the aged ID-Tech 2 engine so the maps can be large but quite cramped, especially in outdoor areas (episode 3 is walled in by mountains) but despite that i think they did a great job and it's the most ambitious use of the Quake 2 engine as far as i know. Going from 4 different settings with new weapons, monsters and soundtracks, they certainly tried something new and it certainly has quite some variety.

GOG .com doesn't allow me to submit the review because of it says it contains URL when it doesn't. Suck it down!

The game is not bad, as people says. It is not a classical game, like Doom or Quake, but it is a good game. A... questionable saving system makes it much harder then it can be. The good part is that it has four different sets of weapon (one for each episode), so it is anything but boring, and the graphics is surprisingly beautiful for so old title. AI companions are stupid, but keep their health full and they will help you to clean rooms with many weak/small targets. Most of the game you are alone, though. Anyway, it is not a meat shooter like Serious Sam, but it does not require that constant runs for items like Hexen II either.

I want to start by saying I finished the game on the Ronin (easy) difficulty after hearing all the issues the game has, and I feel like that was the correct move. I didn't use any kind of patches for the game. Just played it straight up the way you get it when you get it from GoG. The Bad First - Your AI companions are pretty dumb (which was the reason I choose to play on easy to start with). You will need to babysit them like crazy because they will run headfirst into battle and die, get stuck on everything and nothing, and fall of the map just for fun. It did lead to a few headaches. I did have some crashing issues but not a lot. The weapons (while many and unique) really don't feel very punchy and have no feedback leaving every weapon to feel lifeless and melee combat doesn't feel at all. The game does start off pretty slow. It took me a few levels to start to get into it. Could not change video settings without the game crashing. The Good - The game has the perfect mix of campy B movie time travel, terrible voice acting, and crazy enemy types (sharks, mosquitos, mechs, prison inmates!?!?) which all blend together to make for a pretty good time. This is what kept me coming back for more. Level design was pretty solid, and each area felt mostly unique and fun to explore. I did get hung up on some of the puzzles and fetch quests (I eventually sold out and used a walkthrough guide) which ended up padding some of my gameplay time. I enjoyed that each time travel section had its own pile of weapons to play with to help keep from same weapon fatigue. Even though the weapons don't feel great to use, there is a ton of variety in the weapons. With all of that said, is Daikatana one of the worst games I have ever played? Not even close. Was it a letdown when it released back in 2000? You bet it was. If you are looking for a new boomer shooter game to tackle over a weekend, I feel Daikatana deserves a look but keep your expectations low and I promise a goodtime

Daikatana is a pretty groundbreaking title when you think about it. It was really the first game that attempted to be a co-op FPS/RPG hybrid long before this became popular with games like Borderlands. It was just a shame that the technology at the time wasn't ready to handle the ideas that Romero had, coupled with a really delayed development. But I can see where he wanted to go with the game and that he really tried pushing the FPS genre forward, and personally I find the game more fresh and interesting than Quake 2 as it has a lot more variety to it. It also has a lot of voice actors from Deus Ex which I love so it's not really that bad of a game, it just has some glaring flaws that I think if had been fixed, we would've had one of the most original titles in years. Definitely a game that is begging for a remake...