Messiah

This game is one of my favorites for its original concept and dark, cyberpunk atmosphere. The game mechanics definitely have a learning curve and it needs some tweaking in Windows 11 to launch. I haven't been experienced any crashes since I could launch it, so it is definitly playable after some initial setting up. You may need dgVoodoo compatibility layer to run it. There are good technical guides in the GOG forum.

I wanted to play this game ever since I saw it on a gamer magazine's cover back in 2000. Almost 20 years later, Messiah is still a unique gaming experience. You control a cherub named Bob, whom God sends to Earth to clean up the corruption and sin among humans. The game takes place in the far future in a cyberpunk environment. With Bob you can possess people in order to solve puzzles and shoot your way through the levels. I really like this idea - every NPC has different weapons, clearence level or purpose, so you have to possess the right NPC to progress. The graphics is quite good for the time, and it's fine even today - there is something timeless in early 2000's game graphics. Great atmosphere, too. The story is interesting and unique. But as for the gameplay... it's sad that the GoG version is full of glitches. I encountered crashes, no sound during certain cutscenes, and no music at all... (except for the Fear Factory songs, which are rad, but you can only hear them in the menu and during action) Also, you have to download the widescreen patch, which is not included in this version. The controls are jittery and unresponsive. The turret controls are horrendous. The game uses an auto-aim system during combat, which is fine, but zero tactics involved in the shooting - you pray for you kill the enemy before they kill you. You cannot avoid any gunfire, and you die very quickly. Possessing people is kinda annoying, because if anyone saw you doing it, they immediately start shooting at you. When you are not protected by a human body, you are very weak, and get killed after a few shots - expect to die a lot in this game, so save often. Oh, and you cannot possess enemies from the front (at least on normal difficulty), so if anyone started to shoot you, you are fucked. So Messiah could have been a great classic, if not for the bad controls and numerous glitches. I still recommend to play it, but armor yourself with some patience, or you won't have a fun time.

I can't vouch for everybody else, but I had VERY good fun playing this game back when it was released. Finished it multiple times, including max difficulty. The dystopian atmosphere and the level design were really captivating, and the gameplay opened some pretty creative and fun opportunities,"Hm, let's see, before gliding to that lower level, should I play nice guy and ditch this cop here and risk him seeing me and shooting me? Or should I be a cold-hearted son of a bitch and keep the cop, jump down and break his legs, and then abandon him as he crawls around in agony, unable to shoot at me?". This is the kind of fun I fondly remember Messiah for. Add highly individualized characters and weapons with unique abilities, and you can see what a rewarding playground this can be. Some characters can handle radioactive materials, others can conceal weapons, while the whores... can be pretty useful. The attention to detail also contributes to make this world feel alive, as well as the very competent AI. Your enemies can outflank you and duck for cover, making battles intense and exhilaratingly fun. On the bad side, the game was buggy on release, crashing regularly. The platforming could have it's sour moments once in a while, and the grand battle at the end was memorable for it's frustration.

Just imagine playing Sonic the Hedgehog where you can possess people. Because you know that days coming. Now that you’ve got the concept behind this game. Your name is Bob and you’re a cherub sent from heavin by God. Before you change the channel let me say, that makes for a lot of interesting predicaments. There is so much comedy in this game and weird ways to die it’ll have you laughing for hours. Now if I remember correctly there’s some “evil corporation” corrupting the world and some how a pimp is involved. I’d say that’s ripe for comedy. The game has a cyberpunk feel and it did remind me of the movie Heavy Metal where it seems each segment has a different story. Which makes the game kind of hard to follow. The graphics are a little glitchy but it doesn’t take away from the fun. Anyway buy it you’ll have a blast. I’ve played through it 4 times and it never gets old.

Interesting but sort of a weird game. It feels very much like the original idea and intention for the game can be seen in the last levels of the game which are lively with people hanging out, cool character and environment design, and more content than jumping and shooting. All the previous levels with sewer dwellers and soldiers are very dull and sometimes pretty frustrating too compared to the last levels. With the exception of the last bossfight which is horrible :D. It seems like the main part of the game was quickly put together before the release and the devs paid the most attention to the last levels. In one of the earlier levels there's an interesting little thing there with it's own cutscene even that's somehow completely pointless and feels very much like a scrapped idea that somehow got forgotten and remained in the final game. For those last levels I give a 4 star score even despite the crap the game put me through before (it's a mix of entertaining and frustrating but definitely with very dull with bland environments and not too many puzzles and too much shooting and platforming) and despite all the technical issues the game has on newer systems. It runs but with resolution flipping on loading and prerendered cutscenes, sound cutting out (could be only with the fear factory soundtrack, "fixable" by turning the music on and off again), a whole level necessary to play without any sound as the sound makes the game crash LOL :D etc.