Project Warlock

Its not the best game ever made. But its really fun. The gameplay/gunplay is very satisfying (except for the uzi ...) Levels are rather flat but structually sound. Soundtrack is a bit disapointing really ... not much going on, its more ambient than real music. But i have fun going in, complete 3 levels in 30 min and go out again. But despite this, for 11€ i recommend it.

It does indeed play like the old-school fps's - Heretic, Hexen, with splashes of the original Duke in there. Upgrade system is a nice addition. The only negative is the spells, they feel kinda meh. Not enough of distraction to *not* plunk down $12. Well worth it. Weapons feel really satisfying, this game really would benefit froma multiplayer option.

I'd like to preface this review by saying it's incredibly impressive that a 19 year old was able to bang out something of quality such as Project Warlock. Having said that, the game, while good, is pretty rough. It feels unpolished, and some of the design decisions leave me a bit baffled. I lose a life because I wanted to go back to the workshop? Not only that, I have to start the entire level area all over again?? Nevermind that you're not told these things, you just find them out on your own and it leaves you scratching your head, wondering who thought something like that was a good idea. Aside from that, things like glitching out in a Cemetary level in the first episode and falling through the floor left me having to restart and losing yet another life, not knowing when you'll be transported back to the workshop, not having an indication of how stat points and upgrade points accrue, the minimap being as barebones as possible, no actual map function for which you can follow if you lose your way, the level design feeling clustered as ever ala Wolfenstein 3D which results in said losing your way. The lighting, as mentioned in other places, is abysmal and I'm convinced the reason why the first spell you pick up, magic light, is the first spell you pick up and costs zero mana to cast as the developer probably knew just how dark the game was and used this as a cop out instead of improving it. I know it seems like I'm really tearing the game apart, and in truth I kind of am because I really think there's a gem hidden beneath all of the inexperience and unpolished design. I just know the game can be great, and right now it's only sort of good - and that I'm willing to give the game four stars instead of three, in spite of how technically and mechanically anemic the game feels as of this moment, is a testament to how much I believe the dev can make the game something truly of worth in time so long as he keeps at it. Impressed, but there's a lot more work to be done.

This is great game, I really enjoyed it. The only thing missing is story. It's just a shooting range with different decoration and weapons. Even a silly story would do, just to add more sense to the actual action. The rest is great!

This is more like Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone, and so on than Doom proper. It's as if someone kept updating that type of game and it really has a similar kind of "restrictiveness" to its design. However, I think it works really well and the level design is well made around the way the engine works. In fact, I'd say the level design is sometimes quite stellar! The game has a progression system with RPG-like elements, but it's a little on the shallow side and I think it's fine that way. But, considering the above, this is actually kind of its own thing really. It's not really much of a "homage" to anything retro specifically, but rather it could as well have come out back then and it would've been pretty well received I think. Why not 5 stars? The release version has problems with the lighting and there are some bugs here and there, it's not horrible but it will need fixing. The dev is pretty active and that's very nice to see. The last thing is that the magic system is a little underdeveloped, but it still has some function but it would've been nice to see it work better than it does.