Project Warlock

I just came out of Project Warlock and i unfortunately have to say that it wasn't at all what i was expecting. I grew up on the old games, so i'm not new to this. Presentation: This game looks slick. It aims for graphics and color pallet that harkens back to the days of Dos shooters. It runs smooth most of the time, except for the last boss. This isn't a very demanding game graphically and it executes what it sets out to do graphically. I can't say the same for the gameplay. Gameplay: Servicable. No recoiling weapons, barely any spread. You point, shoot and win. All good fun. The level structure is where things get wonky. Structure is simple, 5 big episodes, 5 minisodes within these episodes. These stages are "mini" stages meant to be blasted through in under four minutes or less. These stages have little thought put into them and devolve the more time goes. In the last episode of the game, the creator just gives up in trying to create mediocre stages and starts spawning you in with enemies already shooting you. It never killed me, but it proves that these short stages severly hampers any ability to create a memorable and interesting stages. Eventually, all stages just blend together. The minimap is worthless. It isn't colorcoded so sometimes you are stuck wandering the samey hallways for the umpteenth time looking for that damn door/switch. Also, sometimes splatter effects can cover up switches. Regarding the weapon upgrade system, it's also... Servicable. With some upgrades being pointless. Case in point, the Minigun. It has two upgrades. One is where it removes the wind up time and increases damage, making it a better SMG. The other makes it a sentry that you can put down at will. Enemy encounters are over in 10 seconds or less usually, so there are precious few times outside boss fights where you could even make use of this. This game has the framework of a really promising game but it's just all so flat.

After playing through Project Warlock on normal difficulty I must say that the game turned out to be a rather mixed bag. If you are going in expecting an old school fps in the vein of Doom, Heretic or Blood you will probably be disappointed. Project Warlock plays more like a bullet hell version of Wolf3D with some rogue-like elements. You shoot your way through hordes of brain-dead enemies while collecting keys, weapons and experience points. Every few levels you will be able to upgrade you weapons, stats and spells (most of them are not that useful btw). The basic concept is very average and has been done in better ways. There are however some aspects to Project Warlock which have elevated the whole experience fro me from time to time. First of all there is the colourful and creative pixelated art style, which reminded me of metal slug quite often. The game shows off it's best visuals during the fist two chapters. Especially the arctic levels were surprisingly atmospheric with their lovecraftian and The Thing inspired themes. Another positive aspect about Project Warlock is it's sound design. The music fits the action perfectly and the effects sound meaty. No downsides here. The thing that really bothered me during my play-through is the lack of difficulty after the fist two chapters. The gameplay became almost trivial since I was always well stocked with health and ammo. I suppose I could have cranked up the difficulty to hardcore, but this is where the rogue-like elements come into play, since you only have one life and the whole chapter starts over if you die. So would I recommend Project Warlock? I suppose I would recommend it to the „no-savestates-if he dies, he dies“ crowd. If you are looking for an old school fps with complex level design and a reasonable difficulty curve you might be better off skipping this one.

Game is an absolute blast, but it is difficult to give it more than three stars due to the numerous bugs and performance issues. There is a 5 star game somewhere in here, but the problems need to be fixed, namely: -Performance issues. This game has constant stuttering and framerate issues. This is the biggest problem that needs to be addressed, it is quite frustrating and headache inducing. Basically no smoothness at all. -Odd mouse movement. Occasionally the mouse will just shoot upwards or in some random direction. -No story/intermission text when advancing from episodes. Will only show up if you quit the game and start it back up while starting the new episode. I was pretty hyped about the game when it came out and enjoyed playing it, but I can't get myself to replay it until the issues are fixed. Hopefully soon before I lose all interest.

Project Warlock is a modern take on the retro-FPS genre, drawing inspiration from classics like DOOM, Heretic, Hexen, etc. It features a classic 2.5d presentation, with 3D level geometry and 2D sprites for enemies, decoration, and power-ups/ammo pick-ups. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I didn't find the art style appealing. Sprites are very chunky and blocky - almost an 8-bit style, with very few individual pixels used in any given texture. As a result, it looks flatter and less detailed than the PC VGA classics of yester-year. Compounding this issue is my biggest complaint: The game is simply too dark. Project Warlock uses lots of wonderful modern lighting techniques - and it helps make up for the lack of detail and flatness of the texture work - but in doing so, most levels seem woefully under-lit. You'll make heavy use of the "light" spell as a result, but don't be surprised when you find yourself wandering in the dark shooting at monsters you simply can't see. The game's soundtrack is pretty good, as are sound effects for weapons and monsters. Gameplay is likewise pretty good, with ample weapon and enemy variety. Weapons can be upgraded, and new spells can be learned, giving the player an admirable arsenal to experiment with, though I often found myself shying away from certain weapons simply due to the fact that the game is a bit more stingy with some ammo types. For the weapons that *do* have plenty of ammo, however, the game rewards their use with lots of wonderful, gory effects as enemies catch fire, become dismembered, and even explode in fountains of blood. So, it's easy to tell that you are hitting them, but the same can't be said when enemies deal damage to the player. There is very little feedback when you take damage, and it can be difficult to tell where that damage comes from - especially since the game likes to occasionally surround the player with enemies hidden in monster closets. Overall, a good, but not great retro-FPS.

Pros: -Weapons feels good and you can upgrade them all -Variety of spells -RPG mechanics will make this game replayable Con: -The levels all feels the same(only stand out one for me was the hommage of The Thing) -The live system(it is off on easy) -After you buy a weapon upgrade, you cannot buy the other upgarde for said weapon In conclusion: You could do a lot worse for 15$(CDN). I'm personally just not a fan of this game.