Boiling Point: Road to Hell

The CD version of this game is still in my library, no more having to download a NoCD patch from a shaddy website to avoid plugging your external CD-player each time. It's a very fun game that had me dozens of hours in over the almost 20 years I owned it, coming back to it every now and then to do a few missions. It's very janky and buggy but if you like open worlds and FPS with RPG elements I'm sure you can have fun. Today it's finally on GOG and not abandonware. Thank you. Game works fine on a laptop with AMD APU 2500U without dGPU.

This game is what gaming used to be about: about crazy companies attempting to do many, many things, and unfortunately not succeeding in many of them. When the final patches came out, while still definitely janky in many ways, it was now much more than just playable: it was really good fun. OK let's get the bad out of the way: yes it was graphically dated even then, yes there are some weird mechanics in the game, all skills take forever to level up (they all level up via actually using them only), and some you will likely not ever get near max (e.g. trading). But if you can look past that, and past the relatively-primitive yet definitely functional FPS gameplay, you will discover a game with so much to offer. There are many factions, you can do missions for all of them - but naturally this annoys their enemies. For most factions you can "reset" their negative view of you. Missions are fun, good variety, and the level design of the bases is really good - nevermind the cut and paste jungle around them... The factions include: communist guerillas (basically FARC), the Government, the CIA, native Indians (peaceful to terrorist), criminals, the Mafia (basically Columbian drug barons), and civilians even. The standout parts: there are many types of vehicles, once you're qualified to use them, you can not only drive cars, but also tanks, choppers, planes, and boats. You can even buy some of them, but many can only be used during a mission - but the coolest part is you can take a vehicle from one mission and use it to complete a bunch of other missions. Also worth mentioning: if you complete a mission fully stealthily, you annoy the opponents MUCH less. Also features some interesting mechanics, such as how loot and selling items is handled (basically encourages buying weapons, economy doesn't break like in other games even later on). Truly one of the few RPGs to be set in the modern era, in a unique setting (Latin America). Also you get a bullhorn - best weapon! ;)

Have you ever played an open world game and gone 'I like this, but I want to feel TOTALLY immersed and I want every mission to feel completely different'? Boiling Point has the fully explorable open world of an Ubisoft style game but then it goes the extra mile in every other area. This is like an 'extreme' mod for an open world Farcry style game. Your weapons will degrade with use! You need to increase your statistics by gaining experience! You can't see enemies on the mini-map! Your car needs gas and repairs! You can become practically IMMUNE to health syringes! Your standing with the factions determines if they attack you on sight or deal with you! Enemy factions will routinely go to war, take over strategic positions, and even attack you if you interfere! If you want all the info you may have to talk to every NPC because they all have different approaches to the same topics! There's an exhaustion system! Some of you probably tuned out, but some of you are interested and if you stick with it this game is amazing. Your path is yours here and the consequences too. Kill a quest giver? No problem: an opposing faction now probably likes you and will give you quests instead. Want to get through the jungle faster? Bring a car or hijack a helicopter or a plane from a military base. You can afford something? Go fishing, collect things from fallen bandits or soldiers, sell stolen vehicles, find black markets, do missions for random civilians. Problems? A few. There's some noticeable hiccups. NPCs sometimes run in place or get lost. Not all dialogue is properly translated or voiced. There's some instability like ending up places you should be which usually just kills you. And this game is HARD. A couple bullets you're out or so severely injured it will cost a mint to get back on your feet. But Boiling Point is special. Everything was thrown at the wall, and a surprising amount sticks.

This game, even in it's buggiest form, is just fun as hell. It still has some bugs, but who knows maybe they'll all get worked out over time now. I haven't witnessed any major game breaking or crash inducing bugs yet in this release. I'll update this if I run into anything major. Anyway if you decide to try this out I for one hope you have as much fun with it as I've had in the past, and am having in the present.