Overall most helpful review

Posted on: May 20, 2016

Yunipuma

Games: 1356 Reviews: 14

The forgotten predecessor of Deus Ex.

This is "smart FPS" or, if you prefer that way, Action-RPG. Yes, it is not vey big by today's standards, but it is still good. One of the best features of this game - you have to make choices - and they ARE matter! No joke - if you do one quest before it's appointed time, you will lose the game! And it is in first 30 minutes of play :) Controls and inventory system are simple but effective - you have different kind of ammo for some of your guns and you even have your own artifact (so no, DOOM 3 was not original with it's artifact). Another one of the interesting features of this game is it's stealth system. You do not need to kill everything in sight (in fact, you better not to even try it). Some of enemies do not aware of your identity and you can walk in plain sight of them - untill you cross "the red line" or start shooting. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to oldschool players or just "smart FPS" lovers. Keep in mind that this is "augmented edition", made by the talented enthusiast in 2014. It runs perfectly on modern rigs & have some fully implemented new features, including a multiplayer "Capture the Chalice" game mode, dynamic objective markers on the automap, and some others.

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Posted on: May 20, 2016

rob.liefeld

Verified owner

Games: 1345 Reviews: 78

Jack of allTrade master of none, but Fun

Far into the future, a meteor hits Earth, a virus spreads and kills most of the population, pushing civilization back into a chaotic state, from which, the brutal cult, "The Order" emerges and takes over. Not too bright of a future. As a mercenary, with The Order on your back, you just happen to bump into a rebel team, called "The Front". From that on, it is your task, to find out the secret of the order, and put and end to their tyranny.... But who cares of story in doom clone? Well, this is possibly the furthest one can get from Doom, while still being Doom. Strife is one of the most amazing thing anyone ever did with the original doom engine. It is an FPS/Adventure hybrid, with slight RPG elements. You talk to NPCs, get quests, buy weapons, health and ammo, walk around this rather large hub-city, get missions from the resistance force, where you can choose between being stealthy, aggressive or diplomatic, etc. What's great about this game is that it is much of a freeform shooter, way before FarCry or Stalker made it a "thing", what's not so great is none of of it's realized all too well. Most choices storywise come down onto plainly "wrong" or "right" decisions, the whole game is a LOT more linear than it appears to be, and if you dare to take a sidestep, the game mostly just murders you. Screw the story though, it's a shooter! Well, the shooting is alright, but it's only really enjoyable on a handful of missions. The enemies are either few and far between, or way too brutal and unforgiving. The RPG aspects are also pretty weak. You can buy stuff, go exploring, you can even get into shady deals... which most times leads to you getting murdered. In conclusion: Doom is a better FPS, Under a killing moon is a better FPAndventure, and Daggerfall is a better FPRPG. Strife STILL has it's charm though. A very oldschool, indie, lo-fi charm. This version's an engineport with better controls and other updates. Recommended, but don't get your hopes too high.

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Posted on: May 20, 2016

gr8stalin

Games: 196 Reviews: 2

A Gem in the Rough

I feel bad because I never found Strife on my own searching, but after watching Ross's Game Dungeon video about it, I tried it out and it was seriously an experience. It's far from perfect and can actually get pretty tedious at times, but there are so many little things that a lot of games take cues from today and a lot of great gameplay that a lot of shooters still aren't able to capture despite our leaps and bounds in programming. You can watch Ross's Game Dungeon review of Strife here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPrU7LSqiX0

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Posted on: May 20, 2016

calipheron

Verified owner

Games: 355 Reviews: 7

A forgotten classic.

Strife came out at the wrong time. Quake time. Nobody wanted those dodgy old sprites any more, real 3D was the future. Of course history often proves such ignorance to be wrong and here we are in 2016 with another brilliant remaster from Nightdive. And it is very welcome. Essentially Strife is a Doom-engine based first person shooter with an emphasis on questing, non-linear level design, and factionism. Strife presents a unique sci-fi fantasy world that the player is tasked to fight through. I shan't go into the plot here but the gameplay is essentially Doom with some character interaction, world interaction, in a variety of areas posing a variety of challenges. There is some key and switch hunting, weapons feel solid, AI is decent, and the worldbuilding is immersive and convincing. The addition of some extra graphical accoutrements in this new version are really just the icing on the cake. Strife is a fantastic immersive action adventure that everyone deserves to play.

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Posted on: May 22, 2016

rosumek

Verified owner

Games: 145 Reviews: 26

Play for nostalgia or historical reasons

At the time, Strife was a huge step from the first classic shooters, by putting the player in a living world, interacting with other characters and offering more ways of solving problems than just by killing and destroying. Sure, System shock already introduced the idea of a plot that develops during actual gameplay, but has no NPCs to interact, a city with stores where you can choose and buy your stuff, etc. Both games fell of the radar, because mainstraim FPS sucess was determined more by graphic and engine improvements (e. g. Quake). Sure, the implement of RPG/adventure/stealth elements is very rudimentar. The dialog barely gives you actual options besides "right" (that advances the plot) and "wrong" (that stops or breaks it). The alternative approaches to missions usualy ends up with you having to shoot someone anyway, and setting up all the level alarms. Sometimes there is strange situations, when after taking a hidden shortcut you arrive in a new area with enemies not shooting you... besides that flying robot. And you have to destroy the robot and then everybody attack you. The time dedicated to make the plot works in-game took off some development from the shooting itself. It doesn't flow so well even compared to earlier shooters. The sprites animations are quite poor. But nevertheless there are interesting elements, e.g. all your weapons remaining useful during most of the game. The handknife is a silent kill. The slow crossbow has different ammunitions, each one good against specific enemies. The assault rifle is probably the most versatile, but eats ammunition very fast and you should think strategically about its use. You probably have better options if you want an early FPS/RPG hybrid, but you can try this one for nostalgia (my case) or to see how FPS evolved through time. The addition of voices, better resolutions and improved controls in the Veteran Edition makes up for a smooth play and doesn't hurt "modern" eyes. Give it a try!

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