A combat-focused first person RPG that really nails the atmosphere and the feel of fighting, has a unique and well-executed magic system, and manages to reward skill and provide good gameplay for a variety of fighting styles. VISUALS and AUDIO: Arx Fatalis is acceptable but not particularly impressive in the visuals department. Everything is rather low-polygon, and although the texture work is decent, the overall look is somewhat less smooth and detailed than the inevitable comparison, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (released in the same year). The strictly underground setting does rather limit the available palette, although splashes of color do make an appearance and different areas do have distinct visual styles depending on the race of their primary inhabitants. Weapons are distinct and clearly identifiable in combat, and spell effects are actually quite attractive. Since enemies use the same gesture-casting system you do, you can sometimes tell what is being cast before it is done and take appropriate preventative action, which is a nice touch. The audio work is quite good for the era, with well-chosen music adding to the claustrophobic atmosphere and a nice array of ambient sounds from native wildlife and bored NPCs (or even unaware enemies). There are a fair number of voice actors, and the inevitable similarity and re-use of voices for lesser and non-named NPCs isn't at all jarring. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: Arx Fatalis is a first-person combat RPG with familiar (and fully customizable) FPS-style controls, plus a couple neat gimmicks. Combat is smooth and surprisingly fluid, especially with fast weapons; thanks to good controls and clear hit registration, it is entirely possible to win a fight with a much tougher, better-armed opponent if you master the art of maneuvering and find room to do so (choosing how and when to swing is also important, particularly against faster opponents). You will of course need to improve your gear and skills for fights in tight passages and against some of the nastier, highly maneuverable baddies in the late game. The magic system is the most unique aspect of Arx's control scheme: spells consist of sequences of runes, but instead of merely selecting them, you draw them in the air. You can pre-cast and store up to three spells, so you can be a successful caster without mastering the art of drawing spells in combat . . . but having that ability grants you increased flexibility and can make combat a lot more fun and immersive. You can cast any spell for which you have found the component runes, and since each rune has a meaning, you can figure out several secret, unlisted spells by altering those shown in your spellbook. Character customization is pretty simple: you have 4 attributes and 9 skills, the latter partially derived from the former; these fit all the standard roles (melee and ranged combat, casting, thief skills, etc.). Most gear has stat and skill requirements to be usable, as well as a minimum item lore skill to be able to identify it at all (item lore is enhanced by most attributes, so it is not too onerous a barrier). The level cap is 10, but you are likely to only reach level 9 (monsters do not generally respawn, so there is no way to "grind"). There are no character classes, but with only a few levels' worth of points to distribute, there are benefits to focusing on melee, ranged combat, or spells. Inventory management is somewhat challenging until you get your first backpack expansion, but fortunately, items left on the ground will stay there until you come back for them. Weapon and armor degradation is actually quite well done - early, weak weapons are fragile but plentiful, and by the time that you have good gear about which you care, you will have access to smiths and your own repair skill, as well as a small number of magic items that can wear-proof pieces of gear. Furthermore, it encourages care in combat, as the fastest way to damage a weapon is smacking it into walls. STORY/ACTING: Although the connections between areas are fairly linear, you have a great deal of freedom after the early game and can roam anywhere that you can survive. As the game's story unfolds, you will have reasons to travel to each successive area (and story events may make doing so easier than it was before), but it gracefully handles most deviations from the expected path. With one notable exception, the quest chain will not break even when subjected to severe abuse - it is possible to complete the game even after murdering all friendly NPCs, if you want to take that route. You are given ample opportunities to choose sides in a variety of conflicts, or even to betray allies for various forms of profit; many players will take great pleasure in seeking revenge on some of the more irritating NPCs once they have outlived their usefulness. As with many RPGs, the main character suffers from amnesia at the beginning of the game (although there is an unusually good reason for this), and his driving motivation in the initial stages of the game is figuring out who he is. I enjoyed the designer's choice to make him self-interested rather than inexplicably heroic, and his irritated complaints and eventually tired resignation to helping an endless sequence of desperate NPCs were well-conveyed by the voice actor. Many of the performances were quite good, exceptionally so given when the game was released (but there are of course a few weak acts). All interaction is voiced and portrayed in-engine, although sometimes in scripted cutscenes; this and the lack of dialog choices contribute to fairly natural conversations. Major choices are made by the player's actions (e.g. giving items to NPCs) rather than selections from a list of replies in conversation. DIFFICULTY: There are no difficulty settings; the game is fairly straightforward, although some character builds will outperform others and it takes some practice to fight well (particularly mastering casting spells in combat). You will need to learn to maneuver in combat, and although bows are quite powerful at range, there are a few occasions where close-quarters fighting is required. Archery is interesting and rewards skill: arrows follow ballistic paths and are fairly slow, but do more damage the farther they travel (and are very weak at point blank range). In both archery and melee combat, holding a strike for about a second increases its power, so it is important to learn the timing. Healing potions are reasonably plentiful, but like the spell, heal everything in a small area around you, making them unsuitable if backed into a corner. The level cap and inability to grind mean that it isn't possible to become powerful enough to shrug off the game's strongest enemies, but with good gear they should be manageable (even with a far-from-optimal build). It is almost always possible to draw enemies out of groups and face them one at a time, so the player is never forced into punishingly difficult combat, although some situations do present a worthwhile challenge. For the challenge-inclined, there are several optional side quests that involve a mix of puzzles, riddles, and difficult combat. One of these has a significant influence on the main story's ending, although it has minimal gameplay consequences, while others reward the player with useful but nonessential gear, plus the satisfaction of helping friends (or sticking it to irritating NPCs). A player seeking more experience and toys (or one stuck on a main quest objective) is encouraged to re-visit NPCs and pay close attention to what they say, as not all quests are obviously signaled. I suggest investing in enough dexterity and missile skill (30) to use a bow; if nothing else, it is a convenient way to draw single enemies away from groups at very long range (you can refill quivers by getting them repaired). As mentioned above, thief skills will make your life far easier - even basic pickpocketing (Stealth 51; do note that the assassin's dagger is both an effective weapon and grants 10% Stealth, while the 3 stealth armor pieces each grant 5%) will grant access to a good number of keys. The Technical skill is also worth investing in, both for lockpicking and disarming traps. Finally, regardless of your combat specialty, 30 points in casting (or 10, plus two casting rings) grants access to Fireball, which is very helpful to have pre-cast for tough combats. It is also helpful to be able to reach 13 Strength (temporarily) by the end of the game, so that you can put on the best armor; a bless scroll will help here, as will an enchanted weapon. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all quite different -- even though many levels are filled with winding, convoluted paths, they aren't particularly large (and the world becomes much more navigable once you gain access to the portal system). The automap will prevent you from getting truly lost, and there are enough landmarks to navigate by sight alone in most areas. As noted above, each race's living area has a distinct visual style, which extends to the layout of the level. The game provides multiple ways to solve almost every problem, up to and including slaughtering everyone. You are free to roam pretty much anywhere that you can handle the enemies, and quest lines are resilient to the player finding back doors, stealing keys, or picking locks early (with the notable exception of the "password" door in the Yellow Tulip - fortunately, if you unlock that too early, the unpleasant fellow behind it will likely convince you to turn back). As with many RPGs, it could be argued that thief skills make the game a bit too easy - they certainly guarantee that cash flow will never be a concern. The invisibility spell allows you to pick pockets with impunity, but a quick-fingered thief can even take advantage of the half-second delay between being caught and triggering an attack to rob an NPC from the front in broad daylight. Key theft or sufficient lockpicking skill enables theft from stores when they are closed, which should permanently solve any cash flow issues a struggling player might have. THE VERDICT: Although it isn't the prettiest RPG, Arx Fatalis really nails the atmosphere it is aiming for - trapped underground in a dying world, fighting a mysterious and growing threat. Character customization is well-tuned, simple enough to not dominate the game while still providing distinctly different gameplay for different builds. The core of the game is combat, and it is very well-executed. The gesture-casting system makes combat magery possible but quite hard, with the stored-spells option enabling the use of more complex spells (even for those who cannot master on-the-fly casting), and in marked contrast to many other games, the archery is well implemented, fun, skill-based, and a viable strategy into the endgame (level design, tough enemies, and very low point-blank damage helps make this possible without being abusive). Even the melee combat is exceptional for the time, with clear strike animations and excellent hit registration both improving immersion and ensuring that skill and maneuvering really matter.
A small-team space tactics game with RPG elements, Star Wolves looks good and is fun to play. The character advancement and ship equipment systems offer meaningful customization without forcing too much experience&loot grinding, and advanced character abilities give you a lot of options in combat. VISUALS and AUDIO: The game looks pretty good. There isn't a lot to render, so the render budget can be spent on detailed craft, good particle effects, very nice explosions, and just an overall nice visual experience. You'll spend most of your time zoomed out some distance, but you can pause at any time to examine the battle, frozen explosions, laser beams and all - and you'll occasionally need to, for example when a lucky hit forces you to split your squad for some evasive maneuvering. Sound is used sparsely but effectively. Weapons, explosions, etc. are all pretty standard fare, distinct enough to be flavorful and informative. Most communication is not voiced, but squad members verbally acknowledge orders, as well as speaking during a small number of cutscenes. The small, randomized selection of ambient and triggered combat background music is pretty decent. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: You control a mothership and a squad of 2 to 6 fighters, piloted by a motley crew with various specialties that can grow as you progress through the story. Pilots whose ships are destroyed will always eject, so you can keep going as long as the mothership remains intact (although ships are expensive to replace!). Destroyed ships and stations drop salvage that can be sold or used to equip your own velssels; this is a critical source of income at all stages of the game. Every character has a specialty and several unique abilities, but can train to some degree in all skills; combined with the wide variety of ships and equipment, this will allow you to define strong combat roles for every squad member but also switch up tactics when required. Available experience and money are well balanced, giving you enough to get by but not much more - for most of the game you will be forced to make compromises in your equipment purchases, prioritizing certain upgrades and relying on salvage for the balance. Controls are fairly standard RTS fare, although in a 3D environment. You can attach a camera to a unit, group, target, or free-roam, but you can only see units that are within your sensor range; the camera can be freely rotated around its anchor. There is a pan&zoom sector map that can be used to give long-distance orders as well. Everything can be controlled by mouse-clicks alone, but a few important commands have keyboard shortcuts. Since the game is single-player, it is possible to pause at any time, so targeting individual fighters is never problematic. Time can be accelerated up to 4x to shorten time spent crossing open space, and your mothership will alert you (and optionally auto-pause) when enemies are detected. STORY/ACTING: The story isn't terribly original, but it is engaging enough, and each mission has some character to it. You have the ability to play as you like to a degree, but your behavior outside of story branch choices has no lasting impact - you can wipe a sector clear and not only get no reputation for it, but even find everything restored if you take a future mission there. Still, being able to refuse evil missions is nice, and the split at the end is just long enough to be interesting and short enough not to be a pain to play through both. There are no big surprises, but it is still nice to hear each side of the story, particularly in the endgame - your choices there do have a significant impact on the universe, and said impact even affects gameplay in those last levels. Of course, even the smart villains never learn that betraying you is really stupid. (Admittedly, their odds in your final confrontation are pretty good.) DIFFICULTY: The difficulty varies considerably, and depends on your play style. Fortunately it doesn't depend *too* much on past performance, as a kill is a kill and much of the XP is gained via mission objectives . . . but in later levels, opponents provide a lot, so taking the hard route / level cleaning is somewhat important. At that point you should be able to wipe out patrols by just running into them, but if you can't, you're in a bit of trouble. That said, even if you haven't been maximizing XP, you'll probably only miss out on one or two high-level abilities, thanks to cost escalation. This could matter a fair bit, esp. with things like missile guru for 90% ECM resistance (without which missiles are nigh useless against top-tier opponents), but good use of abilities can carry you through most situations - I found I had lots left over for many missions, and some uses were superfluous (Viper, anyone?). You *are* stuck with any bad advancement choices you make, and characters don't "level up" except through the abilities you select and equipment you buy for them, so you should be a bit careful. That said, the same applies to your enemies. The final missions do involve an unavoidable uptick in difficulty of course. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: Invest in experience-boosting abilities early on! After that, defensive buffs are rare and therefore really important. You can't individually control squad members, so when precise or fast maneuvering is required, remove pilots from wings. Doing this also tends to make enemies re-target, further assisting when a lucky inferno hit forces you to take evasive action. Switching squad leaders can also redirect pressure. Note that squads will try to move in formation when not in combat, so you may find that only the leader fires at targets such as stations, particularly if he has longer-range weapons. When individually designating targets, the whole wing will attack until the ship has blown up, including after it has been reduced to 0 health. To save missiles and maximize combat effectiveness, re-target often, or use escort mode once enemies are in range - in that mode, wing members can attack different targets and will also take shots of opportunity. THE VERDICT: The game is fun and occasionally quite challenging. The system somewhat unavoidably encourages grinding for XP, but there's not too much of that - sector contents are finite (although randomized a bit at start). The time speedup function means that even sweeping a sector isn't all that tedious, although I'd have liked an 8x occasionally.
Gothic is a fun game with a good story, some neat mechanics, and good concepts in its combat system that is brought down a bit by unwieldy controls and small number of level design flaws. VISUALS and AUDIO: With everything at max, Gothic looks decent but far from stellar. Textures are acceptable, although the world textures are very low-res (check out the forums for texture and world patches that help a lot, and make colors much less drab), and polycounts are low to medium. Terrain is clearly polygonized, especially rock faces. Many objects are non-solid (some, like ladders, are one-sided [on the wrong side!]), which avoids some navigational difficulties but is irritating. Tree branches are on solid, mostly transparent planes that look pretty crappy up close and can mysteriously block shots or irritatingly block movement. Still, the view from the highest point on the island is pretty nice (if only draw distance could go about 2x further, it'd be great!) - once you're far enough away the architecture looks pretty nice (although forests look silly). Draw distance for characters is too short at maximum - in the final temple, there's a big cavern where the major enemy isn't visible until you're halfway across the bridge in the middle, and the gigantic final boss enemy is invisible from the balcony of his chamber where you'll be doing a fair bit of fighting (as he fires at you from his seemingly empty dais). They do fade in from transparency rather than popping in, which is nice, and the environment does not pop at all (less some texture jiggling, particularly in forests). And Barrier-storms do look very dramatic. The game is fully voiced, but there aren't many voice actors, as you'll rapidly notice. Idle chit-chat between NPCs in towns is a nice touch but serves to emphasize the repetition of actors, since some of the common folk use the voices of major story NPCs. The voice acting is fine - not inspired but rarely off-tone (that said, there's not a lot of emotion in the game). Ambient sounds are decent, although the fact that they are strongly localized can be a bit confusing when you look and see nothing making the bird call or scratching. Swords woosh and clang satisfyingly, spells have some real audio oomph, and sound effects are generally synched correctly as well. Overall, a good aural experience. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: The controls are unwieldy and in some combat situations can be downright awful. This is difficult to excuse for a 2001 game, although it does predate the far far better Arx Fatalis by one year. Some sources report that mouse support was a late addition to the game, intended for keyboard-only control - this explains the vertical-targeting weakness and lack of actual aiming. Most commands are issued by combining an "action" key with a direction key, which is really unnecessary and can be confusing. It works in combat, because it allows you to make different sorts of attacks in melee, and to switch targets at range. Melee combat is nicely executed, with the ability to chain attacks by timing opposing swings correctly, and a block that requires both good timing and proper aim. However, the fact that you are lock on to your target prevents you from manually leading moving targets at range, and can swing you about undesirably when swarmed in melee. The tracking is also too slow to fully aim a block for you, although I mostly like the challenge that added. The overall fairly good combat is brought down by the armor/to-hit system, which renders enemies completely invulnerable to characters with insufficient skill or weak weapons/magic. Having such thresholds takes me out of the game a bit, and limits the challenge with which I can present myself - rather than being tremendously hard, sufficiently strong enemies are literally impossible to harm until I level up some more, no matter how good my tactics. The inconvenient controls couple with slow actions and a somewhat unwieldy inventory system to make emergency actions in combat (drinking a potion, changing weapons, etc.) more difficult than they should be - taking a hit interrupts any action, including opening the inventory or switching weapons. This is an interesting feature for spellcasters, since it prevents longer spells from being used in melee, but most enemies from the midgame onward can only be harmed by charged spells, meaning that a mage must either spend significant points in melee skills or spend a lot of time running away. A few enemies have fast-casting, nearly-continuous spells that can only be defeated via strong armor, a step-by-step charge, and then continuous melee attacks. Mages will find that only a small number of spells are at all useful, thanks to damage thresholds and casting time issues. Furthermore, several critical area-of-effect spells are very finicky about height and will fail to hit any enemy standing on even slightly lower ground (or simply inexplicably miss), which often completely ruins a fight and requires a retreat or reload. STORY/ACTING: The game's world certainly has an interesting setup, one that makes the standard RPG behavior of both PCs and NPCs a lot more reasonable than it often is. The conflict between the three main factions is critical to the plot and makes the player's career choice meaningful, although it is used less than it could be. The main quest line is quite similar between the careers, so a replay isn't truly necessary to see nearly all the world has to offer - but the training available makes the game experience of at least two factions markedly different. As noted above, the game is fully voiced, albeit by a small cast. Sadly, the main character is the worst voice actor of the bunch. The rest are too few, but at least they emote and frequently get it right - the main character is flat, lifeless and sometimes gives wrong tone. Still, the acting is decent overall and there's a lot of dialog, which is a plus. After a while, the repetition in bystander chit-chat may become annoying, but in concept it's a nice touch. DIFFICULTY: The difficulty presented is rather mixed and dependent on class. The controls, monster resistances, and the inability of mages to boost spell power mean that you will be forced into melee sometimes no matter what class you are. This will present a challenge for mages (who must waste many points to be able to even hit some late-game monsters), while being practically unnoticeable to warriors. Bows are very powerful, but a focused archer will be brought down by monsters immune to arrows (more common than magic immunity). Mages truly shine against most single monsters and some of the more irritating mobs, so there is some balance there. Unfortunately, many of the more difficult combats are hard in part because of the lacking controls, in particular the sometimes inexplicable inability to target monsters that are in range. Monsters on lower ground are immune to many attacks, and some monsters are just plain difficult to target (particularly skeleton mages). This is particularly frustrating when a well-planned, well-executed sneak attack tactic must be abandoned despite a visibly clear shot, or when the multi-button attack system decides to drop a key, sending you charging into a mob rather than launching that perfect fire storm. Despite all this, the game is not tremendously hard - some particular fights can be, but many of the harder ones are optional, and you won't need to grind for XP if you do most of the missions. Money is an issue in the early game, but theft is your friend, and you can pick most locks without spending any skill points on the ability. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: Be careful around named NPCs! You can safely knock out (reduce to 0 health with melee weapons) anyone, but you can make quests including storyline missions uncompletable if you kill several important characters (or get them killed by monsters). That empty stage in Old Camp is for a band concert (by In Extremo) cut from the non-German versions, complete with a dancer and firebreather, and there is a patch to restore it, complete with English voice for the announcer. Or you can check it out on YouTube if you're curious. There is one minor exploit that will speed up navigation without giving a real unfair advantage - if you strafe while falling, you will take no damage when you land. This is very helpful in the mine, but can also save you from death-by-stupid-ladder. Ladders can be a real issue - if the last rung is just a bit too low, you will bounce off the top and fall rather than mounting the platform . . . and there is one mine area with a main-quest-required item for which both of the ladders out will almost always do this to you. The solution is to try to leap forward at the exact right moment in the exiting-ladder animation. It can take 10-20 tries (the final ladder in the harpy tower took me about 30), but you'll eventually get out. ALWAYS save before using a tall ladder, and remember the strafe trick. Finally, despite the implication to the contrary in the manual, Dexterity appears to be critical to making hits with melee weapons against higher-level monsters. With 70 dex and 203 str, my mage could not hit the apocalyptic templar at all, even at point-blank range with no dodges or blocks - the sword just whiffed through him. With 126 dex and 86 str, I hit him fairly frequently. In both cases, he was untrained in the weapon used, which could have made up for the weak dexterity. This example does illustrate the mild ridiculousness of the combat system though, since the training maximum for those stats is 100. THE VERDICT: My original plan was to do a playthrough as a mage and then re-play from the faction-choice point as a templar warrior, but when I finished I didn't really feel like giving it another go. I had saved most of my skill points (as I often do, for challenge and flexible testing), so I cross-trained my mage and found other forms of combat somewhat boring and at times frustrating. I had already done a fair bit of melee by necessity - as a warrior, that would merely have been simpler. I had used archery slowly and painfully in the early game, and quick tests showed that it would be tactically similar to but much more powerful than the very repetitive firestorm-sniping I did as a mage, except against arrow-immune monsters. I did enjoy my playthrough, and although there were numerous irritations, I don't recall being very frustrated. The lack of replay enthusiasm isn't a strong negative, merely a lack of a bonus, so overall, I think the good and poor aspects of the game balance out to a 3-star experience. I may come back and play one of the fairly numerous mods though, particularly since Gothic 2 is rather unstable on my system.
Chaser is an acceptable but below-average shooter whose overall blandness does nothing to offset the boredom and frustration caused by generally poor and sometimes frustrating level design, stupid AI, and uninspiring gameplay. VISUALS and AUDIO: Chaser's visuals are somewhat inconsistent - the faces are decent, but the body models are pretty low-polygon, and the environments are rather simple. The guns are lovingly rendered with high polygon counts and detailed textures, making them stand out oddly against the environment and enemies holding them. Some of the levels clearly received a lot more attention than others - the best have a reasonable amount of decorative objects and varied (but simple) structures, while the worst are mostly composed of long strings of identical, near-empty hallways. Even the quality of the textures seems to vary. The audio is acceptable - limited environmental reverb adds a bit of atmosphere, and guns can be identified by sound, which is nice. On the other hand, none of them sound particularly satisfying. The music is a fairly run-of-the-mill techno soundtrack, mostly forgettable with a few enjoyable standout tracks. Unfortunately, many tracks have distracting loud sections and/or sound effects that interfere with combat awareness. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: The controls are at least straightforward and responsive. You have a standard set of FPS movement and action controls, along with an "adrenaline mode" that slows down time. Oddly, there is no introduction to the time-slowing superpower beyond a one-paragraph mention in the middle of the manual, and an entry in the keyboard-control mapping options. It feels like an afterthought, and although it the implementation is fine, it wasn't particularly original at the time, and the glut of games employing it has only gotten denser since then. You can crouch and jump, unlike many games, this has no impact on the accuracy or sometimes ridiculous muzzle climb of your guns, and in fact most have *worse* recoil in aimed/zoomed/burst-fire mode. Still, one can adapt and find the most effective way to fire each weapon. Your aim is thrown off when you are hit sufficiently hard, which is a nice touch. Oddly, despite the obvious future setting, all of the guns are modern projectile weapons. The creators clearly enjoyed guns and went to some effort to accurately model and differentiate the weapons, but none of them end up feeling particularly satisfying (and swapping weapons is painfully slow). The game also has an irritating habit of taking them away from you, including several completely weaponless levels where you have no option but to run for the exit. Worse than those are the vehicle levels, though - in one, you pilot a drift-prone submarine that can outrun its own torpedoes, and in another a highly disappointing mini-mech (the easiest and most boring level of the game). Essentially, all of the toys you get to use turn out to be disappointingly bland. STORY/ACTING: The story is composed largely of standard sci-fi fare, but manages to be quite disjointed. You stumble from one plot twist or inevitable betrayal to the next, culminating in a somewhat ridiculous grand reveal and a highly dramatic final scene with no emotional impact whatsoever. The blandness of the game extends to the story, which manages to rob several potentially-awesome moments of any excitement. You are theoretically pursuing one particular enemy for most of the game, but you end up fighting a long string of different factions along the way - that and the total lack of pacing structure make it rather difficult to figure out where you are in the story. The voice acting is a mixture of decent and Mickey-Rooney-school-of-acting-Japanese, but the dumb stereotype acting matches the way those characters are written, so it just ends up unremarkable, like so much else. This also makes the characters tremendously predictable - the only surprise in the plot for me was how long it took one particular character to betray me. DIFFICULTY: At the highest difficulty level, you take damage very quickly, which could have made this an interestingly difficult game if only there were more sections in which enemies effectively pressured you. You are rarely charged by more than two enemies at a time, enemies are mostly as fragile as you are, and headshots are easy in slow-mo. If you remember to use your adrenaline power, most engagements are pretty simple, and if you don't, most assaults on large enemy groups result in taking almost no damage or death followed by quickload. On lower difficulties, the health and armor packs scattered generously around every map and dropped frequently by enemies should make life very simple. The one major asymmetry between you and your enemies is in sniper weapons - although enemy snipers can detect you at quite a distance, see through opaque foliage, and have very good aim, they don't do much damage (except the 4 one-hit-kill snipers in one level). You will probably find the scoped assault rifle far more useful than the sniper though, since the bolt-action rifle is painfully slow and does not kill some enemies with a headshot, while the silenced rifle alerts enemies anyway and has a scope that actually hides all objects beyond a certain (medium) range. The AI is very stupid, and even their scripted actions aren't particularly impressive. Enemies can open doors but very rarely pass through them, do not react at all to grenades (not a huge weakness, since you throw like a 12-year-old cripple), reset to standby mode on quickload, and don't always react to nearby deaths. They generally do not react to being shot so long as you can't see their face, and will fire at chest height when you are behind cover, even if you crouch and pick them off through a knee-high gap. They are only effective fighters when you must round a corner into a group that are facing you, when the game spawns them in a cleared area behind you, or when you must protect an objective against a considerable army in continuous waves that don't give enough time to recharge your adrenaline. Fortunately for that last case, Chaser keeps the last four quicksaves, so a poorly timed save (defense objectives don't indicate their health) won't require a whole-level replay. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: The level list feels like someone was going through action game cliches and checking off boxes. You have weapon-less run-to-the-exit levels, a stealth level, a submarine level, a point defense level where you pilot a light mech, sniping from a tower, a mine, a space station, some curiously clean slums, etc. Unfortunately, many of the gimmick levels are really poorly implemented. The mech level is essentially a ridiculously easy target-shooting minigame, as you have unlimited ammo, a ton of armor, and no more than 4 enemies dropped at a time, most at a range from which they don't open fire. The "stealth" level merely requires that you follow directions and employ trial-and-error to time several runs past stupidly inattentive guards (and find you way in several areas with insufficient or misleading instructions), as you fail the mission upon detection. The submarine level features numerous invisible walls and a trail of colored lights that only appear as you hit previous ones in order, leading to many minutes spent wandering around to find the next one, and almost 20 minutes in a level cleared of enemies as I tried to find the final exit, which is visible only from a small angle nowhere near the last waypoint. The bland scenery helps add to your disorientation, and accidental backtracking is likely, at which point you must figure out in which direction you should follow the trail of already-passed lights. Another level takes place in a sprawling military compound in a blizzard (which features the best visuals in the game - swirling snow in spotlights looks great), which could have been cool except that it is ridiculously hard to find your objectives - after falling through the map twice, I gave up and used a walkthrough to find the darn buildings I needed to go to. That level also features the only switch in the game were red light does not mean locked/inactive. Several other levels have unmarked switches identical to decorative, non-functional ones (in one case, directly next to one), but the worst hidden lock is a board blocking a door visible through a grate off to the side of a combat zone that you pass en route to a different objective (on a map that requires repeated backtracking to complete). On the subject of buggy levels, several make extensive use of ground clutter, which adds variety and really improves their looks, but rapidly becomes irritating because you can be stopped by or stuck on a 2-inch-high brick, and possibly (but rarely) end up embedded in or falling through a floor. The tower-sniping level (wherein you defend a painfully slow truck) has a mixture of unhelpful scripting (the driver initially calls for help when attacked, but at several points fails to tell you about enemies appearing in front of him, and twice misinforms you about the location of his attackers) and strange bugs, the worst of which is a grenade launcher in plain sight that you must not shoot before he fires his first shot. If you kill him immediately, the truck will continue to be hit by explosions from nowhere, and you will probably lose the level. THE VERDICT: There is absolutely nothing special about Chaser, and virtually every part of the game has some element that is sub-par or stupidly frustrating. I did enjoy some parts, and some of the frustrations were mitigated by peeking at a walkthrough, but it doesn't have any above-average elements to counteract the bad parts. It's not horrible, so it's not a 1-star game, but it is solidly down in 2-star territory.
Tyrian 2000 is a quirky arcade shoot-em-up with great design, a ton of character, and tremendous customizability. Between the huge assortment of ships and weapons, secret levels, and various arcade modes, Tyrian 2000 will provide many hours of non-stop fun. VISUALS and AUDIO: Despite running at a fixed 320x240 resolution, Tyrian looks pretty good. The sprites are crisp and clear, the colors are bright, ships show up well against the background (except the ones that are supposed to be hard to see), and the HUD is attractive and easy to read at a glance. Everything comes in tremendous variety - every weapon has a unique firing pattern and projectile, you never stop encountering new enemies, and every level has a unique landscape following one of a large set of themes. Despite its age, Tyrian is definitely one of the most visually engaging shoot-em-ups out there. The combat sounds are decent (punctuated by helpful alerts), but the soundtrack is just fantastic. There are over 30 tracks, so even similar levels usually have distinct background music, and it's all done just right - classic arcade sound, fast and pulse-raising. The music and visuals manage to combine to create a surprising amount of atmosphere, particularly in dark tunnel runs and turbo-speed races against the clock. There's a reason that the game comes with a jukebox utility! CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: Tyrian's controls are simple and sweet - move with mouse (or direction keys, not recommended!), then fire / special-fire (they can be fired together or left/right) / switch mode (rear gun). Each ship has a "special move" (or several) that can be activated arcade-style, with some movement&fire combo. For the advanced player, these (and powerups, of which you can only keep one) can have a significant impact on gameplay. Your ship is equipped with shields, which regenerate faster when you aren't firing, and armor, which you'd better keep intact. If you get reduced to very low armor and survive for a while, a rescue ship will appear and drop a partial armor repair - this enables skin-of-your-teeth survival without robbing any of the tension or difficulty from those tough spots. Ship customization is where Tyrian really shines - with over 30 weapons to choose from, you'll never run out of variety. Different front/read weapons, sidekicks, ships, shields, and generators are available for purchase on every level, and you can always upgrade your main two weapons' power levels - but be careful to balance power generation with weapon and shield demands! Different weapons vary not only in power but also in behavior, allowing you to customize toward your own preferred flying style - seeking weapons for the agile dodger, spread-fire for hordes of weaker enemies, or even the tremendously powerful but point-blank-range Zica Flamethrowers to reward pilots with a daring streak. Early on, managing the delicate balance of shields, weapon choices, and your generator on a limited budget is one of the most important challenges; since you buy upgrades with points scored as you play, performance really matters! If you'd rather not deal with upgrade management (or just want to try out any of the 10 special "secret" ships with unique weapons and powers), you can play arcade mode, where weapons are found as powerups in-game. This lets you try out almost every option, but the same mechanic that lets you suddenly start clearing the field with lasers can bite you when you accidentally pick up missiles mid-level, so beware! In addition to this game mode (and the unlockable ships you are told about in hints), there are several "mini-game" levels with different mechanics. These levels are endless, running until you run out of lives, and the scores are just for bragging rights, as they have no impact on the main game. I found some of these to be a ton of fun and replayed quite a bit (Zinglon's Ale: 533462). STORY/ACTING: The story is largely for amusement purposes, but there is a lot of it - you get messages between missions that outline a growing plot, and even more flavor is provided by datacubes you can collect within the levels. Some of these are just amusing, others give hints on how to unlock secrets or otherwise help you out. There is no voice acting, but the story itself is kinda fun, a few of the communications come from some pretty funny characters. Your choices and performance over the course of the game do have some impact on how the storyline unfolds, as well as the levels and equipment to which you gain access. DIFFICULTY: Tyrian has 3 standard difficulties, with Easy being pretty manageable for a novice and Hard enough to keep a veteran on his toes at least some of the time. However, for those seeking serious challenge, there are three more secret difficulties: Impossible, Suicide, and Lord of the Game. If you want a ridiculous challenge, Tyrian can provide it, just look up how to unlock those [collectible hints in-game will also tell you how]. "Lord of the Game" difficulty is automatically applied when you use any of the secret arcade mode ships ("Super Tyrian mode"), and a Suicide campaign will keep even an expert player busy for a long time (you will *need* to strategically select secret level paths to acquire several items like the early level 10 shield and Phoenix; of course paying for these will leave you in a painful situation weapon-wise in the early levels). The range of difficulties provided both widens the potential appeal of the game and adds replay value. Harder levels add a few incidental enemies, but the primary waves are identical across difficulties, with enemies simply being less durable and dealing less damage in Easy. I'm working on a Suicide campaign right now, but I tested out Arcade Mode on Easy and was enjoying it so much that I finished the game in one sitting. It is rare that I find a game fun for a long haul in easy mode, but Tyrian just has so many great toys that even an expert player can enjoy casual mayhem, maybe experimenting with flashy but ineffective weapon loadouts; at the same time, a more casual player can get the real Tyrian experience without the pain of tougher enemies. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: As I've mentioned above, part of the difficulty early on comes from the fact that you need to balance purchases of shields and generators against weapon upgrades. In general, I recommend always upgrading your shields whenever you can, even at the cost of weapon downgrades. Generators are second priority, ship type (for armor) third, and whatever is left goes to guns. You'll need to find a weapon load-out that works best for you, although I'll save you some pain and tell you to steer clear of front and rear missiles; they're awful. If you see a new weapon or sidekick, it may be worth trying it out and then restarting the level - you might discover something that works really well for you, and you don't want to miss an opportunity to buy it [several of the best weapons are only available once or twice]. Some of the secret levels are very hard, particularly in episode 1; if you warp to a secret level and get stuck, go back to the previous level and play through again without collecting that warp orb. Secret levels are particularly worthwhile because many have unique or rare equipment available for purchase. There are also a few "bonus" levels that you don't have to survive - dying just means you collect fewer points. Still, points are important until you can afford to fully upgrade your ship. Once your weapons are upgraded far enough, weapon upgrade pods will often (but not always) be replaced with special power pickups - these vary in usefulness, so try them all out and then stick with one you like. Beware - some will block use of your ship's special abilities! THE VERDICT: Tyrian 2000 has everything I want in a shoot-em-up, and it's just a blast to play. It can offer as much challenge as you want, you can customize the heck outta your ship (and there are a variety of viable load-outs, depending on your style), and the game is perfused with wonderful, quirky style. Endless mayhem, ample choice, and good balance all add up to non-stop fun and a solid 5.
Septerra Core is an attractive, easy-to-play JRPG-style adventure with a nice interface, a good story in a surprisingly deep world, and a neat magic system. It has some of the feel of a console RPG but was developed solely for the PC, totally avoiding awkward interface elements in favor of intuitive point-and-click. It's not particularly challenging, it's very linear, and it can be slow, but it's fun to experience the world of Septerra. This is a game to play for the story and atmosphere, or if you're a fan of classic JRPGs; this is not my usual cup of tea, but it ended up being a nice change of pace for me and managed to pull me out of my usual challenge-focused mindset. VISUALS and AUDIO: The game runs at a low fixed resolution and is entirely composed of pre-rendered 3D scenes and sprites, but it looks surprisingly good. There are enough frames of animation and different facing angles that the fact that it's pre-rendered isn't a problem. Local lighting in scenes affects the characters, and there are even shadows that shift as you move about. Your view is centered on your main character and scrolls as you move around the map, sometimes panning to take in a point of interest. Each map is a big painted/rendered picture, so scenery is wonderfully varied, geometry is tremendously flexible (particularly with multi-level scenes), and since you are smoothly scrolling through it even as you move between levels, it doesn't feel static at all. Combat animations are flashy, detailed, and clearly indicate what is happening (but they're slow). In dialog, talking heads pop up, and while they are simply-textured and not well lip-synched, these are surprisingly emotive. World maps are quite pretty, and some scenes have a more horizontal viewpoint with well-painted background vistas. I was somewhat startled when I started sorting screenshots and realized how low the resolution actually was (640x480) - it doesn't seem that low in-game. The game generally sounds good too - there isn't much scene music (mainly on the world maps, each with its own well-done theme), but the ambient sound for each location is well done. It is natural enough that at times you don't notice it much, but silent (or near-silent) areas are notable. There are plenty of sound-generating objects and wildlife that you hear when you are nearby, but enemies do not make sounds (maps do have native-enemy sounds at random, some of which are positional but indicate nothing). Battles are backed by music randomly chosen from a small list, but it never got irritating, so it's decently done (and can be turned off). Some combat sounds are consistently mis-timed, but this is apparently a computer-specific issue. STORY/ACTING: Despite a JRPG/anime-cliche quasi-Christian-mythology framing story, the game storyline is actually quite good. This is in large part due to a tremendous amount of NPC interaction and full voice acting for everything. Every NPC wandering through every town can be talked to, with plenty who are just there for flavor - and they interact differently with each of your 8 possible companions, sometimes very amusingly so (bring Led and Selina around towns!). The voice acting is solid; it sounds like the actors actually know what's going on, so conversations are pretty natural. The surprisingly nuanced emotional range of the animated talking heads really adds to the effect. The only thing I can say against the acting is that with so many characters, there is inevitable re-use of some voices for minor NPCs, and a limited number of head models (although they do vary in palette and generally match the voice) for same. This is really a quibble, since all the major characters have unique voices and faces. There are a couple of dramatic moments in the FMVs where the acting isn't quite up to snuff, but nobody's perfect. The world in which the game is set is very original and plays an integral part in the overall plot. The varying cultures among the 7 shells are well-expressed, and significant changes are wrought on the physical, political, and cultural landscape in the course of the story, lending events and your missions some real weight. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: Everything is point-and-click (although there are keyboard shortcuts for many things). You control Maya, and your two companions (who can be swapped out at various "home base" locations) follow. You interact by clicking or by clicking an item from your inventory (helpfully sorted into restoratives and "key items") and then a target on which to use it. When talking, you choose a party member to speak, or select among available topics of conversation presented as pictures; there is no branching or reply selection, so everything is simple. Whenever you are hovering over an item, a name and description will be displayed; if it is equipment, altered stats will show in green (improved) or red (reduced). Everything is pretty intuitive and response is very snappy. The interface is clean, well-designed, and large - items are clearly identifiable (in the inventory, as a pointer icon, or on the ground), and the game manages to avoid having too many things on screen at once while also avoiding menu interfaces - large, friendly icons and action panels keep the flow smooth. Inventory management is assisted by handy highlights on portraits of those who can equip items (in stores), or by showing only what is usable in a particular slot (when equipping). The only complaint I have is that the lovely large portraits can sometimes cover damage messages in combat (and status for enemies near the bottom or top of the screen is similarly cut off). Combat is similarly straightforward, although there are more options. Your characters charge up action bars (based on a speed stat), which allow them to attack with 3 levels of increasing strength or use advanced abilities (equipment and level gain eventually grant 6 special abilities to each character in addition to the three basic attacks), the latter of which cost energy. That energy can also be used to cast spells, which are assembled from "fate cards" earned over the course of the game; more powerful spells can be assembled by combining cards (with multiple characters). In addition to being a fun concept, the big drag-and-drop cards avoid tedious menu reading, and the cards sort themselves according to what can be combined with current selections (and energy levels), speeding up spell assembly considerably. Major spells (particularly summons) have rather elaborate casting scenes, which are cool but become a tad irritating over time due to their length. Some abilities will hit enemies in a line or based on distance to the primary target, so positioning matters (but it is fixed for each combat and you cannot move). The system will be generally familiar to fans of JRPG-style games, although it nicely avoids the immersion-breaking menu-trees (it does have similarly slow combat and long attack animations though). Enemies respawn when you exit a map and return, although a few are only encountered once (and major in-game events can change map contents); they are always the same, which lets you blaze through sections old maps to which you must occasionally return. Exploration is rewarded with barrels and crates of goodies (plus XP, gold, and items from combat), but these do not re-spawn, so you can take short return paths. Enemies patrol the map and can sometimes be dodged by deft navigation and timing, which is a nice touch. There is a decent variety of enemy types with different characteristics and behaviors, and as they level up they gain new abilities along with their better stats, so things stay interesting for a fair while. There are a number of "boss fights" that range from particularly tough enemies/teams with unpleasant new spells to more puzzle-type bosses, generally of the "hit this [thing that does not show a damage number] n times to expose vulnerable bits, smack hard, repeat" variety, but sometimes more complex. Some regenerate parts and require coordinated elimination, and some are ridiculously resistant to normal attack (and/or harshly punish direct assault) but can be fought much more effectively in an indirect manner. Gratifyingly, the latter *can* be destroyed via the painful and unwise direct route, even if it does require a long time and a lot of restoratives - this just feels a little more fair, even if you decide to go back and re-fight using the trick you figured out at the end to save items (*whistles innocently*). DIFFICULTY: While you are likely to die a few times (particularly to bad luck in the early game, and to surprising new enemy abilities in the midgame), games of this type really can't be particularly hard. At the beginning of the game it takes a bit of time to build up funds for decent gear, but you'll get through with careful use of free home-base healing and a habit of checking your healing stocks before moving forward to a new map. Eventually you'll be able to kit out most of your party, and as you advance in levels and available gear, the cost of healing and energy-restoring items becomes so relatively small that you can afford to always be well-stocked. A bit of exploration will provide helpful extras [and the fact that characters revive with 1 HP after combat means that you need not spend expensive revivers except in dire circumstances], and combat rewards will pad your supplies nicely. By the mid-game you should be able to buy nearly everyone the best new gear every time shops upgrade their offerings, and top up your core runes (at this point, healing via spell is cheaper than bread, so no need to buy healing items) before every mission. If you're decently prepared and make reasonable tactical choices in combat, "hard fight" will generally mean "I had to use healing" rather than "I died". Bosses might take a few tries, and you're still susceptible to exceptional strings of bad luck, but with non-random enemies and quicksave-anywhere, it's just a few minutes wasted. The game also suffers from power-curve issues that are all but unavoidable in games without detailed battlefield tactics - by the endgame, you have strong casters, spells that can hit everything, and the funds to buy a huge pile of energy-restoring items. Normal fights can be blazed through by firing high-power spells, bosses generally just require a few defense spells or debuffs like Slow to start, and puzzle bosses are simply a matter of waiting or the right sequence of attacks. All that said, it's still reasonably fun, and your variety of available spells allows a bit of tactical variation in boss fights. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: Generally, level design is pretty good - thanks to a fully-visible map (which unfortunately stretches oddly to fill the screen), you can generally see where you need to go, although you may need to search for a switch. Some levels look like mazes and require exploration of many long cul-de-sacs, but thanks to well-placed doors require very little backtracking (some of the Palace and the Core Mines are good examples), but a few (the prison) do get a bit tedious. The game pans to show you every map change caused by a switch, which helps make puzzle maps much less irritating in addition to sometimes revealing hidden goodies. Early on, you will have to cross through repopulated combat zones going to and from objectives, but switches stay flipped, so return trips are generally much shorter. A few bosses and high-level areas are accessible significantly before they are important to the plot, so if you are having way too much trouble, step back and consider whether you need to be doing this now. If you haven't been told about something or instructed to go here, you probably can come back later; if you're lost, go talk to Azziz and Layla about everything for hints. All that said, I was able to beat <the thing that makes a problematic noise> when I found it (great fun, although it took a long time), and the reward was useful! Equipment decisions are generally easy, as there is usually a best item available at any given time for each slot, although body armor often has a heavy vs light choice (almost always go light, speed kills enemies). This keeps life simple and avoids excessive inventory management, but the more flexible "optional item" slot lets you customize your characters a bit. I didn't find protection items very helpful, usually opting for stat-increasers (killing enemies faster also reduces damage taken!). A few tips: character speed matters quite a bit - Dog has great power, but he's so slow that his damage output is actually quite poor, and his low agility means that he misses a LOT. Badu suffers the same problem, although not nearly as badly (and it is only in the late game that his miss percentage skyrockets). Led is an excellent companion because she is a mechanic, fast, has anti-robot powers, is a very strong caster, and does acceptable damage (plus she is agile enough to sometimes hit cloaked enemies, great in the midgame). Characters that hate others will sometimes attack them in combat, but all such pairs can be reconciled in side missions that will be clear if you pay attention to what people say. Advanced character abilities (the ones acquired late in the game) are generally not worth the action points and core cost - spells will do far more for less. Relatedly, once Heal gives about 50 health, it is cheaper to use (via core rune replenishment) than bread; in the late game Heal+All trumps all items except in combat emergencies. If you aren't strong enough to take out undead with normal attacks before they get to you, Fire+All is probably cheaper than healing (similarly with anything else that has huge damage resistance and strong attacks, including werewolves, skulls [use water], and robots [lightning]), not to mention safer and way faster. THE VERDICT: I definitely had fun with Septerra Core, and it has a lovely world in which to play. It looks and sounds good, and the acting carries the story well. It is also seriously long - the first time I thought I was nearing the finale turned out to be only about 2/3 of the way through! Unfortunately, combat is slow, inevitable power curve issues that make the late game kind of boring, and a some of the levels depart from the overall good design and get a bit tedious. The linearity and simplicity of the game that make it completely non-frustrating to play also handicap the game rating-wise; on the other hand, the power-curve problems let me blaze through the last few missions using my fastest attack, reducing the potential tedium. In the end, it was a nice change of pace for me, a fun story in which to participate, and the presentation and acting edge it into 4-star territory.
Beneath a Steel Sky is a point-and-click adventure that manages to escape many of the pitfalls common to other games of its genre and era. It looks good, plays sensibly, and even has a good story to carry it. VISUALS and AUDIO: BaSS looks really good, for what it is - the backgrounds are nicely designed and well-painted, characters and scene elements with which you will interact are clear and well-depicted, and the overall look & feel is consistent with the story. The visuals really add to the atmosphere of the game, and everything looks right. Many scenes have multiple levels, and characters look appropriately near or far when in different areas. On top of all this, there are lots of these locations, and none are throwaways - there's something to do everywhere. The entire screen is used for graphics, with a drop-down visual inventory and characters speaking via floating text - there is no clutter to detract from the art. The entire game is fully voiced, and each character sounds distinct enough to be immediately recognizable. The speech diverges amusingly from the text at times, generally replacing British vocabulary and expressions with American. (eg "Well it's smart!" => "It's totally cool!", in reference to your jumper, aka sweater). Each area has a soundtrack, which is low-bitrate but can be charming. I particularly liked the cyberspace theme. Some scenes are populated with clanking machinery, beeping computers, or an excessively friendly jukebox; everything sounds like you would expect. Again, this attention to detail helps to bring the world to life and add to the excellent atmosphere. STORY/ACTING: As mentioned above, the entire game is fully voiced, and each of the many characters has a distinct accent, mood, and personality. When you tick someone off, you'll hear it! The writing is unexpectedly good, not only in terms of dialog quality and characterization, but also the overall story. The failed-utopia / machine-intelligence-run-amok theme may be cliched, but the world is filled with enough detail to have an unusual amount of depth and atmosphere. Given the limitations of the genre, I don't think it could be done much better than this. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: Beneath a Steel Sky's controls are fairly typical point-and-click adventure fare, with look via left-click, interaction via right-click, and item use via selection from the inventory followed by clicking on the target. It is a pretty intuitive system, and clicking wrong will just result in re-hearing a description or Robert shrugging at you. As mentioned above, environment elements are generally clear, as are items in your inventory, so you're never stuck playing guess-the-pixel. The cursor helpfully changes to indicate objects, so you can quickly check all the control panels and cabinets in a scene. Descriptions often contain helpful hints (eg "there's a grate in the way" instead of just "you can't reach it"), again reducing unintentional mystery. Unlike many adventure games, where trial-and-error exploration mix with "try every item on every other item" puzzle-solving, the clear descriptions of items and scenes generally make it clear what you must do next, and with a bit of exploration you'll find what you need to do it. Puzzle solutions are very logical (and sometimes humorous), in a splendid departure from the norm. Usually in this genre the best you can hope is that a solution makes sense in retrospect, but here when you think of an approach to a problem using the materials at hand, it's probably correct . . . but you might be missing a step. If you fail in your attempt, it's usually clear what went wrong, and that information should lead you to the correct solution. DIFFICULTY: Thanks to the good puzzle design, the usual "what the heck were the devs thinking" fake-challenge (or at least unfair) so common in the genre is mostly absent. You will find some puzzles reject your initial attempts, but there is generally a hint as to why, pointing you in the right direction to fix your mistake. I rather liked the two puzzles in the last area - lots of steps, each of which made sense, had hints, and could be figured out from initial failures. Beyond that, there are a couple of timed segments, but no combat or other out-of-place twitch reflex tests. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: This game is quite short; I finished it in an afternoon (without ever consulting a guide), despite repeatedly reloading in order to explore different dialog options and death sequences. On the other hand, it feels a lot bigger than its also-free-here predecessor Lure of the Temptress - there is a lot more content here, and much less time is spent faffing about chasing NPCs or waiting. This game also uses the Virtual Theater engine (where off-screen NPCs are still active and move around), but it's virtual theater *done right*. Only a few of the NPCs move, and they follow predictable paths, livening up the game world without making them hard to track down. You can order characters to assist you, but this is done via normal dialog options rather than painful verb-menu construction, so it's not unwieldy at all. In keeping with the excellent puzzle design, it is quite clear when you need help, so the appearance of a request for assistance in dialog options is not a giveaway or a surprise. THE VERDICT: This game really does nothing wrong, and it's pretty fun. That said, while it's an excellent example of everything done right within its genre, it's by no means an earth-shatteringly amazing experience, and the short length makes it no more than a pleasant diversion for an afternoon or two. Still, the length is quite acceptable given the genre, and with everything else solidly above average, BaSS earns 4 stars.
Lure of the Temptress is a simple point-and-click adventure with some interesting mechanics and a rather silly and inaccurate title that probably helped sales. VISUALS and AUDIO: Low-res, low bit-depth, this is not a pretty game, but you can see what's going on and there isn't much pixel-hunting. You and various NPCs move between static scenes with limited ambient animation. The limited palette is used reasonably well, and scenes are scaled to provide a decent level of detail in character graphics, but it won't be winning any art contests. There are a few ambient sounds, and some actions have appropriate noises. A few scenes have low-bitrate music that is nothing to remark upon. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: The control system definitely shows the legacy of text-driven adventure games; you click to move or look at something, but clicking to perform an action brings up a verb menu, which brings up further menus to construct a command (eg use knife on pouch). As your inventory grows, this becomes a bit unwieldy. You can use this system to give detailed, multi-part commands to companions (and need to do so several times over the course of the game), but while interesting, the process gets old by about the second time. This game introduced the "Virtual Theater" engine with much fanfare, showing off a world in which all characters are active at all times, present and moving about in some area. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to showcase this concept, the designers gave a lot of freedom of movement to many NPCs in a non-linear town - it is not enjoyable running in circles, checking every building trying to find someone, knowing that they're probably walking along the south side of town as you check the north and vise versa. Worse, there exist characters who will only speak to you in one location, and you may only be able to enter said location as they are leaving. I probably spent half of my total play time chasing people around town or just waiting, neither of which are enjoyable tasks. There are a few quick combat sections, which operate in 1 dimension - you can move forward and back, and attack or block high, medium, or low. You and a single enemy trade blows until someone dies. These are not particularly difficult, but they feel a bit contrived in a point-and-click adventure. STORY/ACTING: There is no voice acting. Opening and closing animations tell a standard-fantasy-fare story to set the scene (via text screens), and NPCs are happy to tell you about goings-on in town. You can listen in on conversations as well, although the extra text boxes floating about can be a bit annoying, and waiting for the town gossip to finish chatting with someone you need to speak to is quite irritating. If you care to, you can learn a bit more about characters and the history of the plot by chatting with NPCs again while under a certain magical influence, but this has no bearing on the quest and isn't at all surprising. DIFFICULTY: You can save anywhere, and there are only a few opportunities to die. You are generally prevented from doing anything quest-breaking, so other than a few un-prohibited stupid actions (eg walking into a fire), you just need to survive the above-mentioned combat segments and a few timed tasks. The former are not too difficult and can be won in a few tries by just attacking repeatedly, so don't waste time being strategic. The latter merely involves knowing what to do and not delaying about it, although one requires a series of actions and some pixel hunting and will therefore probably take a few tries to complete in time. It is at least obvious when you're under time pressure. There are a few puzzles as well; some involve asking a companion to assist you or do something you cannot, but one requires either a bit of logic or a few rounds of trial-and-error ordering a companion around, which could be an irritating time-sink. These are kind of obligatory for the genre, and are tolerable, although none are particularly fun or exciting. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: This game is quite short; I finished it in an afternoon (without ever consulting a guide), despite repeatedly reloading in order to explore different dialog options and death sequences. The correct way forward is not always clear - as with many old adventure games, the immediately obvious solution may not work, and you then have to just try everything until something works. Fortunately (given the unwieldy verb menu interface), you don't have to do the "try every inventory item on every other one" thing here . . . unfortunately you often have to try talking to everyone until you get useful information, which is a royal pain when some people move around. If you aren't a veteran of classic adventure games, this discovery process may take more time, but it will still be a short game. THE VERDICT: The occasional tedium in the game really takes away from the neat mechanics (and in the case of NPC-chasing, is directly attributable to one), and even with that, there's not much to the game. It may be a decent diversion for an afternoon, but it wouldn't be worth getting if it weren't free. I prefer to rate games on their merits alone, so it gets no credit for being free; therefore it fails to manage a neutral three. 2 stars - it could be fun if you like this sort of thing, but most nostalgia trips on GOG are better.
Enclave is everything that a third-person action game should be - they avoid everything wrong with third person games, manage to do all the right things, and provide variety while they're doing it. It is fun, legitimately challenging, flexible, and able to be played however you like. The joy factor of this game is so high that whenever it crashed, I was surprised to find that I wasn't particularly annoyed, just eager to play the level again and maybe switch up my tactics. It's that good (and I'm not affected by nostalgia; I had never played before 2011). VISUALS: This is a pretty game. Character models have good polygon counts, good texturing, and good mapping - everything looks smooth, and character animations are good. You can tell what weapons and armor an enemy is using from a distance (helpfully, enemies use the same equipment that the equivalent PC classes use) and plan accordingly. Some parts of environments can be a bit low-poly, but that's usually just rock faces and the like; architecture is good and plenty varied, with everything from crumbling ruins, machinery-laden mines, and dark castles to classical palaces, beautiful elven forest retreats, and an underwater sanctuary. Draw distance is as long as it needs to be - you can always see all the way to the next obstacle except for a few areas that are intentionally foggy. Environments vary from wide open sniper playgrounds to cramped mines, and they all look good (although we're not talking Half-Life 2 here). When equipping a missile weapon, you have an aiming dot that is sized to show range, and aiming in third person works very well (you aim where you're looking, so aim is constant between first- and third-person view). You have 3 small HUD components, indicating your current weapon and ammo, your potions, any keys or objects you are carrying, and the identity and health of the enemy at which you are aiming; damage is show via floating numbers color coded for you or the enemy. AUDIO: The music is good, doesn't get old even if you repeat a level many times, and is well-balanced: it never interferes with hearing in combat. Weapons and armor clink, enemies yell insults, and you can hear bowstrings, crossbows loading, and extra arrows being nocked. Combined with the good animations, this is very helpful when facing archers, particularly those who like firing heavy spreads of arrows. Ambient sound is also good, with squealing machinery, hinges in a variety of conditions, creaky boards, distant combat, and wind all helping to set the mood or alert you to incoming hostiles. You'll notice when you're listening, but it is otherwise natural enough that it just blends in - things sound like you expect them to. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: This is the only third-person game I have ever played with a flawless camera. In third person, the camera is free and stays pointed where you pointed it. There is no drift, no wiggling or snapping in corners, no aiming mode or lock-on, nothing. If you're against a wall, the camera pushes forward, potentially all the way into the first-person view perspective, and as it gets close to you, you become increasingly transparent so your view is never obstructed. In first person, your weapon is partly transparent for the same reason. Archers using sniper or magic arrows get two levels of zoom, which is stable, clear, and identifies body parts and their armor. You move exactly the same way in first and third person views, and can switch between them near-instantly and smoothly, which is sometimes tremendously helpful in combat. You have standard move buttons, jump, and crouch (no context-sensitive movements except climbing out of water, so combat movement is completely natural). Movement speed is controlled enough to navigate narrow ledges, although you may want to crouch with faster characters. Two next/previous controls swap between weapons and ammo for bows. You have a fire/swing button and a secondary action, which will raise your shield or do something weapon-specific like reloading or zooming. This key is also used for the rare context actions, such as using keys or levers; a big flashing indicator makes it clear when this will occur. Unlocked doors are opened by bumping them, keeping movement simple. The only complaint I have is that ladders are hard to get on going down, but you get used to running toward them across a gap, or backing slowly off and then pushing into them. You generally won't need to worry - either the fall is short enough not to hurt, or you'll have ample time to grab the ladder, it's just a bit awkward. As you progress through each campaign, you gain access to new classes - you can choose any one for each mission, and can go back at any time to replay an earlier level with new classes and better gear (which may be wise if you didn't collect all the gold!). Your gold is never spent - you can change your loadout to anything your total earnings will cover. This gives you a lot of flexibility to play as you want, rewards you for collecting, and provides serious replay value. Completing each storyline unlocks a further character, and collecting all the gold in a campaign unlocks a beastly special character whose only purpose is to take firey, explosive vengeance on any level that gave you guff the first time through. As I've mentioned, this game crashes occasionally on my machine (Windows 7 64-bit); this is not a universal problem and it is not game-breaking, as I can generally get several levels completed before a crash. Still, be warned. STORY/ACTING: The story is surprisingly interesting, and it's rather fun to re-visit certain battles from the other side in the dark campaign, as well as getting sweet revenge on a particular whiny character. Every mission has a clear role in the ongoing story, and usually centers on a clearly relevant strategic task. Facial animation isn't great, so the in-engine cutscenes aren't perfect, but they're fine and the voice acting is decent all around. A few narrated movie cutscenes fill you in on the history and current events, which is enough to tie everything together and at one point, give you an important hint. DIFFICULTY: At first I thought this was a bit too easy but I spoke way too soon - you are introduced gently but it doesn't baby you for long, and a few of the levels are seriously challenging (on Hard; there are three difficulty levels). There is of course some variation in the level of challenge depending on what class you use in a particular level, and how much gold you've collected for gear (as well as what gear is available to you at each point in the game, and how well you balance it). There are a few secret, optional arenas that each have three stages, one of which (Hagastrom) is incredibly hard when you first get access; if you relish a challenge, try to beat it right away rather than coming back later with better gear. I spent many hours trying with all the classes and a variety of gear loadouts, finally beating it with an engineer (after many near-successes with that loadout). It was during that process that I realized just how much I loved the game - repeatedly dying to one of the last few enemies was certainly frustrating, but it only motivated me more. I even put up with a few crashes during the process (and came back at the end of the game to finally get other classes through it). There are no checkpoints on Hard, and no quicksave - you have to survive the whole level, which can make a game very fun if it is balanced correctly, and this one is. (On lower levels there are checkpoints but death loses gold, so you may wish to restart anyway - perfect completion still rewards *consistent* skill.) You can buy healing potions in your initial load-out, and you will find them amply sprinkled throughout most levels, particularly in the vicinity of harder sections. Still, you may find yourself down to a sliver of health and without potions at the end of a level, and the tension really adds to the experience (not to mention the feeling of accomplishment if you pull it off!). Most levels with very hard sections are otherwise fairly short, or front-load the trap or other high-probability-of-death segment . . . but there are a few long levels that end in a seriously hard fight (and at least one very nasty trick for those not paying attention to the story). I usually rant about these, but in this case I was not angered by it, probably because every level is fun throughout, filled with combat that is appropriate for at least one class (and usually several); this provides enjoyment and potential variation that a long platform sequence or puzzle does not. Furthermore, you'll often find that if you're having too much trouble with one section, you can change class and shift the difficulty to a different area (levels with wizards definitely have this tradeoff until you can buy an enchanted shield). LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: Levels are quite varied not only in appearance, but also in gameplay. Different level designs favor different classes, and particularly in the light campaign, you'll probably need to use a melee fighter, archer, and caster each several times. Replaying a level with a new class will offer a very different experience, and most levels have at least one section particularly tough for each class you might use, allowing you to choose your challenge. There are a couple of "boss fight" levels, but these are varied and don't feel excessively gimmicky (with two exceptions, environment-provided heavy weapons can be passed up in favor of your own, and one of those exceptions has a fun surprise). Several levels have traps or major environmental hazards, but remember that this is not a platformer. If you're repeatedly dying to one, slow down and try a different approach (possibly just waiting to see what happens if you don't act) - nothing requires fancy trick jumps, and every one I remember can be solved by one correctly timed run or simply taking it slow. A few traps can be sprung on your enemies or just triggered for fun if you avoid them yourself. Most hazardous areas have clear warning signs or obvious hints as well. There are a couple missions where a companion must survive, but they aren't really escort missions, because said companions are quite sturdy even on Hard. You can't ignore them, of course, but you won't spend much time baby-sitting either. You will often meet the characters that will become available to you in the next mission, but they can generally die with no penalty (only two need to be protected, and only briefly, as they open doors for you). Thorough exploration is encouraged and rewarded with hidden caches of gold and potions, as well as maps to the secret levels. There are six secret levels, with two three-stage arenas and one artillery defense per campaign. These are optional and can be completed at any time; sooner earns you gold to help you with campaign missions, while the harder arenas may be too much to handle until you can afford better gear. The light and dark campaigns have 14 and 13 missions respectively, and switching campaigns brings you back to square one with no gold. The dark campaign plays a bit differently thanks to your better knowledge of the game as well as minor differences between the dark classes and their light counterparts. There are a few places where scene geometry behaves badly, with only two serious ones: First, at the start of The Great Wall, the crossbow archer can fire through the near crest of the bridge while remaining hidden, so I advise you not to back up after triggering his approach. Second, in the outer corners of Hagastrom, engineer's bombs tend to fall through the ground (but grease bombs do not). These and occasional difficulties registering arrow hits when running (which may be intentional inaccuracy, but should in that case show offset arrow trails) are the only significant complaints I have, and they can all be avoided. THE VERDICT: I'll say it again: Enclave is everything a third-person action game should be, and better than I thought possible. It is balanced well for a variety of play styles and every class has a meaningful role to play, the camera combines all of the potential advantages of third-person view with none of the flaws, it has ample variation in gear, balancing your purchases matters, and the weapons are fun. The freedom to switch classes, completely re-balance your gear, and selectively play past missions adds to the already high replay value, and it's a solid length even on one pass. Finally, Hard level is implemented really well, offers some serious challenges, and is so fun that defeat never devolves into frustration. A very solid 5. I really hope that Starbreeze eventually finishes Enclave II, which will be a rare release-day buy for me.
Another World is a decidedly unique piece of gaming art that could fairly be called a masterpiece. The only strong complaint I have is that it is very short (surprisingly, given the occasional brutal difficulty). At under 4 hours, it doesn't have the value of many GOG titles, particularly at its current $9.99 price point. VISUALS and AUDIO: Simple, but beautifully so. I remember when this came out and it was ever so cool - the vector-based design gave interesting, *flowing* forms, and that has translated to the upgrade. The new remastered backgrounds are lovely, and the flat details and lines work quite well, a nice piece of stylized design. I played in both modes, and really nothing is lost by selecting the new, higher-resolution and higher-bit-depth graphics - the overall palette and the absolutely gorgeous atmosphere have been preserved (unlike an earlier port that re-drew everything and seriously messed it up). The new music is true to the original and frankly works better, since there's a limit to what you can do with low bit-rate audio. Sound effects, like the visuals, are sparse and highly effective. Sounds warn you of hazards, help cue you in to what enemies are doing, and add little touches to environments. This game has also mastered something sadly overlooked in many modern games - effective use of silence. You are meant to feel lonely, and you will. CONTROLS and GAMEPLAY: Another World has very simple controls and takes the interesting step of telling you almost nothing. The manual has three pictures, telling you that you can walk, run, or jump; kick or crouch-kick; and with a firearm you can shoot, charge briefly for a shield, or charge longer for a shield-buster shot. You have no HUD, no health meter, and no measurements or feedback beyond the world you see. You meet no-one in the game who speaks a language you understand, and there is no text to instruct you in any way - after the opening animation, the game starts dumping you in medias res, and in medias a pool of water with some threatening tentacles you must escape. It has a very artsy feel, but at the same time it *really works* - you act on instinct and there is nothing to get in the way of immersion. Since discovery is such an integral part of the game experience, I won't spoil anything by discussing further mechanics in any detail. Suffice it to say that you will occasionally have to operate devices, which handle so naturally that you may not even notice you weren't told anything. At other times, you will have to try new approaches to pass obstacles or solve puzzles; if you pay attention to objects in the world and watch the actions of other characters, you will learn what you need to do. You need to keep your eyes and ears open to survive in a strange world, and paying attention will be rewarded! The world is chock full of things trying to kill you, and this is a classic action/platformer, where you are meant to learn by trial and error. Oops, that thing poisons me. Oh dear, there are spikes at the bottom of that pit. That monster is WAY too big to fight, I gotta run. Crap, dead end, what do I do?! OH&*@$ who is that, and what is he about to AHHH! It will take a while to get into the feel and flow of the game, but the process is organic and pretty natural, as are the emotions that it raises. Not only are there moments of real, visceral fear, but I really ended up caring for the companion that I eventually meet, pretty impressive for a game without words. I am really surprised at the flow the game manages to attain despite the frequent deaths; it must have something to do with the immersive draw of communicating only through action. The first major challenge can be pretty tough (it took me days to get past when I tried this as a kid [I didn't get far]), but once you beat it you'll get a checkpoint, don't you worry! Beyond that, all I can say is to keep trying - if you're stuck, ask yourself what *you* would do in that situation. If you're confused, you're probably supposed to be; it is another world, after all.! STORY/ACTING: There is simultaneously not a lot to say here and everything that matters - this game is tremendously atmospheric, and it manages to communicate a lot without any words whatsoever. You will interact with someone with whom you cannot communicate, and you will understand while still feeling the isolation of the language barrier. Important story elements are told not only through action but also through little details you many not even directly notice - again I will not spoil anything, but when you're done, sit back and think about what you learned about the world on your desperate journey through it. This is not to say that you will know everything - indeed, there is still plenty of mystery, in a way that is not contrived at all. I have to mention that there are a couple really awesome/amusing moments that come from the natural controls being effectively context-sensitive without helper subtitles - in one particularly tense moment, your reflexive action will have Lester do something just great, and you'll probably finding yourself laughing "I just did WHAT? Win!". DIFFICULTY: Brutally hard at times, but short enough that it didn't kill me. The game never holds your hand at all, so the learning curve is very steep, to say the least. That said, once you get past the first challenge, you'll have a good grasp of the controls. As I mentioned above, this is an old-school game, so expect to die a lot trying different solutions to problems, or just trying to win a challenging fight. There is one section of the game where inadequate exploration (or impatient triggering of a certain irreversible action) can leave an important element uncompleted, making it impossible to progress at a significantly later stage of the game. At that point, you will be able to discover what you did wrong, but you'll have to go back several checkpoints to fix it, and then replay what I consider the second- and third-hardest sections of the game. I am not sure what to think about this - in one sense it is legitimate difficulty because by that point you should know better than to trigger major events before you explore fully (I did not fall into this trap myself), but at the same time, it would be incredibly frustrating. In one other section, the way forward doesn't open up until a particular event occurs that you can prevent; it is not immediately obvious that you should allow it to happen, and the one environmental clue (from said event partially occurring) may be subtle. That one is more excusable as a puzzle, though. Despite all the trial-and-error, the game is surprisingly short; I beat it in one evening, in under 4 hours. Most of the hard sections immediately follow a checkpoint (with one notable exception due mostly to mild path branching), so trying one fight 20+ times doesn't take all that long. It is a bit frustrating to die time after time in such rapid succession, and those sections feel a lot longer than they end up being. Once you get past the hardest (well, there is one other section that is pretty easy with tricky use of the environment that would otherwise be a *really* hard fight), your skills will be honed to the point that you should breeze through the remaining combat. Only one of the platforming parts is really challenging skill-wise; the rest are mostly timing/placement tests or puzzles. LEVELS, STRATEGY, and OTHER ELEMENTS: Little can be said here without spoiling some of the experience, so I'll speak in generalities. Despite the limited color palette and simple graphics, the different areas have distinct characters. Despite the simplicity of the controls, there is some variety to the gameplay; although this leads to further trial-and-error and death, it is sometimes kind of fun for that very reason (one section near the end will have you desperate and clueless, but your flailing actions all have interesting or amusing effects, and the checkpoint immediately before will make the discovery process more fun than frustrating. THE VERDICT: This is a very solid 4. The game's difficulty comes from actual skill challenges, yet they are surmountable, so it functions well as a game while telling a great story. The length makes the value a bit of a question, but it's gorgeous and unique. I don't know that it would continue to work for a 10-hour game; sometimes something works in a short story but won't carry a novel. I definitely enjoyed it more than anything else of similar length, but most of those were free (Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress spring to mind). In the end, I want it to earn that 5, but there just isn't enough to the game to justify full marks. It's certainly a great way to spend 4 hours, and if it ever gets a 75% off flash promo, it's a definite buy - but until then there are plenty of other games on GOG that offer more value, even if they're not as beautiful.
