The main criticism I have with Dark Forces is the obtuse puzzles, being almost as confusing as the ones from System Shock (1994). As far as the rest of the game goes, it's short compared to Doom or most Doom-likes (which works in its favor, the story is really good, and the enemy designs and little touches are good, too. I'd recommend using TFE and a guide if you want to play it, it helps a lot.
I got Shadowrun Returns (and the other games) from one of those giveaways GOG does AGES ago, but I just recently played through it completely. Aside from a little difficulty with the matrix sections and the latter half of the game, I found it quite enjoyable. It's length is short, so it doesn't become too tedious and the dialogue is written decently enough for my tastes. I'll be checking out Shadowrun Dragonfall and Hong Kong soon, as I've heard those are even better all around.
I finally finished SiN's main campaign over the past week or two, and while I don't think it's the best, it wasn't all that bad. (I was going to do the Wages of SiN expansion, but it's just not my thing. Maybe I'll come back and do it.) The story is pretty good, although there were times I really wasn't able to pay attention because an enemy or boss was trying to kill me. The gameplay is relatively fine, though the SMG spray is deceptive (because it's a hitscan weapon but it looks like it has spread) and the movement on "Always Run" is a bit too slidy, but the latter might be general Quake engine physics. The enemies were confusing and tough in the beginning, but I got better and they became less of an issue. The final boss fight is actually pretty good, even if you can cheese it. And the music is pretty great when I notice it, so there's that too. I personally found SiN to be a little too tedious, but it was an interesting adventure to go on and I'm reasonably glad I bought it. Though don't be discouraged from buying it, you might enjoy SiN more than I have.
F.E.A.R. is one of the best FPS games I've played recently. Rather than being a bland military shooter, F.E.A.R. mixes military-grade combat and weaponry with Matrix/John Woo style gameplay and visual effects, and a paranormal, slightly sci-fi story. While F.E.A.R. may look dated now, it doesn't *feel* dated at all. What sets it apart is the inclusion of slowmo, top-of-the-line graphic effects (at the time), brutal gore, and a shotgun which causes most of the aforementioned gore. The shotgun is your workhorse weapon, and while it's not the only weapon you'll need, it's a devastating one. Get up close to an enemy and watch him turn into a bloody mist, or have a limb blown off, or a head, or half his body. Honorable mentions include the 10mm HV Penetrator and the dual pistols, both of which I kept in my weapon slots for most of the game. As for the story, it's sort-of straightforward. You play as Point Man in a US taskforce called First Encounter Assault Recon (F.E.A.R.) whose goal is to deal with paranormal threats, and you're assigned to go deal with a paranormal threat. As you progress through the game, you'll encounter hallucinations, voice messages and laptops which give clues and information to what exactly is going on and why. Make sure to find all the phones with red blinking lights and laptops you can find for the fullest understanding. They will help you understand your situation and shed light on who you are as Point Man. And if you do decide to play F.E.A.R. and get the Platinum Collection here on GOG, make sure you check out the PCGamingWiki page for the game for all the fixes you'll need. And look around for a way to get EAX working (the DSOAL fix is what I used and it worked perfectly). I hope you enjoy playing F.E.A.R.
CARRION, despite its short length and sometimes confusing navigation, is a pretty neat indie title. The way the "Spaghetti Monster" moves is satisfying, as are its abilities you use to complete objectives and unlock the next area. The aesthetic and artwork is amazing, as well as the soundtrack, done by Cris Velasco (you might know him as one of the Mass Effect 2 composers). CARRION is also light on system requirements and runs fantastically on my laptop, so it'll probably run well on anything that can support the minimum system requirements. It also doesn't take up much space, akin to any old sidescroller/platformer from the 90s. As for any criticism, I think a map system would have made navigation and the necessary backtracking a little less confusing, but there are walkthroughs and fan-made stuff online to help. Additionally, being able to pan the camera further than the monster would have helped as well, considering you sometimes have to edge closer to enemies than you want to in order to see a switch or something on the far side of the room. And as for notes and my final thoughts on CARRION, it's worth noting that the offline installer includes 2 DLL files for GOG Galaxy that can cause trouble if Galaxy isn't installed, but they can be safely deleted. The GOG forum for CARRION has a post that mentions this, so look for that. As well, don't be afraid to consult a guide if you get confused, there isn't much lore to spoil and you'll have less of a headache if you do. Anyway, CARRION is a fantastic game if you want something short and retro/indie, or something easy to run. Something you can play to break the monotony of long, drawn-out modern games, whether you're doing so casually or streaming it for other people. You'd be surprised how fun it is playing as a man-eating spaghetti monster.
So, just to start off with, I could not finish my first playthrough because it frustrated me personally. On a successful attempt on one level, I had forgotten to flip a switch in a hazardous room and ran out of healing items by the time I realized. Once the switch is flipped, tanky enemies swarm the level and block progress to the nearest elevator, and the weapons I had couldn't easily kill them. Out of everything, that's what frustrated me the most and caused me to abandon my playthrough. Since I already know the story of the game well, and there are plenty of videos I can watch on it, I don't mind giving up. But, the game itself is pretty good for the most part. Easier than you might think at times and harder as well in certain situations. The story is a very good cyberpunk space tale as well. But if you don't think you're able to handle the original/Enhanced version of the game, I recommend the remake. It's faithful and looks better, with less of the confusion and frustration you might encounter like I did. After reinstalling System Shock, I discovered my save files were still there and decided to push forward past the point that had intially caused me to quit playing, and ended up finishing the rest of the game. Despite my frustration, System Shock was actually enjoyable for me, and I was surprised that I felt that way. While it's not necessarily a fair game by modern standards, it's not as difficult as I thought it would be, and I CAN actually recommend others play it if they feel like they'd enjoy it too.
I'm going to preface this by saying that you should play this game yourself and form your own opinion, and that I have played through Postal 2 and both of the major expansions. In terms of overall performance, the game runs on Unreal 2 (I believe?) and can be pretty janky at times, although it will run on Windows 10. The gameplay is pretty fair for the base game, but do be warned that Apocalypse Weekend (which is part of base Postal 2 these days) and Paradise Lost are more challenging than the base game is. You gain a pretty big variety of weapons and things to use as the game progresses, all of them fun and useful. You may find the story outdated, distasteful, or outright offensive, but it's a fairly simple one. You're the Postal Dude, an average guy (for 2004), and you have to go into town or other places to complete tasks each day. Some of them are simple, like getting milk, but something almost always goes awry and you have to either choose to intervene or stick to just doing what you need to. Pacifism is an option, even though it can be much harder. My opinion of Postal 2 is that it's a fine game and I think more people should play it and give it a closer look than what its reputation says. Postal 2 is no worse than GTA San Andreas, another game that caused drama and is still one of the coolest games ever made. I look at Postal 2 the same way, it's an exaggerated perspective of how America was in 2004, and the mindset of people during that time. I hope you found my review helpful or informative, though.
I played through this months ago with no prior experience of the game, and I found it an okay experience for the age and quality of game it is. The gameplay itself is generally alright, albeit sometimes janky. The enemies can be a bit of a pain as well, and the forced stealth section too. The most annoying gameplay issue is that there's a bomb puzzle near the end you have to solve to finish the game, but it's completely RNG-based and resets each time you reset or reload. It's the last thing you have to do before the last cutscene plays. The destructible environments are pretty awesome in the places they show up, which is less often than you might think, but there are mods to make more places destructible. Probably the most interesting thing about Red Faction is that feature. The story isn't perfect, but it's acceptable. The main problem with the story comes down to the fact that it sets up a specific plot thread about a virus that, if I recall, doesn't get resolved. After that, the story kinda forgets about it and shifts towards another plot thread that does actually get resolved. Even with all that, though, I'm not going to call it a bad game. As someone who never grew up with this game, I understand what it means to people who did play it then and how much it means to them. I'm not trying to badmouth the game in any way, but give an opinion from a non-nostalgic point of view. But you should give this game a try yourself and form your own opinion if you haven't played it, the least you need to do so is a mod/source port called "Dash Faction". I hope you found my review helpful and/or informative in some way.
I don't know of many vampire RPG's, but VTM Bloodlines is the king of them all in my eyes. It may be dated by modern times and rough to play/get into in spots, even with the Unofficial Patch pre-installed here, but practically everything else about it holds up. Most people recommend avoiding Malkavians and Nosferatu clans for a first playthrough, but thanks to Warlockcracy's video, I did mine as a Malkavian. The thing with this clan is that they're insane, or so they appear to others. But they have a deeper understanding of the world beneath the surface, and the game is very interesting to play as one. Malkavian dialogue is unique, appearing scattered, jumbled, or nonsensical, but they're aware of things other characters and even you might not know about until way later. This is due to their supernatural awareness, which is manifested like a mental disorder, but allows them visions into the future and gives them insight into the people they come across. A word of advice on how to play, don't invest everything into dialogue skills or stats. It's helpful at first, but can end up being less useful as the game proceeds into more combat/stealth oriented sections. You'll have time to build up some stats and skills, but later on, you'll want to focus more on combat. Both Firearms and Melee are great to have in tandem, and the vampire powers specific to the clan you choose can augment these or provide an alternative solution to a conflict. As a Malkavian, Dementation powers are extremely useful, letting you subdue, control, or even kill your targets. There's also dialogue options related to Dementation, often highlighted in red and having a mental effect on the character you're talking with. And with that, I leave you with a final message: "Remember, wherever we go, it is the blood of Caine which makes our fate."
