It has nicely animated sprites, immersive strafe tilting and head bobbing. The guns are satisfying to shoot. The enemies are cannon fodder zombies that are satisfying to mow down. You have AI teammates that follow you around and help you shoot the hordes of zombies. The sound effects are nice. The guns sound like they have some punch. Honestly, I read the one star review , but then after I watched some gameplay video I instantly bought it. The options menu doesn't show you all the controls. You have to hit F5 to change the mouse look from inverted. It was an overlooked FPS from a time in the 90's when everyone was going 3D. It didn't have a memorable player character with personality like the 3D Realms games and the graphics are pretty dark and not very colorful. It's fun cheap retro underdog FPS fun.
I bought it because it's cheap and fits in that second-half of the 1990's PC Gaming nostaliga zone. I've never played it before or even seen it for sale back in the 90's. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It controls well. You'll want to rebind movement to WASD and maybe a few other keys. It has nice smooth animation. You can choose between male and female main character. You're character has spoken dialog during missions, so male and female voice acting is the main difference. It has an epic action sci-fi movie soundtrack. It's heavily inspired by Starship Troopers. There are jet-packs! The actual action is very satisfying. The shooting as well as enemy deaths have that satisfactory feel as they explode into body parts as they die. The graphics and textures are what you would expect for late 90's. Nothing looks ugly within the context of the graphical standards of the time. As I fine tuned the control bindings, I replayed just the first mission over and over and it was fun every time. It just has that satisfactory arcade feel to shooting the enemies. If you're a fan of Earth Defense Force, Starship Troopers, late 90's low-poly and big pixel look, then give it a try. It runs at 640x480 but looks crisp to me on my 1080p monitor.
I bought this at release in the big box back in 2000 (I was 19) and after playing it for two weeks I became frustrated and got rid of it. I then went on to enjoy Deus Ex and Anachronox. Fast forward to about 2008 and I'm so incredibly nostalgic for my teen years that I end up tracking down all kinds of stuff I remember from then. Even stuff I didn't like. Like Daikatana. To be honest I didn't really hate Daikatana or consider it crap. It was just frustrating and not as interesting as other games out at the time like Deus Ex, Half-Life, Thief, Diablo 2, Unreal Tournament, Anachronox, and etc... But as a 20-something and drunk on nostalgia and the good feelings I get from memories dredged up by things from my favorite decade of life, I ended up loving Daikatana like it was an underdog or hidden gem. It's minor design and gameplay problems actually give it a niave charm. The unique setting and story remind me of a time when sci-fi and cyberpunk dominated the settings of most action games. I like the soundtrack. I like the colorful setting. The whole game feels like it was based on a 90's comic book that never existed. Plus, I love 90's comic books. Yes,.. my love of the game is based on happy memory association of a lost time. Just like how I watched The Phantom Menace right after I graduated high school with my brother and despite me not liking it at the time I now like to watch it every summer just for the warm fuzzy euphoric memories it brings back. "Why five stars?" you ask? Why not? Who cares? I love this "bad" game. Plus I just love shooting green energy balls at those robot frogs while running through what looks like a mountain dew factory that is leaking everywhere. Funtastical!
