REKKR could be something along Hedon, Beyond Sunrise and other GZDoom-based shooters, but sadly it isnt able to fulfill its potential due to a very frustrating level design. It all starts nice and fun, but in the later episodes quickly devolves into movement-based plattforming under enemy fire over damage floor like acid or lava. I'm done "working" in games to achieve something, to practice a specific map section movement pattern over and over and over again. I can forgive the game its weird weapon selection, the slow projectiles (wasting a LOT of ammo trying to hit moving enemies) and the need for going melee against strong ranged enemies. But not the level design.
CivCity Rome is quite enjoyable, when you like these kind of city management games. Its graphics are bit shabby, but you dont care. Its a city management game, not a shooter. Its gameplay is bit less complex compared to the latest games from the CityBuilder series from Impressions (Caesar, Pharao et all), but you dont care. Big is not always better, CivCity Rome is a nice diversion from the usual extreme micromanagement and handholding of the Impressions series. The gameplay is more mission goal oriented, less optimizing the heck out of the last hut in northern left corner. Music and audio are decent. Its a city management game with a roman setting, you get what you expect. But there is one thing, one thing i hate, really HATE about this game: During a misson random events can occur. Which isnt that bad an idea, because they can add more variety to the gameplay. You have to react and adapt your city layout, your wares production and distribution. On paper, its a good feature. In reality it is balanced like f***!! An example: You have a mission to build a certain building. For this building you need a certain amount of rare ressources. Ressources which cannot be traded but have to be mined on the map. Then a random event comes along and destroys your warehouse. Ressources are lost (which is ok, such things can happen). Ressources, you need for completing your mission (which is bad, very bad). Yes, you cannot win the mission anymore because a random event destroyed crucial ressources. Yes, you have to start the mission over and hope for more luck next time. I hate this feature. With a vengeance! Therefore only three stars from easily four or even five.
I have the original CDs and the cardboard packages (still in nearly mint condition). But sadly, the setup routine is a non-compatible 16bit programm, so i have two very nice looking CDs and cardboard boxes, but no game. Ahhhh, the game!! After being patched, it was a blast. Heavily modified Quake 2 engine with some sort of dynamic level design. Very advanced for its release year. Gameplay was top notch, nothing to complain about. Different hit zones for your enemies, different armor types for your body. Crispy spund, one of the first uses of the brand new Creative EAX sound effect chips. Oh, and the difficulty of the final fight of the addon, where the end boss fires nukes at you. I still have no clue how to win this fight without cheat codes. Great game for shooter fans! Go, grab it! And, oh boy, the difficulty of the final
Yes, it was fun. Yes, you have to work hard to get to that point. The basic premise of Thunderscape is good. Traditional RPG romp. A 2.5D-Engine for free exploration and movement. Lots of enemies, loot and XP. Everything you wanted to have in a RPG at that time. But sadly moving your party around never felt really intuitive. The graphics engine had a very, VERY short line of sight. I always felt i was moving in a dark, DARK cave even when my party was in bright daylight. The 3D map was useless, more confusing than helpfull. The gameplay sound effects ... ughhh! Not very good even for the not so sophisticated standards of the 90s DOS era. You really have to work on yourself to make the game enjoyable because enjoyable it can be. Do not write this game off, because its not very polished. Its not a "bad" game. It's just not as good as it could have been.
Overlord is one of those games, who does nearly everything right. The setting works, art and graphics is beautiful and the gameplay is an interesting twist of a puzzle game converted in 3D. But ... after discovering the final tribe, you're done with the game. Your castle is upgraded with every gimmick available, your gold chamber floweth over with gold for which you have nothing more to buy. In the last half of the game you simply grind lots and lots and LOTS of goblin souls, so that you can enchant your equipement, which isnt really necessary because you have your goblins doing your bidding. Overlord had SO MUCH potential for being the greatest game of the year, instead it remains a study in unfulfilled potential for the second half of the game. But until this point, funny, good looking, very entertaining.
Yes, we all know what kind of arrogant prick Romero was back in the days. Yes, we all know the long and disastrous developement history of this game. And we all know that the release version was buggy as hell. But ... Daikatana isnt as bad as some people still say, when they confuse their distain for Romero with this underrated gem. Sure, it is NOT what Romero promised, but when you leave all this hype aside, Daikatana is an underdog par excellence. Beatiful levels and texture work, had the first RPG elements in shooter hostory, solid gameplay and with your NPC buddies finally fixed, no more nerve wrecking plotstopper bugs. I still despise Romero for his arrogant behaviour at that time, but I enjoyed Daikatana a lot after i finally picked it up years later for a few bucks. But if you still want to hate this game for no apparant reason ... it's your descision :)
