I really have nothing bad to say about this game except that it's a buggy mess, I'm more than 8 hours into it and my save file become corrupt one time (force me to replay an hour or so of the game), I lost, without any logical reason, my magic ability attacks - basically making me defenseless and on top of all I've encountered a bug that crash the game in one of the main quests. I did enjoy playing it until all those bugs prevented me from doing so.
At first glance Victor Vran is a typical Action RPG game, you roam the world killing monsters, looting their bodies, earning XP to level your character etc. However it manage to add some innovating concepts, one is that the game has eight types of weapons and all of them functions differently and each have two alternate fire modes. This add more depth to the combat as each weapons is effective against different types of monsters and as their behavior and the damage they inflict isn't merely a function of their stats. Another gameplay mechanic we don't see often in ARPG is the ability to dodge roll and jump, not only does it sometime make navigating the level easier it also add a new dynamic to the combat as you will need those abilities to survive in battle and I find that they add much to the combat and make it more fun than other ARPG games. Each area in the game world has its own five challenges, usually involve killing monsters in a certain way, this add much to the replayability of the levels and after you complete the game story you will unlock additional five elite challenges for each area. The existence of a narrator also add to break the routine of the game, he will occasionally make sarcastic and insulting remarks toward Victor Vran and sometime just try to mislead him as to what direction he need to go. The abilities to customize your character is extremely limited, there is only one class of character that you could play (monster hunter) and when you level your character you have no choice as to how it will developed (usually you will get extra HP or more destiny points). The only way for you to determine the abilities of your character is by choosing what outfit he will wear and what destiny cards you want to equip. While I can understand the motive to this decision, the developers try to create a more focused on combat than character development, I do think they make a mistake to dispense altogether with the whole development tree system.
The 90es saw the release of Doom, which gave birth and popularize to the FPS genre and spawn a myriad of FPS clones, at first glance Strife, which use the Doom engine, is such a clone. However a deeper look will reveal that Strife has a number of innovations that make it stand from the rest of the FPS crowd. The first thing is that the game is happen is a world map, where you will be free to go where you please rather than traveling through different levels. Another innovations is the number of RPG elements that is incorporated in the game, you will be giving missions to fulfill by the rebel leader, you could talk to the NPC in the game world, purchase weapons, ammunition and medkits and after each successful mission you could upgrade your health and fire accuracy. You could also have infiltration mission, where you need masquerade as an enemy soldier to get to your objective rather than just firing at everyone around you. Another thing the game stand out for is the plot, while very cliche and generic it does play an important role in the game and allow you to make several plot choices that would change the course of the game and the final ending. You also have a sidekick which talk to you from a comm link and give useful advices as well make some sarcastic comments on your situation from time to time, I find this to add very much to the character of the game. While the world design are good and easy to navigate, the enemy variety is somewhat limited and they tend to be boring, as well as most of the bosses who also tend largely to be the same. The auto aim at some of the weapons is not that good and while it understandably for an old game I'm feeling that Night Dive should have fixed it as part of the control modernization that they implemented. In conclusion, Strife is an uncanny entry is the FPS genre, that was sadly overshadow by Quake which release is about the same time, highly recommended to those who want to play a 90es FPS with it own uncanny character.
The first thing that stand out about Realms of the Haunting is the gameplay, an hybrid between a first person shooter and point and click adventure game, very uncanny and certainly ensure an unusual gaming experience. The only down side is that the artificial intelligence of the enemies is very poor and even the stronger creatures simply don't give you any challenge, there are also several mazes where the game don't provide a map, and since all the chambers looks the same its very easy to get stuck in them for hours. While the story is somewhat cliché for a horror game, the protagonist go into a mysterious abandon house and so forth, the actual plot is very good and interesting and manage to capture your attention, the exception is the ending that (without giving any spoilers) is disappointing. It should also note that the cutscences are FMV and they still look rather good now (considering it's a 1996 game) and in contrast to a lot of FMV games the acting quality is quit good.
