Do not let the 8 bit computer graphics and music fool you. This is a great horror game you will ever play and its divided into 3 chapters. While the 1st one will start of without a hitch it only serves as a starting point, followed by what threat you will be facing in 2nd chapter, ending with the genuine terror and dread of Chapter 3 leaving you awake for a few days when you are supposed to sleep. The gameplay is quite simple, you only move around and use your cross to exorcise the demons or look up for clues by using it on objects of your interest, can be even something natural like the water puddle. The cross itself has a good range which lets you dodge the attack quite easily without getting too close and speaking of health, majority of the time you get killed instantly if the demon even touches you and with your slow movement caused by the injury from protagonists childhood days, you really need to position yourself and plan ahead. Each chapter offers multiple endings and to get the best one, you have to pay attention to notes and think outside the box. The audio is, like i've mentioned, inspired by 8 bit computers but the most interesting aspect of this game is that each dialogue was made using a software called SAM (Software Automatic Mouth) and every character has its own unique speech, including demons with additional sound effects implemented to make you feel unease when you encounter them. If you wish to spend this October with genuine spooks, really give this game a go.
The 3rd and final game from the official trilogy before being rebooted by a German company (Thanks Nostradamus!) which disappointed everyone by going 3D and concentrating on this concept. To be frank, it is not a bad game but there are some certain annoyances. In terms of graphics we do lose lots of details which previous games had, but it does make up for a rather very unique art style which I don't think anyone ever came up by combining low polygons with mosaic-like textures. This allows anyone that still uses Voodoo 3D Accelerators to be able to play this game, however there is a certain nitpick. In open areas the game is badly optimized under Direct3D, even modern PC components won't let you get that smooth 60 FPS, instead, go for Glide rendering and use a wrapper such as nGlide or dgVooDoo instead. As for the gameplay it uses the keyboard with tank controls to move Simon, no mouse at all. While the areas are big it is certainly the game's main weakness, especially at the beginning where you don't know what to do, it is recommended to rely on the phone booth which acts as a fast travel to move around the areas most of the time, which luckily certain locations are available. The game does have the same moon logic puzzles which previous Simon games have, but additionally, with 3D graphics, there are additional minigames which refreshes the game more, albeit some can be wonky. As for the audio and writing it ain't bad, i do like the music and the writing gets better from Chapter 3 and you can see some NPCs having the same voice actors and the Brian Bowles once more voices Simon himself. One additional cool factor is the use od CD/DVD drive to solve a certain puzzle, just be sure to have Auto Run On or at least set Windows to launch the software immediately and open the lid, if ya don't have a disk drive, perhaps use a virtual disk and command it to open the lid via File Explorer (Not tested).
Alone In The Dark is truly a historical piece in gaming as it was the 1st game series to bring the tropes of the survival horror and the Resident Evil series. Does the trilogy holds up to this day? In terms of graphics, all 3 of em are pretty similar and very dated, but every next game slightly improves it in terms of the 2D backgrounds while adding some details, such as the ghost hand coming out from the ground in AitD 3, the 2nd and 3rd game also adds the cutscenes which were recorded in-game, but are played as actual movies instead. In Alone In the Dark 1 most of the mansions are made in 3D which, later on got rendered as a background until you reach underground part. Gameplay: If you have played classic Resident Evil series, then the control scheme is very similar. However, you need to select from the inventory to perform an action such as Search,Open,Fight etc. and in some sections of the game you get an additional one (Mainly Jump), melee fights depends on the direction you hold down to perform a specific attack, while it is considered bad, it is possible to even beat the enemy with bare hands without even hurting yourself while stunlocking the enemy. Most of the time you spend yourself solving puzzles around the game and in some cases it's pure trial & error. Many of the stories are told in a form of books and diaries, however the 3rd game keeps that way minimalistic. Be aware that you must check everything before moving on, otherwise you will miss one crucial item you need and get stuck with no way to progress. Audio: The GOG version offers the CD quality soundtrack and it nails the atmosphere really well, mostly the 3rd game. I do have an issue with Carnby's pain sound in later games which is too quiet. AitD 1: Pure horror, good and not so hard puzzles, many ways to die in the game. AitD 2: Best in the trilogy and pure action, somewhat tricky puzzles to perform, very few ways to die. AitD 3: A mix of horror and action, best atmosphere, hard puzzles.
I have heard of this game from the magazine about video games and looked promising to play and now after many years i've decided to play it right now and........the PC version is dull and boring. Graphics: For a game released in 1999 the game looks pretty decent, however the animation is very stuff and sometimes you can see how it snaps to the 1st frame of it. It's pretty noticeable when you are running, just pay attention to Drake's left arm how it quickly snaps back. The maps are very large and linear but it's empty, you'd better stock up some Speed Potions to move faster. Gameplay: The game contains some of the RPG elements, you gain experience by killing every enemy you encounter letting you to level up, but here's the issue here. The only thing that is increased is your HP, Mana and the Damage Modificator (responsible for dealing more damage) rest of the stats cannot be increased at all unless you wear some special items. In terms of combat each move differs depending on your movement and mouse input, if you keep attacking while standing still ya can perform a combo, moving up will do a leap attack, besides that you can defend yourself or even roll away from the attacks. The magic spells are very limited and are barely useful besides the fireball, torch or stone skin. Buying/Selling items is a joke as you can sell the same item for the same ammout of gold you've bought and the near end equipments just suck, might as well stick to the mid-game ones instead. The enemies in this game can be lame, in a game you'll be fighting skeletons most of the time which can do melee attacks, but wait there's a magical one that is transparent and casts lightning or a invisible one which can absorb your HP! There are other enemies but they are not interesting, also their AI is dumb Audio: The strongest part here is the music and frickin Batman (Kevin Conroy) voicing our hero. The rest of the VAs sound more like a placeholder made by devs themselves and are not even that good.
Just for the record, I have never read any Judge Dredd comics, but I know the movie which Sylvester Stallone started. Starting with graphics, for a game in 2005 it doesn't look so bad, in fact i like the textures used to give the comic artstyle for people in this game, but Dredd himself looks almost like an old man. I do like the design of some of the Judge Deaths, the animations are meh though and in some moments it looks awkward in motion. Audio: The strongest part. I love the voice actor of the Dredd, it is less cringey than Stallone's inperpretation and sounds badass. The music is most of the time techno-based and can pump you into some good action, it's so good to listen. Gameplay: Now this is where the game can be....disappointing. You see the enemies are stronger than you and can eat up more HP, the shield doesn't help much, medkits are very scarce and you can only hold 2 weapons, the multi-functional pistol used by the Judges and a secondary weapon. So far I have seen only the pistol to have multiple uses and most of em suck with the exception of the standard mode. Amazing enough, a normal pistol is STRONGER than the one used by the Judges! You can also use a melee button but the cooldown is so slow you might as well use it as a finisher against slower enemies or just rely on those who use melee only. The AI is stupid, their pathfinding is so bad, even when escorting the NPC into the safety is a pain. They get stuck even though there is a room for them to turn around, enemies may stand still confused during the fight and in case of zombies, can even instakill you if you are not careful. Arresting is satisfying though and can be easy to perform, just shoot their stronger member or weaken him a little to comply while shouting "Freeze!", some won't though. Also you can unlock stuff depending on your Law bar, the higher it goes, the bigger reward which are maps, models, challenges etc. There is an issue with the jumping as it's tied to your framerate though.