Back in the days, I loved the original tabletop game. And when Redemption came out? MAN, I was instantly in love with it. The dark streets of old Prague, “modern” London and, as the main dish, the ability to drink blood. Sure, it wasn't the first game to do that (everybody should remember at least Blood Omen), but with all that fancy 3D and atmosphere-oriented gameplay, it was just way too special. Obviously I've waited for Bloodlines. One of my biggest complains about the Redemption was the fact that player never actually had a choice. He was forced to join Brujah clan, while yours truly always had a soft place for Toreador guys. Anyway, Bloodlines came out and... I hated it. With passion. Sure, character creation was there and it wasn't that bad. The problem is – the game itself was unbearable. And not because it was REALLY buggy, but because the game felt lacking and level design was absolutely horrible. See, Bloodlines is a small game. Don't expect it to offer huge levels to you. But at the same time it can confuse the heck out of you so you can spend a lot of time just wandering between some annoying pipes, trying to figure out how they work. The game also doesn't have enough optional stuff. Sure, Redemption didn't have optional quests at all, but see, there's a big difference between the games with no proper character customization and the games with full character customization. Bloodlines feels like there's just not enough room to use your powers. And it sure isn't Planescape: Torment. Which means that nobody cares that you're a good talker. You'll still need to shoot. A LOT. And that's my biggest problem. The game doesn't really bring FPS element to RPG genre. It brings RPG element to FPS and ruins it. At the end, Bloodlines feels a lot like a bad FPS with many uncomfortable details that don't even feel at home here. Mix it with lack of optional quests, small maps and horrible level design, and you'll get it why I've never ever liked this game.
It's hard to review Deadlock. Just because it's hard to explain what's so good about it. I mean, technically, the entire review should be like this: it's a 4x game that was released a few months after Civilization II and feels a lot like it. With the Sci-Fi setting being the main difference. And that's the problem. I mean, what should I say here? That Deadlock is a lot like Civ II, but just can't be as epic? Well, it's kind of true. Deadlock follows the Civilization formula, it gives you some races to choose from, it makes you capture the land, do research, negotiate, or fight with your opponents... in other words, it's a Civilization. In Sci-Fi setting. Which just can't be as good as the real deal. But the thing is, Deadlock just works. It's hard to explain why, but there's something very special about this game. And not only because Alpha Centauri wasn't there yet. It's here now and Deadlock still makes me back to it from time to time. It's just Deadlock... is fun for what it is. Very fun. From very comfortable Windows-based UI to interesting races and gameplay mechanics. It's just feels right to me. For the same reasons why I often return to the first two Civilizations, even though there are much more games in the series now. They just feel good to me the way they are. Same goes to Deadlock. Give it a chance and maybe it'll become your guilty pleasure. There was one thing that totally made Deadlock cooler than Civ II, though. At least for some time. And that thing was... multiplayer. I mean, having Sci-Fi version of Civ II with multiplayer back in 1996? Yeah, baby, yeah! Deadlock was released exactly between CivNet and multiplayer version of Civ II, and that was just perfect time for it to be. Unfortunately... GOG version doesn't have multiplayer. At all. Which means that the game's strongest point just isn't there anymore. Hence the rating. But still, Deadlock is a very cute little gem. Not as ambitions as Civ II, sure, but still, totally worth your time.
The original version of Killing Time got a lot of fame on 3DO. And it's easy to guess why. 3DO never had enough games, so, having a dedicated FPS game with digitized actors felt pretty awesome. Especially since this game was released right after the HUGE hardware price drop. For many people it was, like, their first game on their new and shiny console. So, yeah, everybody loved the game on 3DO. Especially since the main idea was pretty interesting too. Long story short, it was an “open world” version of DOOM in the setting that felt a lot like The 7th Guest. Players traveled around mansion and collected stuff to learn the truth and defeat the bad guy at the end. Now here comes the PC version that was released a year later. So, yay, or nay? I'd say, neither. I mean, sure, this port did a lot of things right. Clearly, developers understood the fact that FPS on PC should compete with those fancy new games there. And 1996? It was a year of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. So, while keeping the original idea, this version adds a bit more complicated levels and also a second boss at the end. Which will determine the ending (there are two endings now with the original one from 3DO being “bad”). Sounds cool, huh? Unfortunately, since gameplay here is much faster than in the original version, having a single mansion as an entire thing doesn't feel enough. The game feels surprisingly small for PC title. That's the problem number one. Another problem is... it doesn't look as good. The original 3DO version had digitized actors for both spirits AND enemies. This one? Only spirits and even those look poor. Also, soundtrack is way, WAY worse. So, in conclusion, PC version of Killing Time isn't as bad as you've probably heard from those who loved the original. It's a nice little game and it totally deserves some attention. It's just it arrived a little too late and was unable to be as cool as some other PC titles back in 1996. It just can't offer enough as a PC title and that's it.
Pretty simple, but very fun game from Rage Software, creators of the INCOMING. INCOMING got its fame thanks to how it was a nice demo for 3dfx technology and back in 1999 Expendable was Rage's next big thing. What can I say here? It looks great and it also keeps the fun part. I mean, INCOMING was pretty simple experience, but that was exactly why it was so much fun. It didn't want you to think. It wanted you to shoot things and have fun. Expendable tries to achieve the same. Aside from collecting various keys, it's just you and those evil baddies who were stupid enough to stay on your way. No major plot (the entire story here is that you're a cloned trooper and should go kill aliens for life), no complicated levels, nothing like that. Just you and arcade-like fun (the game is heavily inspired by arcades, so, if you like such stuff, stop reading this review and go buy the game). Yes, it's kind of dull. Yes, it's kind of short (the game has only 17 short levels). But... it's fun. And that's the most important thing, right? Unfortunately, the game has its share of problems. Aiming sucks, level design can be pretty confusing with no reason whatsoever (even though levels are simple, they can still confuse you here and there), while balance is all over the place (the game becomes MUCH easier in co-op mode). All that ruins the game a bit and personally, I think that INCOMING was more fun than Expendable. My biggest problem here, though, is the fact that there's a better version of the game. I'm talking, of course, about PlayStation release. Sure, it didn't look as cool as PC and DreamCast versions. But it had DualShock support (which means rumble feature) and... it had deathmatch mode. Pretty basic... but extremely addictive. This version? Just co-op. Which is really sad. So... yeah. Do I recommend Expendable? Sure. Even for the full price it's totally worth it. It's fun. Really fun. But it's far from being perfectly polished and there's a better version to play. Dixi.
