The biggest problem with this game might just be that it calls itself FEAR. Because admittedly, there is little left of the spirit of the series here. The presentation feels almost like a GAAS shooter. And let's not even get into the mess that is the plot. No really, let's gloss over it. Things are better that way, trust me. However, once you look past the generic horror attempts, what you are left with is still a solid shooter. In this regard, the game does actually follow the original formula somewhat: remember how the motto in the original FEAR was "kill fast, die faster"? While this threequel isn't as punishing, it still encourages the player to zip around the battlefield killing enemies as quickly as possible, and the weapons do a good job at that. There is a cover system, much like in any Xbox 360 gen shooter, but you could be excused for forgetting about it within the first five minutes of the first mission. The game is indeed best played as a run-and-gun from the past. The second player character (remember Paxton Fettel?) introduces a twist of his own too: you can possess enemies and play as them. Kills can extend the duration of the possession, which further encourages you to finish firefights quickly. It's an interesting idea, but unfortunately you can only play as the brother after finishing each mission as Point Man (the funniest bit of the whole game might be how the developers insist on calling him that, even now that he's got an actual face). Some late game missions can be quite hard, so it's up to you whether you'll want to replay the entire game as Fettel. Would have been better if he were unlocked from the start. Co-op might help here, but it's not available in this GOG version, so keep that in mind. Regardless of this, and of what people might have wanted from an hypothetical FEAR 3 from Monolith, what we got is still a solid enough shooter with a couple good ideas of its own, enough for a fun weekend.
Pretty much the closest thing to Zelda on PC in its time, but with a large serving of vampirism and tons of gore added in for good measure. Kain's first adventure has an epic feel to it, letting you travel throughout the whole of Nosgoth, seeing all manners of strange things, and fighting all kinds of dangerous enemies. Forget the puzzles of Soul Reaver: action is the name of the game here. That's not to say that there are no puzzles at all, in fact some will require you to use different powers and weapons, and the dungeons are sometimes labyrinthine, but for the most part you will be slaying folks merrily while shouting Vae Victis and trying to get to the exit. And you won't have trouble passing the time, as Kain's arsenal of weapons and spells allows him to maul his enemies in many creative ways. Flaying the skin of their bones? Sure. Making then implode on themselves? Why not. Burning then alive? Hope you enjoy crisp. Just remember to keep some enemies in one piece for feeding. Kain doesn't like his meals messy. The official description is perhaps a bit exaggerated, there's definitely not a hundred hours of gameplay here, more like twelve or so. But it's very good while it lasts. There are a few defects, mostly how certain optional dungeons can only be accessed when the in-game calendar reaches a full moon (and cannot be sped up), and some secrets are nearly impossible to find without a guide. But even if you just stick to the story it's well worth playing.
Marble Nest is a standalone chapter of the series, so to speak. It was actually created way back in 2016 during the development of Pathologic 2, and it shows: while the gameplay and graphics are the same as the sequel, the characters and dialogue are more reminescent of the original Pathologic. Overall, it functions as a sort of bridge between the two games. Due to the much more forgiving survival elements (they are in fact almost absent) and lack of combat, the chapter doesn't let you do much more than walk around, talk to people, and complete some quests. Still, the dialogue is fascinating as always, and there are a few different choices and endings to see. The short length also makes it easy to replay. It's a shame that it can only be bought as DLC. You'll get more enjoyment out of it if you have at least some knowledge of the story in the main game, but as a standalone chapter it might work pretty well even for a new player.
The Infernal Machine, upon release, took perhaps more flak than it deserved. After the stellar reception of Fate of Atlantis, and faced with the prospect of dwindling sales, people had hoped that the famous Indiana Jones was going to mark the company's continued support of the adventure genre. But it was just not meant to be. The game, as it turned out, is much closer to the standard Tomb Raider games of old, which of course at the time were quite popular. Unfortunately, they didn't bother to fix some of the issues that still plagued Eidos' series, and that by 1999 were starting to feel somewhat tired. Indiana moves just as slowly as Lara, if not even slower. Combat is arguably worse, because the auto-aim is far less permissive and you'll need to stand almost in front of an enemy to kill him. And the action focus ultimately means that dialogue is too sparse, although what is there is not too bad. But it certainly can't compare to the Atlantis game. Even so, should it just be dismissed as a Lara Croft knockoff? I don't think so. I may be biased, after all I'm an Indy fan, but this game does many things right. The levels are very expansive and varied, ranging from Himalayan mountains to Mayan ruins to subterranean mines under the Egyptian pyramids (??). Exploring them to find all the hidden treasures is great fun. They are arguably even better designed than many Tomb Raider levels. There are very few annoying areas that I can remember - some will say the jeep sections aren't fun, though I didn't mind them too much. And the visuals, while the Jedi Knight engine (really) may seem dated today, still manage to look colorful and vibrant. The story may not be much, but it works decently enough, and is a fair deal better than whatever we got in Emperor's Tomb. Overall, Infernal Machine is better than its reputation would imply. It's no masterpiece. But what it does, it does quite well. And being almost 20 years old, this is one relic Indiana Jones might deign to chase.
D is the tale of one Laura Harris, whose father has gone crazy and started murdering people. It's up to her to defuse the situation before something even worse happens. Born from the twisted mind of Kenji Eno, D is one of the most famous games from the FMV era! Well, I say that, but the game doesn't really have the markings of a masterpiece or even a cult classic. I assume everybody knows about D because of three things: its first person FMV gameplay, Kenji Eno's name, and its time limit mechanic which only gives you 2 hours and no saves to finish the game. But in truth, as it's very short and the solutions are almost all blatantly obvious, that should be enough time for most players. I finished with 15 minutes to spare (even got the good ending!) and never had to check any guides. But there are two problems: Laura moves as slowly as a petrified snail, and some of the puzzles seem specifically designed to waste your time with long FMVs. These issues mean that the game is more likely to frustrate the player rather than making him feel more immersed. I could shake my head and wonder about how it's a shame that such an interesting premise and story got bogged down by questionable gameplay choices.... but let's face it, even the story is laughable. Without spoiling anything, let's say that the big reveal had me roll my eyes in a mixture of disbelief and laughter. For a horror game, that's probably not a good thing. There were several versions of the game, including PS1, Saturn and 3DO, but the PC version got stuck with low resolution, scanlined videos. And since the game is entirely videos, I don't have to tell you how much that sucks. Overall, perfectly skippable. If you want to experience Kenji Eno's weird ideas, you are better off picking up Enemy Zero, which is superior in every way. If you want a more interesting first person FMV game, Mansion of Hidden Souls for the Mega CD is a far more charming effort even with all its issues. No reason to return to D today.
Another one of Apogee's platformers, among the lesser known ones. There was no smooth scrolling yet, so you get tile scrolling like in Duke Nukem 1, although the graphics here look more detailed and there's actual music (sound effects are still limited to PC Speaker though, which sounds okay in Dosbox but gets annoying very soon on real hardware). Unfortunately, with more detailed graphics, the lack of smooth scrolling becomes much more noticeable than in Duke Nukem 1. Between the cutesy story and colorful backgrounds, it sounds like the game was aimed at children, but by god, is this thing brutal. The excessive zoom doesn't help at all, but some later levels would still be ridiculous even in other games. The first episode, which is probably the one most people played as it was shareware, is easy enough. But from the second episode, the difficulty ramps up a lot, with enemies just outside of your view range thatwill inevitably hit you during a jump. It gets to the point where it feels harder than Monster Bash. And your health doesn't even refill at the start of a level. Kids might have enjoyed this in its day, but I wonder how many people actually finished it. There are far better platformers out there.
Ignition is a game I remember fondly. It really is quite good. It sports some cute and funny visuals that even without 3d acceleration out of the original big box, and running in low resolution, still manage to look pretty nice. The tracks are all diverse and inventive, rising in difficulty as you unlock them, not to mention they are full of obstacles to overcome. And of course, it has all the typical options you'd expect of a racer: time trial, arcade, grand prix, the usual. There are only 7 circuits, but they can all be played in mirrored mode (interestingly, due to how the tracks are structured, a regular reverse mode would have been impossible: hence the tracks are horizontally flipped instead, with left turns becoming right turns and vice versa). Some flaws, while perhaps not that visible at first, become more obvious as you play. And the main problem is the utter lack of balance among the selection of cars: good luck winning against your friends with the School Bus, for example. Unlike other games, where grip, acceleration and speed can all be important and useful to win, Ignition is pretty much entirely based on speed. You'll immediately learn to only use the fast cars, and the game makes no secret of that either, always giving you a faster model with every championship you win. Still, as a whole, it's one great mini-racing game. Even without considering the lack of choice on PC at the time (it was pretty much just this and Micromachines, and eventually Re-volt), it's still a title to try.
