John Romero it should go without saying is a legend in the FPS world. A Romero solo project (outside id anyway) in the amazing Quake II engine sounds like an instant winner. This game is ambitious, and it thinks outside the box. While Carmack was the technical genius, Romero (also a programming wizard) may have been the more creative one in level design. He wanted to make Quake 1 actually far more ambitious than it ultimately landed up being, just a next-gen Doom, but still in the familiar formula. With Daikatana, he realizes his vision. As it is an experimental game, I find that while it does come from the same FPS tree as the id lineage, it is definitely of a different branch. Most notorious of this is the save system, which I get why they tried it. Levels are not too long; saves when changing levels; and find save gems which can be stored for manual saves, up to 3 in inventory. This system sounds good on paper, with more strategic choice of when to save, but in practice, you won't know if you should save just now or just around that corner. Maybe you meet an enemy and die. Maybe you wait a long lift ride and wish you didn't save. You won't know till you go around and die first probably (or make it whole way without saving.) I just land up having to re-do the level more often because of this, but it's a pointless gripe since these days mods give you normal infinite saves. The game interestingly has a light RPG-style leveling system and points for various abilities (str, agro, pwr, etc.) which is cool and unique, without deviating too far from what makes an FPS an FPS, and becoming like Deus Ex or something. The game's story is also really cool. You're a time-travelling samurai with jedi force ghosts. Cool soundtrack too. Ultimately, in story, setting, aesthetic, and gameplay, I find Daikatana to be a really fun and good classic FPS of the late 90s era; a spiritual Quake III if it had been singleplayer rather than multiplayer only.
The original Tomb Raiders have aged terribly. I don't just mean the graphics. They control very poorly, as this was 1996 and one of the first true 3D games. The main novelty at the time was an Indiana Jones knockoff in 3D space for the first time. The level design was fine for the time, with combat that's serviceable and a meager distraction from mostly puzzle-solving and annoying platforming. If you think, well it's a "remaster" TM so it must magically fix everything! Well, no. It's basically just an HD texture pack and updated Lara models Mod. The world itself still remains just as polygonal as it was in the 90s, so the game doesn't feel any less dated graphically, even with the updated textures. At best you could say it improves it to a 2002 era game, being generous. You do get a more "modern" control scheme in this, but it still feels just as clunky and unresponsive to me as the old one. It's still a chore just to jump and grab on to things (which is most the game.) There is really zero reason to revisit the original games because in today's world you have a million other Indiana Jones style games that are just much better, including any of the modern TR trilogy or the middle TR trilogy. Really, I recommend getting Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which came out in 2006 and is an actual proper remake. Controls, engine, gameplay, level design--everything is way better. And it's the exact same story and set pieces as TR 1. I got this game for free from Amazon and I still feel ripped off. If you are dead set on being an old school purist, or want the nostalgia then may as well get the actual original releases, which look and feel the same, but at least then you can excuse their extreme datedness because, well, it's the 1996-8 version. And it only costs $1 per game or less, which is more about what these bargain bin shovelware titles are worth.
The original System Shock, as I said in my review of it, has aged rather poorly, particularly with its unwieldy controls and confusing HUD. So despite the promising premise of the game, I could never really get into it with these limitations. In a world where 99% of remakes are excessive and unnecessary, System Shock is one of those rare exceptions where the remake actually not only serves a justifiable purpose, but surpasses the original. Basically, NightDive have not taken creative liberties with the game--it is in mechanics, level design, enemies, weapons, etc. moreorless identical to its 90s namesake. However, it now has a modern control scheme, simplified controls, and a more accessible HUD, which mean you can now actually experience the original game, undeterred by the dated baggage. Even the graphics exemplify this--they look modern, beautiful, yet are very faithful to the original art style and even retain a slight pixelation if you go really up close to them, maintaining that 90s feel. Now that I can actually play the game unimpeded, it's actually quite fun. The best way I can describe it, is it's kind of like Doom 3, if Doom 3 were less about action and shooting Demons, and more about scavenging and survival. It's not quite a survival horror, like say Resident Evil, since you can still kill all enemies quite easily and have sufficient ammo. However, while it is a shooter at some level, the FPS is secondary. The primary gameplay is about navigating the complex, labyrinthine maze and scavenging for useful supplies, weapons, switches to activate, or audio logs. You do have to manage your inventory RE-style, and not all items are actually useful. It has unique mechanics, such as a TRON-like Cyberspace mini-game, which is really cool, and respawning at re-assembly chambers once you find them. Saving is a must. My only annoyance is a bug where your display/control settings reset on every reload, but this is a demo and probably fixed in the full version
Have you ever wondered what a Medal of Honor game might have looked like in Duke Nukem 3D's Build Engine? Okay, probably not a question many ever asked, but World War II: GI gives you the answer anyway! This game actually technically predates the original PS1 Medal of Honor by a few months. It feels, as you might expect, like a Duke 3D Total Conversion mod, but it is a damn fine one at that. Graphics are actually quite excellent for the time, with textures being rather high quality. The game makes great use of scripted events in levels, much the same way Medal of Honor's and early Call of Duty's would have. You'll see explosions from artillery going off, hazy smoke, minefields, bombing runs, squadrons of planes in the air, and friendly soldiers on the ground (though the friendlies are mostly there for aesthetics rather than doing a whole lot, but medic soldiers can actually heal you, like in MoH). The run speed is slowed down and you have to wait for medkits to gradually heal you, to make the game more realistic than Duke. You have a good selection of famous WW2 weapons--Thompson, MP40, BAR, etc. that you'd expect. The enemy a.i. isn't very good, mostly just standing in place and letting you shoot them. They don't chase you or take cover or anything, but bullets can be rather deadly even on Normal difficulty. However, this is not too surprising, since this is a Build engine game, so it's fine. The real value of this game is in the good level design, which convincingly feels like its setting, and scripted events that happen as you play them. While obviously not a must-play FPS, if you're a fan of either the Medal of Honor series or Build engine games like Duke 3D, Shadow Warrior, or Blood, or even a Wolfenstein 3D fan, definitely check this out. It's well done, and the price is very cheap. P.S. The default DOSBox version is broken. Gunshots don't register when you click half the time. I recommend using Raze source port, an EDuke32 fork that is like GZDoom.
System Shock is in an odd place. I want to call it overrated because of the praise its fans give it, but it occupies such cult status to begin with that I can't really call it overrated. I'm a big fan of many 90s shooters. This game came out around the same time as Doom; for that era, I think the graphics and engine look excellent. Walking around the space station feels like being in one of the sets of Star Trek: TNG or DS9. There's a cool intro cutscene with promising plot and intriguing setting, and the techno music is catchy. However, Doom, this game is not. In fact it has more in common with the Ultima style than Doom. Part of Doom's success is the intuitive simplicity of controls and ease of movement. SS is utterly unwieldy and cumbersome in its heavily dated control scheme that just has not aged well at all. Basic things like walking, leaning, crouching are a stupendous chore. The game is just not my cup of tea. I got it on sale years ago but could never really get into it past the first few rooms. There's a reason why the sequel is usually better remembered as the seminal inspiration for many future (and better) series. I can appreciate the inklings of the sci-fi/horror mashup, and I know that at the time, this game would've been well-regarded for the experiments it tried. But it just does not hold up well imo, and I say that as someone who loves most of the big 90s FPS hits. I don't think it was necessarily a bad game in its day, but it's not something easy to get into nowadays at all.
The "Sniper: Ghost Warrior" series has its ups and downs. It began as a sniper-focused Call of Duty clone, but it evolved into so much more. Suffice it to say, the more recent entries, this one included, are much better than its rough early games. I'll cut right to the chase: Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is a mix between the Far Cry 3 Open World formula and the Sniper Elite series (if it were 1st person and modern day rather than 3rd person and WW2 era). If you're a fan of either or both games, you will enjoy this game. There really are only two major sniper-focused series in gaming: this and Sniper Elite. Both feature more realistic sniping mechanics (bullet drop-off, using the right distance) than most other shooters, and both have a sort of "bullet-cam" when you land headshots every now and again. SE's does a Mortal Kombat-style "X-Ray," while this series has blood gushing out and occasionally gibbing with parts of people's faces flying off. While Sniper Elite has objectively more complex mechanics on paper: e.g. a.i. scouting your position based on last known location, timing shots with loud noises to hide them, using environment--in practice, it all feels more videogamey, and I don't feel quite as badass. SGW 3, on the other hand, may have fewer mechanics, but it feels more challenging, with a less forgiving checkpoint system. The missions are really tense, and varied, and you really feel like a sniper badass when you do win. Both series do a great job of letting you use handguns and assault rifles, but making them feel secondary. In SGW3, your AR, though competent, is really a last resort to stay alive as you run away and hide. That alone makes this so different from majority of shooters. Pistols, on the other hand, are quite useful for close quarters stealth kills. My only gripe is the bow/arrow is not good at all, but as a DLC weapon, this is forgiveable. P.S. The graphics are out of this world! SGW3 uses the CryTek (Crysis) engine, so it looks phenomenal!
This game I knew going in was supposed to be bad. I really wanted to like it though, as I previously played Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and liked that one a lot. This game has great graphics for the 360 era. I love the luscious jungle setting, and things like the palm trees, waterfalls, cliffsides, etc. can look stunning. The core sniping mechanic is fun. But my God, this game is literally broken. Just straight up, downright broken. There are scripted events that are literally IMPOSSIBLE to beat without severely cheesing the map. The assault rifles/machine gun gameplay is atrocious. The sound effects are cheap and the recoil is ridiculous. Even as a side mode and not being the main point of the game, it's just embarrassingly bad. There's all sorts of lesser problems and bugs too. Your friendly a.i. do nothing. Very often they don't follow you like they should but just remain stuck, frozen at the beginning of the map, leaving you to lone wolf it. You get stuck on random geometry all the time. Some lighting on map lacks light sources (no flames or lights casting them). Invisible walls look like open fields. Enemies continue to play voice lines of them talking after they're dead. Cutscenes or audio dialogue sometimes don't play. Save files get corrupted. There are times when you can barely see enemies as a sniper, yet they shoot you instantly with perfect accuracy from hundreds of meters away with inaccurate machine guns. Exiting a turret spawns you outside your cover, leaving you defenseless. Nevermind the mediocre stealth and enemy a.i.. Given the game's age and indie, low-budget B-movie feel, I can forgive that. But having parts where you get soft-locked on a map and have to restart it, or scripted events which are supposed to be cool Call of Duty moments but where you die over and over if you do exactly what the game tells you to? Did nobody play test this? This goes beyond being a bargain bin Call of Duty clone focused on sniping. It's just a broken mess.
Graphics of the early polygonal era do not bother me at all. I love many games of the PS1 era. My name is literally from Quake. Tons of games from then hold up just as well as when they came out. Sadly, Tomb Raider, it must be acknowledged, is not among them. Are the games bad? By no means. And when they came out back in the 90s, they were the first to really capture the spirit of the Indiana Jones movies in a 3D action/adventure setting (the 2D point and click games were there for several years prior). 3D itself was fairly novel in 1996, so this was the cutting edge of technology at the time. Since it was so new, the controls hadn't really been worked out yet, and lots of games innovated. While Doom and Resident Evil's classic controls are fine to use today, if a little unorthodox, Tomb Raider's are just a painful chore. They are highly imprecise, and overly clunky with too many button combos to input that over-complicates what could be simple jumping and grabbing mechanics. Which is especially vexing when most of the game revolves around precise jumping and grabbing ledges. That the original was replaced by the superior "Anniversary" remake in 2006 is a testament that even the original developers conceded the first ones have not aged well. (Same story, way better controls, gameplay, and graphics) Are the original games unplayable? No. If you're willing to suffer through the tedious controls and ugly graphics, there are some neat puzzles and level designs that would've impressed in the 90s. It's a solid game. But why bother? There's like a million Indy-style games out there now, (e.g. Uncharted); even the TR series alone has two additional reboot trilogies which are both way better in every way. Just play those instead. There's really no reason to go back to the original Tomb Raider's unless you have a childhood nostalgia for them or are a hardcore fan of the newer ones and want to experience the origins. Even on sale at $1 it wasn't really worth it.
Two of the first games I ever had were Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, both on DS. I think I still have them lying around here somewhere. Of course, I'm biased, and the newer Lego Star Wars games are probably more impressive these days, but this lit up my face to see such a beloved, cherished title be preserved for posterity here on GOG. And as a plus, it's the complete saga, so no Disney nonsense ;)
Timeless, photo-realistic graphics. The best gameplay. The original goriest game that is the reason the ESRB exists. But the Fatalities (and other finishers) are extremely creative too, not just gory for gory's sake. The ai difficulty is tough, but very predictable. The games may be deceptively simple, but learning the moves is only the beginning. The real game is learning the dance of combat, how the a.i. reacts, and how to leverage that behavior to land your attacks successfully while moving at fast speeds. It's a genuine challenge to successfully complete the ladder in just 5 tries. You will not win every time you play, something modern games don't do anymore. This just makes victory, when you achieve it, all the sweeter. (Note: you can activate cheat code for freeplay/unlimited continues). There's secret characters and fights, all sorts of finishers; it's MK at its finest. Only downside is this is original MK3, not Ultimate MK 3. So it is missing a few characters and stages. I am flabbergasted by all the negative reviews complaining about DOS or keyboard controls. Frankly, keyboard controls are the best way to play fighting games. I never liked playing fighting games on controller. The joystick leads to imprecise inputs that make combos needlessly challenging. It's easier to do on keyboard, which you can re-map so that the controls are like their setup in the arcades. For. e.g. I use 'O' for High punch, 'L' for low punch, ' [ ' (bracket) for high kick, ' " ' (quotation mark/apostrophe) for low kick, 'P' for dash/sprint (MK3 only) , and ' ; ' (semi-colon) for block. WASD for movement. This layout is comfortable to use and quite logical. Punch on left, Kick on right, high one row above low, and block/sprint in middle. DOSBox setup: In config, change scaler = "2xsai" works best for MK 1 & 2; set to "none" for 3. MK 1 and 3 use CD quality music, while MK 2 has midi. Use GUS (Gravis Ultrasound) soundcard. Sounds much better than default OPL emulation.
