Another reason for why Activision should sell off Raven Software to a different publisher and stop their enslavement to Call of Duty. This game was made in the Quake II Engine and that should be enough to tell you that this game will be epic. Here's something you should do right off of the bat: put Texture Filtering to None. That will make the game even more retro looking and pixelated. It also makes the graphics less crappy (especially the weapon models) because texture filtering looks like crap in the older id Tech Engines. There's a community patch for the game but it introduces a couple issues such as sound effects not working properly in the latter levels and random crashes upon reloading. The guns have actual audible power behind them aside from the sniper rifle and 9mm handgun. The gibbing feels like Quake 1's but more advanced by having individual body parts being severed from the cadaver rather than just the entire body being gibbed all at once. You will not be playing this for the story, however you will be playing this for the action and gibbing. This IS a game you WILL be adding to your GOG librar, I promise you won't regret it!
The Game has issues with the mouse that make it a ruined experience. The game's speed also seems to have an effect on the mouse issue, I'm not sure if it's tied to a framerate issue or what the problem is. Nobody on the GOG forums seemed to have an answer to the problem either. As far as I'm concerned this is another example of retro shovelware. The game has interesting concepts but there's no tutorial to help you understand the game's combat aspects so you're stuck having to assume what to do or read a manual online.
This game could work well however, the fact that it forces you to work together with an Ai on the first level makes this game a miserable chore. It would work well if the Ai you worked with didn't hog most of the resources and actually sent out combative allies to help defend both your base and its own base. Instead, you literally have to harm your ally, destroy their resource buildings, destroy their ships and submarines, and by the time you have built some resources and fighter subs, killed some of your ally's units, guess what your units are too weak and the enemy is attacking and it is game over!
(Read to the end to see why I rated it so low) Prepare to lose interest in the game due to a bug that makes it so that you can no longer save any further progress. As for a remaster... It's not pretty. there is mouse acceleration and textures will pop in and out worse than what happened in Fallout 3, while this doesn't happen often during a play through, it is memorable once you see it. The gameplay is interesting as is the story. However, it never mentions near the beginning that you can combine inventory items. I felt that it could have given a tutorial for that as it left me stumped for nearly two hours before I looked up a walk-through. The atmosphere through the game is creepy but in a tolerable manner. The narration is done well, as are the portrayals of the characters who have lines to speak. None of the acting seems obnoxious or cringeworthy and I never once wished to skip a voiceline throughout what progress I made unless it was a repeated action, even though I lost my progress after I exited due to the save game bug I felt what time I spent was made worth-while. If I can find a way to fix this bug then I'll give it another shot. Do not take this as it is a bad game but take this as this is a poorly developed game surrounding what could have made a great title. The game has a lot of character but its bugs make it harder to enjoy its decent story and writing. You might say "Then play the remake, Tree." But this game has what I wanted to play and it was all ruined because of a save game bug. I'll look and see if there is a way to fix the save bug but it was a real bummer to my experience in playing it.
The art: Reminiscent of some other game I can't put my tongue on. It's beautifully pixelated and detailed! The controls: Nothing to complain about. I don't know why the other reviewer wouldn't want to use KB&M controls, but it plays smoothly. In fact, smoother than most bullet hell shooters. The gameplay: You have to strategize where you place your towers and yes it actually matters. You have to try and notice which tactics work and which don't. Which adds to the next point: The difficulty: This game will kick your butt. Like I said previously, you will lose at times due to trying to find out what works and what doesn't. And of course at the same time some enemies will attack with projectiles that, in my opinion are fairly easy to avoid. The mechanics: Other than trying to stay alive while tower defending, you will have to keep upgrading your towers; choose whether or not to place down the treasury tower (unlocked after mission 1) before your attacking towers; complete challenging quests that are level specific; and Unlock abilities and mechanics that make prices and other gameplay mechanics more effective for you. The story: While extremely vague, it gives you the general outlay for the worldbuilding and design surrounding the game. And yes, it is drawn quite well! It's nothing like H.P. Lovecraft, but what do you expect from a tower defense game? It's not a Playstation walking simulator nor a narrative work of art. The Synopsis: If you would like this game depends on if you like being tested as both a strategist and a gamer. It also depends on if you like the pixel art aesthetic and enjoy tower defense games. You don't have to like bullet hell games to enjoy this game because you can die indefinitely. The art is well done and like I said before it is challenging. May ye be the victor of OtherWar!
With modern hardware I cannot recommend this game sadly. However the developer/Publisher's website version works better and I'm not sure why. Wild Tangent why would you not just add a resolution change to your version and republish it to Steam/GOG? Frankly, I don't think this game should be on GOG if it is not optimized for current hardware, especially since this game contains zero fixes to assist with framerate issues.
