Downwell is an amazing little game! The monochromatic style is gorgeous, old-school goodness. Graphics and action are smooth and easy to follow (once you get the hang of it). Controls are spot-on and fluid, easy to adapt to, and just plain fun. I prefer controller, but keyboard is easy to use, too. It is obvious that the developers actually thought this one out. There is quite a lot stuff going on in this game, too: tons of power-up that you can both buy in shops on the way down the well, and that you can find in secret caves. Your gunboots will change depending on the upgrades you acquire, and this adds a cool look to each new upgrade. There are many little enemies to defeat, and some cannot be defeated with your gunboots; you'll have to stomp them on the head! At the list price, it is a steal for a really fun, fast-paced experience that is good in both short and long runs. This is definitely a game that makes you want to take "just one more run." Get this game!
This reminds me of a lot of the old-school platformers I played as a kid...Golden Axe came to mind immediately for me, mostly because of the look of it, and Castlevania, mostly because of the difficulty. I have read some of the complaints voiced in other reviews, and I can see the points the other reviewers make, but I disagree with them myself. All in all, this is a fun game. The graphics, music, and sound are great. Some of the game mechanics may make things more difficult for the player, but this is no different than old games from my NES, Sega, or SuperNES days: some games had double jump, some didn't...some had attack-during-jump, some didn't...some had direction-control-during-jump, some didn't...etc. I didn't find the mechanics in this game to be any more of a hindrance than any other, and some of our favorite Great Old Games were HARD. (To this day, I still haven't beaten the original Castelvania!) The game mechanics force the player to go "old-school," as in, memorize enemy habits, memorize trap timing, figure out patterns, and the like. In my estimation, this is a positive point, for fans of old-school games. So to wrap up: graphics are sharp and nice-looking, with bright colors and interesting locales to gaze upon. Sound effects are nice, with some ambient sound effects to fill out the experience. Music is evocative of the action of this hack-and-slash game. Difficulty is just that: difficult. This is a game that is unrelenting. You either get through, or you start over. This game only loses a star for not have various difficulty settings for those who don't wish to try that hard and only wish to experience the game's ambience. Otherwise, I recommend this game for fans of old-school games who like an old-school challenge.
I truly enjoy this game. Many reviewers have many different opinions on what makes a truly good cRPG, but on its own, this game is fun. The graphics are fantastic--to bright for some, too cartoony for others, but they are light and sharp and get the job done magnificently. Sound is great, and the soundtrack is infectious but blends well into the background of the game. Controls are easy enough, and they are intuitive, especially for veteran RPGers. The combat is fun and fast turn-based action when a monster encounter occurs. There are enough choices in the skill trees to decide what you would rather build up first. The world map (or maps, really) are big and plentiful enough to offer a variety of locations to visit and beasties to encounter, and getting around on the map is easy. As has been said previously, the combat can be a bit unforgiving at first, and there may be a steep learning curve at the beginning (especially for newcomers), but the battles are fun, so it never feels like a grind. Later on in the game (but not terribly far in), you can acquire skills that let you know what kind of enemies you may be running up against, and know whether or not they are too powerful for you, so that you can avoid them until you are ready. There are SO MANY quests in this game, and it is fairly open-ended, so that you do not have one path to glory, and no one quest is necessary in order to proceed in the game; you can choose what kind of "life" you want to live in the game, from becoming a brigand, to being the king's crusader, and lots in between. Performance-wise, I run this on a MacBook Air with mouse control at the highest resolution, and I have no problems or framerate issues. Overall, if you enjoy RPGs, then this is one you should definitely add to your collection!
I remember this one from way back. I understand some of the lower starred reviews, since the graphics don't hold up compared to pretty much any game out now, but for what it was at the time, and for what it still is, I believe this game deserves five stars for its own sake. On its own merits, it is a fun world-building game, with fun powers and a simple premise: to conquer the current map. If given a chance, this game is loads of simple, old-school fun. The GOG version works flawlessly on a Mac, and I still enjoy this even today.
Runs exactly as I remember it. I ran this on my ancient Macintosh Performa PC way back in the 1990s. This GOG version runs like a dream on my MacBook air at the highest resolution, with no drop in framerate. I can't really add anything that hasn't already been said, but I will add my addition to the chorus of recommendations for this game. Thanks, GOG!
This is one of those great, old FPS games from the days of Quake. (I did get this game to run on my Macbook Air...more on that below.) First, the game itself... The level design and story are fun. The graphics are obviously dated, but hold up well enough to create the atmosphere the game is going for, with textures on walls and skins working well; lighting is excellent for the time period, and is even done better than some modern games. The sound is excellent and the guns "sound" appropriately heavy and lethal. The enemies are challenging enough. The game has a fairly good single player campaign, but it is the multiplayer maps that I remember the best. I have not run a multiplayer as yet (I may not be able to since I'm on a Mac), but it gives good options for bot matches. I played on the hardest setting and the bots took cover frequently; that made for fun matches. Even on regular difficulty, the bots sometimes afforded me a good chase. There are also a good variety of maps to play on, and if you can get it to run on multiplayer, I believe this may be what will make this game shine. Framerate is super fast on our newer machines, and controls are smooth. *Running on a Mac: The only version on Gog.com is Windows, but I did get it to run with Wineskin. This link from the Gog forums http://www.gog.com/forum/unreal_series/unreal_gold_on_mac_os_x_what_worked_for_me really helped me to get that going on my Macbook Air. The tutorial by the poster is great, but be sure to read further down for info on how to use Wineskins to correct for some of the graphical issues that might present. Overall, this game rocks the old-school FPS genre. If you've played any Unreal games already, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you owe it to yourself to try this atmospheric game out. 4.5 solid stars, only losing half a star because of some minor shortcomings in the single player campaign, but they are by no means deal breakers and aren't worth mentioning.
