Years ago, when Lucas Arts still cared about gamers, they released a title called Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. At the time it was the best World War II flight simulator to be found. Since then, I've looked for one that came close in terms of realism, variety and action, and have so often been utterly disappointed by superficial titles. IL-2 Sturmovik not only matches but surpasses all titles previous to it. The game features a steep learning curve. Those used to more arcade style simulators might have trouble dealing with torque, flutter affects and the spins that come from misusing the chosen aircraft. Once you do however, you're rewarded with an incredibly accurate experience. The planes handle realistically even when damaged, and trying to limp a damaged bomber back to base with a hole in the wing and a smoking engine is a tense experience. Each plane has its own unique handling and weapons, and you'll likely soon find a favorite among the huge array to choose from. 1946 is definitely the best bang for your buck as you get all the previous titles: Original IL-2, IL-2 Forgotten Battles, the Ace Expansion Pack, the Pacific Campaigns, The Pe-2 Campaign, the IL-10 campaign Sturmoviks over Manchuria, and the new 1946 campaign, which tells a compelling and somewhat plausible what-if story that lengthens the war for another year, and lets you play the weird and wild secret weapons that Germany and Russia came up with, including an experimental helicopter. This game lets you fly every side of the war, even the esoteric ones you've probably never heard of. You can pilot Finnish Buffaloes in the Continuation War, shoot down Hurricanes with the Imperial Japanese, pilot American dive bombers at Midway, German rocket planes and jets, and of course the titular IL-2, a heavy Soviet ground support plane that lets you rain death from above. The game does have a few flaws, but all are easily remedied. The less than realistic engine noises are fixable through a community made sound patch, and if you don't like the static campaigns, there is a dynamic campaign generator available that gives you direct control over the future of the war. Few other games have such a dedicated modding community, even years after it was released, and the amount of campaigns, missions, skins, and tweaks available for the game are staggering, perhaps matched only by the original Half Life. The long and short is, if you're a fan of flight simulators, or a history buff, this is an absolute must have.
Getting past the oddball control scheme and laughable voice acting is a major challenge. Once you do, however, you will find an absolutely amazing game, with unparalleled interaction for its time, an impressive story line, and an immersive world. If you're one of the people that missed it like I did the first time around, it's worth your attention.
Duke Nukem 3D is one of the most over-the-top fun shooters ever to be released. Sticking to two dimensional bit-map technology, it wasn't a big technological leap for its time. However, it ditched the brown, grimy environments and anonymous hero of Quake, in favor of a huge array of levels, strippers, crazy enemies, meaty weapons and a cigar chomping one-liner spewing hero to spoof all action heroes. The levels are sprawling and expansive, but never so much that they're confusing. Sometimes, the game-play invariably boils down to simple find the key and progress but the levels are peppered with so much action that it often doesn't matter. Duke Nukem Forever, the proposed sequel to this game has become the longest running inside joke of the industry. However, to understand why, you have to know that the frustration over the long development time springs from the fact that Duke Nukem 3D was so darn fun to play, and most of those who played it would have loved a worthy sequel. I kept this game until the floppies became obsolete, and corrupt and I'm so excited to see it here on GOG. If you've never played DN:3D before, now is your chance to relive one of the classics that shaped PC gaming. If you have, you don't need my recommendation to play.
This is a nice meaty FPS: minimal on plot, loaded for bear with ridiculous weapons and loads of enemies to mow down. OK, so literally you only get a few weapons in total, but each gun is actually two different weapons creatively combined in a single package. The fun part is that each function of the gun is usually not only completely different but can be combined in creative ways on the fly. The painkiller, your basic weapon for instance, can be used to cut down enemies like a chainsaw at close range, or alternately can shoot a harpoon-like weapon with a laser beam behind it. That means you can shoot the harpoon into enemies, ripping them off their feet, or set it across a tight space and let the beam burn into them as they come at you. OR you can start it spinning chainsaw style, then hit alternate fire, sending a spinning blade off in a strait direction that dices anything in its path. And that's just one of the weapon. I won't even go into the thing that shoots one foot long wooden stakes, and as a side bonus rapid fire lobs grenades. This leads to a surprising amount of options in combat and you will never find yourself bored with what you're presented with, and wading through waves of demons is always satisfying. That's not even mentioning the gigantic and compelling boss battles, the unlocking tarot card system that can make your bad-ass even bad-asser, or the turning into an unstoppable god/demon bit. Sure you're not going to be moved to tears by the plot, and enemy AI is a bit on the retarded side, but with a name like Painkiller you have to expect that. If you like action, buy this game, period.
I remember playing Unreal when it came out, my old computer chugging as hard as it could, to render those shiny floors. I never considered Unreal a genre changing FPS like Half Life or Doom. Nothing it does was really new, but its elements combine extremely well in a very well presented format. More importantly, it is very fun to play. The weapons, now all well-worn, each have their own specialties and quirks making for a very fun and balanced load-out. The enemies are interesting, and the game-play is fast paced and flows very well from place to place. Definitely worth a second look for those who remember it, and, if you've never played Unreal before, then it's still a fun and diverting game that's worth the price tag.
Battle Chess: It's chess, with graphic violence. Yeah it's great to see one knight dismember another, and yeah it's extremely satisfying to watch your opponent's king get offed. If you never got into chess though, graphic violence is probably not going to sell you on it. If chess is your bag, then this is going to be a fun diversion. Of course, if you're a chess shark, you'll probably find yourself skipping a lot of the animations to get the game up to the speed you're used to anyway, and you'd probably be better off with a game like Chess Master that has more sophisticated strategies built in.
