I own this game already but I'm still tempted to buy this on gog. I remember when Code Name 47 first came out and it was unlike anything that I had ever seen. You don't run and gun and take out everything in sight, oh no..this game was much more evil than that. You job was to take out one target. If you were good you'd only have to take out siad target but if you got sloppy and gave yourself away you'd have to take out anyone who discovered you. The best success came when you pre-meditated your kill...plan your route, kill anyone who got in the way of sucess and hide their bodies down a sewer grate. The first game where it was okay to kill someone just for their clothes or their uniform...no moral dilemmas...this game was pure cool and it still is. First thing I noticed is how up to date it still looks and feels. There is real tension as you pass henchmen on the street and hope they just think your a harmless businessman - not a hired killer who is about to execute his boss. Missions are intelligent and present multiple options to success. If you leave a trail of bodies make sure you clean them up before they are discovered. Yes this game is hard. Its not as simple as walking in and killing your mark, patience is the key here. Chose your moment. If you're lucky you'll get a clean kill with a sniper rifle but more often you will have to strangle your mark or bring out the highballers and fill him full of holes. You'll have to attempt most missions over and over until you are successful...expect that. Despite it's age it still looks great and the controls are done well....The only fault I'll give is that it's so hard that you can get very frustrated but when you finally finish that mission you'll be ecstatic. Also I'm still amazed about the depth and great gameplay you get from such a tiny download...If they gave out awards for thrills per meg of downlaod codename 47 wins hands down...for a game thats under 250megs the amount of gameplay you get is staggering. Buy. Play. Enjoy. (in that order)
I've reviewed games very objectively before. This time I'm not going to be objective at all, I'm simply just going to say 'play this game'. For me it's a big deal that gog got this game. I already own this game a few times over as 'Operation Flashpoint'. Don't let the relatively small 420meg download fool you. This game is huge. There is almost infinite replay value in this game. The paths to success or failure are almost as infinite. It's true that the graphics may seem simple in some areas but thay are still stunning inothers. This game is hard because it is real. It is a simulator. To give you an example, if you want to pull off a successful long range kill with a sniper rifle, then google how it's done in real life and the same will apply to Arma. Range finding with your scope, adjustments for wind and elevation..it's all there, and the game doesn't even tell you this becuase in real life you don't get told that either...that's just the way it is. I could go on for a very long time but the game is too big to cover even a small part. You just don't know how deep this game gets until you're a few hours in and by then it's too late. The mod community is huge and dedicated and new content is always comming out. You could be playing user generated content for the rest of your life and still not play it all. Don't be fooled by the new Operation Flashpoint games....this is the real thing. This first Arma game along with the new Arma games by Bohemia Interactive took combat and made it more than just a game. You can take this game online and find servers filled with players. With the exception of Counterstrike 1.6 no other game has stayed this popular or relevant after 10 years. There is just too much in this game for me to elaborate on. My best advice is just to find out for yourself. I have to give it the maximum amount of stars. No other game has done wihat this game did, and they did it 10 years ago. I still find that amazing.
This is a game I was very excited to see on GOG and I bought it as soon as I saw it. I can't wait to play it again and I owe GOG a big thanks for putting it up here. I owned XIII on xbox back in the day and even though it was released in 2003 It almost hasn't dated at all. A big reason for this is because it's graphics are 100% cell shaded. In other words it's graphics are done in comic book style which means it looks impressive and the graphics look fresh even today. At the time game developers were just starting to get into cell shaded games (Jet Set Radio Future was the other big cell shaded game back then), but they seemed to disappear for a long time up until now. Modern games like 'Borderlands' are bringing cell shading back and XIII still looks impressive next to them. When XIII begins you wake up on a beach with a bad case of amnesia and its up to you to put the pieces of your life back together, like a comic book Jason Bourne. The story is interesting although it does lag a little toward the middle. The gameplay is just plain fun. Stylish kills are rewarded with comic book exclamations that remind you of an old episode of batman. The weapons and gunplay are extremely satisfying. To give you an idea just picture yourself blowing away bad guys with a comic book M16 or even a .357 Magnum and seeing the resulting cartoon splat of blood. XIII isn't perfect. The big criticism of the game when it was released was the voice acting, and I agree with that, sort of. Actually the voice acting for the most part is great. 'Adam West' (the original batman) is funny and entertaining and Hip Hop star 'Eve' did a great job with her character. The problem was 'David Duchovny'. Yes, that's Moulder from 'X-files'. He has since become infamous as maybe the worst voice actor in video games...ever. He does the voice for the title character (agent XIII). I've played two games with David Duchovney voicing the main character (Area 51 was the other game), and to be honest, it's comical, in fact I find it so funny that it actually adds to the game for me. He sounds like someone who just took a mixture of Prozac and Valium (and that's during the exciting parts). The xbox version of XIII had really strong multiplayer value. There were deathmatch modes as well as bomb modes (ala counterstrike) and I remember getting many hours of replay value just playing deathmatch bot-matches. I hope they have kept that option in the pc version. If anyone wants to get into the multiplayer side im sure there will be many more players now that gog has picked up XIII. I hope the online community grows now because multiplayer was always great in this game (better than most current games. I found the Borderlands multiplayer to be a bit of a yawn compared to XIII....yeah okay the two games are very different but they are both cell shaded FPS games so close enough!) Lastly just from a value point of view this game is almost a must have if you belong to gog (and no im not associated with gog in any way that's just my opinion). $5.99 for a game like XIII is awesome. For those of you that get into it and discover how good the multiplayer can be, there is potentially months of solid gameplay in this title. For those of you who buy XIII it'll be the best six bucks you've spent in a while. A solid 4 out of 5 stars. I took One star away for David Duchovny's voice acting, but I'm almost tempted to give him a consolation star for comic value....his retarded, almost brain-dead delivery makes me laugh every time...I know that calling David Duchovny a retard is actually an insult to retarded people..no offense intended.
Right away I liked the premise for this game. There are alot of 1st person space sims out there but this time they've taken the same game-play and put you in charge of a range of small combat subs..and it works. Don't go looking for too much depth (no pun intended). I'ts a straight up arcade sim with some story elements. Sometimes you will be asked to travel to other underwater cities and deal with the seedy locals and in this respect i really liked the atmoshphere. If youve played Bioshock you'll kinda get the idea--it's a run-down and murky place to be and the characters you meet often reflect that..... Interaction with the locals is pretty basic. You point and click and scroll through text dialogue. There is no real development of your character aside from the subs you choose to pilot.. So to sum up you can look at this game a few ways. Freespace Gets Wet.....or......Crimson Skies takes a swim Either way it works, its fast and enjoyable and gets a massive 3 out of 5 stars.
Before there was GTA 3 there was 'Driver'. Driver 1 and 2 started the whole 3d sand-box driving genre. They were classics that GTA 3 borrowed heavily from, and yes, GTA 3 did do it better. I have a love / hate relationship with the driver series. I never played 1 or 2 but i started with Driv3r (Driver 3). On first play it was a startling game. Fantastic graphics and ultra realistic handling. It looked beautiful and had a revolutionary replay mode that let you make your own movies from gameplay. I thought 'wow this is going to change games' and for a while i was hooked. Much like the GTA series most of the fun was cruising the streets and having gunfights with cops before stealing a car and trying to escape. But then the cracks started to show. Bugs and glitches and halfway through the game it got insanely hard and unfair on the player. To be honest it frustrated me so much i snapped the disc so that the game wouldnt be able to frustrate some poor guy just like me. Trouble was the game was great until halfway through and it got impossible. Any little obstacle no matter how small would make you crash and automatically lose. It was after this that 'Driver Parralles Lines' was released. Everything was different from the previous Driv3r. It turns out that i wasnt the only one the was frustrated by the previous game. Sure this version of Driver was less frustrating, but im not sure it was an improvement. As flawed as Driv3r was, its core gameplay was amazing. Driver-Parrallel lines now plays exactly like the GTA 3 series and felt dumbed down in comparason. All of the on-foot gunplay now used a lock-on auto target like GTA 3 and you could tell that the game engine was totally different. That being said, the game is actually very good. the story is engaging and the driving control is done well. The Cars handle fine and the environments all look good ( of a Saints Row / GTA standard) The 1970's setting is a big draw here and the sound-track is fantastic. This game is going to suffer from comparisons with the GTA series. It's a GTA clone, but a good one. It's worth the $9 price tag and then some. Yes the GTA series is better but there is something about this game that is addictive. Compared to a game like GTA Vice City etc this game would rate maybe a three out of Five stars but i think that would be unfair. Without comparing it to the GTA series, Driver-Parrallel lines deserves a 4 out of 5 stars. Sure you'd probably find me in the GTA / Saints Row universe before going to Driver, but then why do i really want to play this game again?....it's worth more than 9 bucks you cheap bastard so give it a shot and decide for yourself.
Mobile Forces is a simple, well put together military-style shooter that does the basics well. I've read many negative comments about MF. Mostly they were from users who found the experience shallow and unengaging and they have a point, but the game seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. There are some users who have even said this game doesnt even belong on GOG but on the other hand, with the right people and the right setting this game can be a fantastic and addictive experience. For starters this game is graphically basic but polished at the same time (if you get my meaning). It never looks bad just basic. Vehicle and people models look good and when you consider they used the old UT99 engine, you realise that the developers did a pretty good job. Ahh yes, the UT99 engine. One of the most solid and dependable FPS engines ever. I love games with this engine. The mouse tracks where you want, the movement is smooth and the game is now all about you and your skill instead of trying to wrestle with twitchy controls like other engines. It's all there. Right click zoom in and simple vehicle controls. Think of MF the same way you think of UT or Quake Arena. I mean that it is an arena FPS with vehicles you can drive like Battlefield 2. This means you have several maps and stages with various game modes like capture the flag, (or a bomb on a trailer for that matter) and team deathmatch. You unlock the maps as you go and the games consist of bot matches with vehicles thrown in. Playing through the maps in single player mode is alot of fun but i agree with the negative reviews in that the experience can get shallow. The bot A.I. is ok but not hugely challenging. The weapons are basic and few, but handle well and sound reasonable. You have a choice of one assault rifle, one shotgun, one sniper rifle etc, but that isnt really an issue as the game is more down to your skill in the end. The weapon loadout system at re-spawn in simple but actually very good. You can carry only two or threee weapons depending on their size (eg a rifle, shotgun and grenades vs a rocket launcher and a pistol). This system works well and keeps things balanced. Good luck in finding an online game but.... heres where i think this game will shine. Firstly they have crammed all this gameplay into a download less than 300 megs, and with all GOG games you can install as many times as you like. Load this game on a memory stick and you have an instant LAN tournament. The game is simple, dependable and fun..There is no learning curve, just install and go. No CD keys, no registration just hook up some PCs and this game will shine. In that sense it's simplicity is its advantage not its downfall. Have fun with this title..it's not perfect by any means but it is a whole lot of fun. I've given it 3 stars as although the single player experience can get shallow, I think that with the right LAN set-up and people, this would be a perfect choice.
I think this game changed First Person Shooters. I remember being glued to Doom 2 around then but as soon as a the shareware Duke Nukem came out everyone i knew switched to it. It may look basic now but it was a hyuge step forward from Doom 2. It looked slicker and the weapons were well done. There were so many references to current events like the OJ simpson murder trial and if you got bored to could get a stripper to "Shake it baby". Hey whats this...I can look up now!....before then all you could do was look left and right. This game still has probably the best one liners ..... It wasn't till Postal 2 years later that anyone came close to dialogue this funny. It is still a blast to play and thats really saying something... Hail to the king baby.
I just bought this game but i used to own it on X-Box and thought it was one of the best budget titles on that console. If you want the prettiest shooter then go buy a game like Crysis. I realise more and more that while most modern games are graphically impressive, they just arent that fun. In a FPS you need good controls, and satisfying weapons that look and sound leathal. Judge Dredd has these...(think Goldeneye and you will remember what it was like to pick up a gun that looked and sounded great - and that was back in 1996!!! Or you could play Halo 3 and try and kill your enemy with an underpowered rifle that sounds like a sewing machine..you decide creep.)... Satisfying missions and enemies to dispatch..sure it isnt perfect but i gave it a 5 out of 5 just to balance out some harsh reviews and bring its average up to where it should be. Hell..a zombie rampage in a mall and a shotgun in hand...I AM THE LAW!
