DUSK is a fantastic old-school shooter which was made by FPS-enthusiasts, to FPS-enthusiasts. It's the full package: - Insanely fast, frantic combat - you'll be bunnyhopping with breakneck speed! Quake would be proud - Innovative level design with plenty of secrets to find - Fluid and responsive controls - just perfect! - Every weapon is great and usable in certain situations - Horror atmosphere - when you are not killing hordes of enemies, you are busy crapping your pants - Great sound design - all weapons has that UMPH effect, every monster is recognizable - Fantastic soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult - half the OST is really creepy, unnerving atmospheric stuff like Trent Reznor's work with Quake, the other half is kick-ass metal music similar to Sonic Mayhem's Quake 2 soundtrack or Painkiller's OST, with a hint of Mick Gordon's djenty destruction. Fucking dope! - No hitscanning enemies! - I know, right? - Memes and humour - Boss fights - Soap David Szymanski knows very well how to make a good first person shooter. He is not just riding the old-school wave and crap out some half-assed rip-off. DUSK is a masterpiece and an instant classic. So, I think you should buy this game. Like, right now.
Project Warlock is a homage to Wolfenstein 3D, Hexen and other old-school shooters. The gameplay is simple, but fun. The levels are kinda short, but there are 60 of them, spread into 5 worlds with different themes. After each chapter (2-3 levels) the game is saved in the workshop, where you can upgrade your arsenal, buy spells and distribute your stats. Yes, there is no quicksave feature, but the game is not difficult (except for a few bosses), and the levels are a few minutes long, so it didn't bother me. The weapons are great, and each has two variants, which turns them into completely different weapons (for example you can upgrade your energy weapon into a railgun OR a rapid fire energy weapon). All looks and feels very cool. The graphics - as expected - is pixelated, but very stylish. The spritework is simply amazing! Only good can be said about the sound effects too - the weapons sound great, and all has that "punch" to them. The music is cool too, and what is more respectable, that every single level has a unique track! That's a lot of music! (The soundtrack is included with the game). The game is not long (I finished it under 6 hours on hard difficulty), but it has great replay value with all the different guns and builds. Personally I didn't use much of the spells, only 3 of them, but it's possible to make a mage build, where you can utilize them, or go melee if you want. I preferred to go guns blazin', so spent the upgrade points on the weapons. The levels are flat, Wolf3D like mazes, but not very complex, so it's hard to get lost. The maps are filled with secret rooms and easter eggs (paying homage to Blood, Duke Nukem, Doom and more). Project Warlock is a fast and fun shooter with stylist visuals and good replay value. Not expensive either, so definitely recommended for any shooter fan.
