If you're a Star Trek fan, then Bridge Commander is one of the few games that will give you the experience of being in control of your own starship in the Star Trek universe of TNG and DS9. Taking on missions from Starfleet, you give orders to your crew operating the various stations on the bridge, such as Navigation, Weapons, Science, and Engineering. Your trusty second in command will also be available to help with changing alert levels and giving advice on what to do next. The missions are pretty heavily combat focussed, and you will need to balance power between the ship's systems in order to win through, as there are some tough encounters. You can control the ship directly if you want, but for the true Captain experience you should act through your officers. The game is from 2002, so the graphics aren't great. I played with the Bridge Commander Remastered mod. which improved the graphics and added some additional ships. It claimed that it would allow me to play widescreen, but I could never get that working in combinations with full screen on my hardware, so I went with an old school aspect ratio at full screen for maximum immersion.
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault is a solid WWII FPS from 2004 that runs great on modern hardware and will transport you back to your youth, when you had much more time to play games! Google, and you'll find some simple config file changes to support widescreen resolutions without needing mods. The graphics are improved over Allied Assault (which you would expect, as the game came out two years later), and the sound effects and music create a great atmosphere as you battle the Japanese forces in the Pacific Theatre. I didn't find the missions as varied and interesting as Allied Assault, which is why this is only a 4/5 star review. After training, the first mission in Pearl Harbour can be difficult, as you need to make your way through a ship and the route through the decks is not at all obvious. Add in burning steam and fires as the ship takes damage and this can be challenging to get through!
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a fantastic WWII FPS from 2002 that runs great on modern hardware and will transport you back to your youth, when you had much more time to play games! The missions are varied and interesting, and the game does not outstay its welcome. Make sure to get a mod for widescreen support and improved graphics, and then you will be set for a few enjoyable hours of Wermacht destruction! Omaha Beach is a tough level, but stick to cover and move slowly up the beach. Medics can heal you, so look out for them if you're running low on health. Once you've crossed the minefield and made it to the trench that leads to the MG emplacements, things will get easier.
The game has great atmosphere and serves up one of the best H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu experiences in video games. However, it has not aged well and has some questionable design, so although this GOG version is much superior to the version available on Steam, you will have a hard time getting all the way to the end. As many other reviewers have commented, the first part of the game is the best, where you are investigating and exploring Innsmouth. Once the game switches to be more of a FPS, things start to go downhill, and it's a bit of slog from that point on.
Alpha Protocol is an action/RPG hybrid game from Obsidian. The gameplay is a bit clunky and the story is not the best, but it's worth giving it a try. Like all Obsidian games there are bugs, but I didn't encounter any game-breaking ones. However, if you'd like to stealth your way through the game, beware that you probably won't often be successful. The combat can be frustrating and the computer hacking, lock breaking and circuit overridding can be extremely frustrating as time to complete the puzzles is short and the controls don't work too well on PC. You will get there in the end, but you will probably need multiple attempts. often setting off annoying alarms that alert all enemies to your presence! The computer hacking is probably the worst offender, as it's obviously designed to work with a controller with left and right sticks positioning the two codes. On PC, one code needs to be positioned with the mouse and the other with the keyboard. Getting the code into the right position with the mouse is super-hard, and all the while the clock is ticking...argh!
The Temple of Elemental Evil was the second game from Troika Games, an outfit formed by Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson, who all worked on Fallout 2 at Interplay. It's an isometric RPG that uses the D&D 3.5 rules with turn-based combat. The story is not so gripping, and I preferred the Baldur's Gate games over this, but it stands as a faithful implementation of the tabletop D&D system (BG used real-time with pause), and is well worth a playthrough.
This is Telltale's entry in the Monkey Island series, and I found it pretty enjoyable. The game is split into 5 chapters, and if you're a fan of Monkey Island, point and click adventures and Telltale's approach to storytelling, then you'll like it. There's a lot of humour in the game, and Telltale have captured the essence of Monkey Island pretty well. Would recommend.
Jade Empire is an underrated martial arts RPG from Bioware. If you enjoyed the Knights of the Old Republic games, then you will probably enjoy this. The story is good and the combat is satisfying to master. There's great world-building and a memorable cast of characters. Recommended.
Star Wars: Republic Commando is something different to many of the other Star Wars games out there. Instead of playing as a Jedi hero, you command a squad of troopers on missions that take place during the Clone Wars. As such, you need to think tactically about each situation that you encounter, ordering your squad into position and attacking when the moment is right.
Jedi Academy, along with Jedi Outcast, is one of the best ever Star Wars games ever produced. Created by Raven Software using the Quake III Arena engine, the graphics still hold up pretty well today. IMHO the lightsaber combat in these games has never been surpassed. You also have a multitude of force powers to help you overcome your enemies. Overall, a classic Star Wars game that no fan should miss out on.
