First things first: this game is awesome. Pretty much the same kind of mindless shooter as Painkiller is, and almost as much fun. As you wander from area to area, an insane amount of monsters will spawn from every corner, wont let you progress, until you blast all of them back where they belong. Just as in Painkiller, you have to walk through HUGE maps, and your state saves at checkpoints, so you don't have to start over the whole level, if you mess things up. However, in this case, each level takes place at the same, egypt-like setting, instead of Painkiller's varied level designs. They make up for this with even faster and more furious action, a cartoony, arcade-ish feel, a tounge-in cheek attitude, and our hero: The kid-friendly lovechild of Duke Nukem, and Ash from Evil Dead. Sam is an mindless thug, but a likeable one. And he doesn't swear, so even your 9 year old nephew can play this game. (another similarity between this game and duke is the optional 3rd person view, which looks hillarious especially when larger weapons are equipped) The weapons in this game are large and loud, as they should be, and this is also true to the enemies (my favorites are the screaming, headless bombermen). The music is cool, and the graphics were brilliant at their time. All-in-all, a totally mindless shooter, but there's nothing wrong with that, if it's done well. And Serious Sam is a rare gem: endless fun from start, to finish. One thing I don't understand though. Why only The "First encounter"? Where is the second? (not to be confused with Serious Sam 2, which wasn't near this good) I guess, both games would be a bit too much content for ten bucks, but seriously... ... I sense a weekend promo approaching...;)
Space quest is one of the great grandaddies to the Adventure genre (alonside with kings quest). As stated before, the influence it had on the game industry cannot be underestimated. HOWEVER Do you really remeber these games well? For you should've played the series a long time ago. It was a definitive game of my generation, and it was great fun to play them back then. On the other way, it doesn't really hold up that well today. Especially, when you compare them to the latter, more refined installments, they feel crude, to say the least. For starters, this first part of the series is punishingly hard. Literally, because it's going to punish you with DEATH for the slightest error you make, even if you cannot be aware of certain obstacles. This makes them not only frustrating, but but tends to be more of a "trial and error" type of andventure, which has never been good. Well, at least, the developers got pretty creative when it came to game overs, but after a while it gets really tiresome. On the other hand, one could easily see, how the trilogy turns better and better with each episode. They get longer, deeper, less frustrating, more clever and entertaining. Another aspect is the game grapchis, the parser and the sound. While I find EGA graphics very charming (especially in SQ 3), this might put off many newcomers. Why are the VGA remakes missing from this package? At this price, it'd have been nice to include them.
Ah, it's finally here! If you're familiar with the first installment in the independence war series, I guess you were looking forward to this game. Well, you'll be surprised. This time around, you're on the other side of the fence, in a role of an outlaw, seeking revenge. You steal cargo, you blow everything apart, and the corporation is always on your tail. As you might assume, this game is more combat oriented than the previous one, and the controls are much simplified. You can look at both aspects as good or bad, it really just depends on personal taste. Your humongous starship, and realistic physics are still there however, so I got the same kick out of it, and the combat itself felt more fun (not to mention, the graphics are vastly improved). My only complain would be that this game is VERY HARD. Independence war I was hard because you felt you were actually in control, of a large starship, Independence war II just kics your ass over and over again :)
...and this is still the very first review of this game on GOG. To be honest, I didn't even realized, I played this game, until I cycled through the screenshots. So here's the first impression: not very memorable. Unfortunately, this game falls short on expectations at almost every aspect, thus becomes mediocre, and forgettable, despite it's potential. Plot: Yes, it is based on Verne's famous story. It has spawned several adaptations, including a movie, and tv series also. Too bad, they always keep changing the enjoyable bits into very generic elements. Plus, the lack of proper storytelling is just painful. The whole game starts off with a copter-crash (so to say), and we start as... Who? Why? What are we doing here? The story develops way too slowly, and while it gets more and more interesting towards the end, you often find yourself running around doing obscure tasks, for no apparent reason. Graphics: Very badly dated by todays standards. Back in 2003, I guess it seemed a little more acceptable. It's the same thing as "Syberia", or "The Longest Journey" (blocky, 3d figurine movin through prerendered environments), only it came out a bit later. It worths mentioning, that even today, there are games with very similar engines behind them, so that alone wouldn't be a bad thing. The problem is, that there IS Syberia and The Longest Journey out there, and they look far more detailed, imaginative, and exotic. It doesn" look bad, just uninteresting. Thankfully, the scenery is very varied, so while it's never that interesting, it never gets that boring either. Sound: It works fine, I guess. the voices are typical, but good, and I was quite fond of the music as well. Gameplay: Just your typical Point'n'Click adventure. Only with too much pixel-hunting... You run into obstacle. Protagonist cannot go around it. You remove obstacle, with simple inventory puzzle. Now she doesn't want to go through. You go around the map several times, than finally she says something totally irrelevant about where she is, and NOW you can go through. Many-many times, you'll find yourself clicking furiously all around the screen, searching for THAT one magical spot, maybe, that'll help you get through. Really, I cannot say anything more specific about it, this game's just not that interesting. All in all, a very obscure game, only adventure completists should play. And even they should be prepared for getting stuck again and again, and not necessarily because of the puzzles. This game is one of the weaker adventures on this site, so if you haven't played Sanitarium, Longest Journey, Syberia, or even Amerzone, You should try those first.
I remeber this exotic looking game from the time it came out, But never had the chance to play it. Those who had, teased me wit very high recommendations, so when I got a little more time and a more powerful PC, I decided to give it a try. And it didn't work. I had to wait quite long, but finally, Gog made it possible again. I haven't gone into it too deep in one day, but from what I see, it's a truly unique gem. The Graphics are something to behold. The Voxel based maps are amazing, and the depth of field (it came out before 2000 !) makes it absolutely enchanting. It doesn't look natural at all, but makes the alien world so much more interesting, you feel the urge to explore EVERY corner of it. The music is over the top. Played by the Moscow Orchestra, a big band music score will blow your head off. Epic beyond epic. The controls and gameplay seems natural, logical, and pleasing. I think, I'll love this game, as anyone would, with similar taste for esthetics. But the best part is this: You asked for it. There are titles popping up here, noone recommended, and it's great, because you get to know relatively uncommon games as well. But "Outcast" being here, is a result of mass demand. one of the most anticipated game on the site's whislist, and now it's here to buy. Really, that's what GOG is about for me. Good old games are here to stay.:) Keep it up!
I bet, all of you remember this title! "Blood" was the last game running on the build engine, thus, it's bloody well made. It's also the first commercial succes by Monolith, who later made such great games as "Noone lives forever", or "Tron 2.0". This one aspires to be no more, than a well designed, classic KillEverythingThatMoves kinda shooter, with mindboggling level design, and high difficulty. ... And I also bet, that none of you played with this game in ages! I recall trying to run this game under XP, or -god forbid- Vista, and never got a satisfying result. If GOG managed to get this thing work again, as smoothly, as we all remember it, Then that alone justifies the support you give the site, by buying this game. ...even if you're not into 2,5 D shooters. After you played this, I bet, it'll change!
