I regret buying this game even though it looks amazing and fun on YouTube. After using every fix here at GOG and on discussion boards and videos, nothing allows it to fully launch more than 1 time out of every half dozen or more attempts. It's now way past the refund window. Very disappointing. So all I can suggest is to install it as soon as possible after purchase and apply for a refund within the limit should you have issues.
Early fans of The Elder Scrolls know about the open version of Daggerfall which greatly improves the playability and graphics of the original game file. A project to do likewise for The Elder Scrolls Arena is progressing well. Details and preview video can be found below. https://github.com/afritz1/OpenTESArena/releases/tag/opentesarena-0.14.0
For an 11 year old title, its quite demanding. The controls are smooth and the default bindings are typical for mainstream FPSes. The story and presentation are well done but the graphics are desaturated and the atmosphere is gloomy. This isn't Far Cry or Halo CE. Recommended for horror FPS fans only.
I guess one must be a fan of fantasy to appreciate this and other titles like it. I've played Morrowind for 3-4 hours and find it tedious and hard to read the tiny text even when a low resolution is set to make the visuals larger. And on my PC (11th gen Core i5) it crashes without warning. Clearly the game is highly detailed for fans of this genre who enjoy spending dozens or hundreds of hours roaming around and taking on missions. But, it's just not for me. I've given RPGs a shot and it's back to Far Cry.
If there's one word to describe Rebel Galaxy, it's cool. I learned of it years ago, back when I only had Intel HD Graphics that could barely play it with everything set down to minimum. To this day few games offer the player an opportunity to buy, upgrade, charter, and engage in serious ship-to-ship combat in his own full size spacecraft. Being partly procedurally generated, Rebel Galaxy has considerable replay value and I've completed it a few times especially now with new Xe-based Intel UHD Graphics that can sustain frame rates in the 70 range. The design is photo realistic and fun and the battles are superb both visually and in terms of audio. I've never experienced such awesome looking and sounding explosions and they're highly satisfying to inflict on other spacecraft. Even better played with headphones. If you're into naval style space games and tired of flying X-Wing fighters, grab Rebel Galaxy, give your ship a name, and take on space prates, cargo missions, and solve a fascinating campaign mystery.
Tempest is a blast. The tutorial is minimal and there's no documentation but the core game play is intuitive enough and there are many YouTube videos to help learn the details. Once you do, it's great looking and fun to explore and accept missions. Fully recommended.
There are plenty of sim games that allow you to fly in space. Some newer ones, like Rebel Galaxy, even let the player command a capital ship in third person perspective. But if you want to experience being the master of a space naval vessel, Star Trek Bridge Commander is the only game to suit. Here the player sits in the command chair and issues orders through a convenient menu system. This is the opposite to most spaceflight games where you zip around in one-man fighters or pilot a cargo ship from outside. For added immersion, Star Trek Bridge Commander lets you play as yourself rather than as a character from television or the movies. The in-game tutorial featuring Captain Picard is part of the campaign's first mission and helpfully introduces the player to the basics. After that, you set off to fulfill assignments along the way to solving a mystery. My old existing version runs like a dog in Windows 7 and Windows 10, so it's a pleasant surprise that Good Old Games has picked up this and the other early 2000s Star Trek games.
Upon launching, TimeShift opens a small window at upper left corner of the screen and crashes Windows. System - Core i5-11400 / Intel UHD Graphics 730 / 8 GB RAM / Windows 10 Home The game looks like it's a great FPS but the only way I can experience it is through YouTube long plays.
With the Far Cry franchise increasingly burdened with RPG elements and politics, it's refreshing to revisit the original game that set the standard for realistic open-world first-person shooters. Bright, colorful, and challenging to say the least. Huge selection of locations, vehicles, and weapons. Play on the easiest difficulty if necessary because, even then, it'll rough you up plenty along the way. Any graphics solution from the past 10 years will be able to play it at 1080p with high frame rates. A straight-up and challenging FPS for only $10 US. Hard to beat that.
Strictly of interest to first person shooter fans, IGI 2's only merits are the player's movement is smooth and his weapons are varied and powerful. Everything else is low quality and frustrating. Although this game is by a reputable studio, Codemasters, it's far behind the graphics and game play of other titles from this era. The objectives are unreasonably difficult, the bots are clueless but lethal, and the player is allowed only limited saves. The voice acting is amateurish, to say the least. There's no comparing IGI 2 to the likes of Halo Combat Evolved, James Bond 007 Nightfire, or Star Trek Voyager Elite Force, all of which are now abandonware and thus freely available. If only GOG would invest its time and effort into bringing us those kinds of titles instead of pale imitators like IGI 2. Don't buy this game unless you are a hardcore first person shooter collector and have nothing new to play. Make sure it's on sale, too, because you will be disappointed before finishing the first few missions.
