When this launched back in the day, its was top shelf Star Wars gaming, but it's no held up very well. The hoops you have to jump through to get the game running like it supposed to don't help that any. Pro-tip: Install this to the C:\GOG GAMES directory instead of the usual Galaxy director, or it won't run at all.
Color me impressed, but for the wrong reasons. The pulse-pounding task of being a sniper during the most significant war of the 20th century, should have been a shoe in a tense and exciting game, but these guys somehow managed to screw up that sure fire formula and make something tedious and borning.
You could easily call this Wing Commander meets Star Wars, and you'd be right. Not only is the scope and feel of the story more like a space opera than the previous two games, but Mark Hamill himself is among the principal cast. Along with him are other staples of fantasy and sci-fi, like Malcom McDowell and John Rhys-Davies. The game originally came on several discs, because they essentially filmed a whole sci-fi movie for it. The next big change is that the ships and other objects are no longer represented by multi-sided "3D" sprites, but rather fully texture-mapped 3D objects. It's everything you loved about Wing Commander 1&2, but much better. There are also multiple endings, ensure some good replay value.
An RPG where you create your own 1940s comic book character, to fight off the Nazi menace? Sounds great, right? Well the excitement falls flat on it's face, the moment the game play begins. They really should have farmed the concept out ot a developer like Bioware, or Bethesda.
Whats boasted is a BG like experience but with tons more freedom, a great steam punk environment, your choices having a real outcome of how the game play out and more. But none of that matters if the game is no fun to play. Unlike the BG games, playing this feels like a terrible chore. It also suffers from "where am I supposed to be going?" syndrome. You're given very vague clues. Leveling up is tedious, and combat is very lame in all three of its flavors. The only solace I take in buying this, is that I can warn people that it isn't worth their money. Spend the extra 4 bucks and get Baldurs Gate instead!
Disclosure: I bought this on another distro platform, but its the same game. This game had the misfortune of being released right before Doom. That's a real shame, because a lot of people didn't pay it any mind, or wrote it off as a Doom clone. Based on the Wolfenstein 3D engine, Blake Stone puts you in the boots of a British secret agent, sent to battle a madman and his genetic monstrosities! You get sixty, well designed levels packed full of variety in both visuals and enemy types. A really engaging soundtrack, and interesting touches like NPCs and interactive objects like food and drink dispensers. I highly recommend this one.
