There are 2 types of games: historical games and games with superheroes in tights. This one is between the two so be careful. The game achieves a very high level of graphical and historical realism. And at the same, the story implies silly surnatural elements. I thought: at last a good historical game about the Black Death, and all efforts are ruined. The plague is interesting enough to make a good game with a good moving plot and a good gameplay. There was no need for this shit. About the sequel Plague 2, hopefully Amicia will fly.
I would have entitled the series 'Hallucinatory Dream'. The 3 adventure games undeniably offer some wonderful gaming experience, thanks to awesome design and an incredible soundtrack. BUT, be careful, the major problem with this series is its story. The plot is conveyed mainly through dialogues that make the game ridiculous. TLJ (no 1) has endless wordy dialogues that make the player sleepy, hence the title of the series, maybe? And the more you progress into the series, the more abstract and obscure it gets. This last opus reaches an absolute climax in terms of nonsensical and ridiculous writing. The story could have been kept simple, but narration makes it unintelligible. I enjoyed completing the whole series figuring out which actions I had to perform, without any consideration for what befell, the characters or the overall plot. Whether this character lives or dies, I don't give a fuck, I simply enjoyed the beautiful atmospheric game. Translation problem? Drug abuse? With another author, it could have been a major hit.
The game has the typical style of Apogée and the 90s, so expect to feel overwhelmed with nostalgia. Graphics look awesome with varied levels and beautiful textures. It's the kind of game that made you dream about possessing the whole game but at the same time, you knew the shareware was enough. Especially because at this time, shareware were rather generous and offered a few levels. The gameplay is simple and repetitive. Don't expect to spend your nights on it. Good game if you want to play a few minutes once in a while, or for a young player.
This game truly stood apart from other strategy games thanks to 2 major innovations. Firstly, the robots. They are fun to build, especially using parts collected on killed robots. The camera can be moved in all directions to enjoy the fantastic looks and epic fights of these japanese mecha-reminding robots. Their power is well-balanced as they need regular units as backup, which is great. Secondly, the 3 levels, which enable awesome strategies. My reproach is that they focused on the gameplay and unit design, and neglected the settings. I wish there were colourful landscapes with animated fauna and flora, water... Instead of that, you have fun on dull empty grounds. Back in 2000, I spent many hours skirmishing. I always kept this name as a fond memory. It was one of the first titles I wishlisted, hoping Gog would resurrect it. Worth the try!
Graphics are not a problem, I regularly play older shooters, the engine even has some charm. The main issue is that the game is uninspired. It tries to copy other games and brings nothing to the genre. The sole innovation is the possibility to use computer interfaces. Apart from that, it is a collection of clichés: characters, settings, weapons... Released a few years earlier, it might have stood a chance, but in 98, it was clearly outdated. Does the job but rapidly got boring for me. It takes dozens of bullets to kill an enemy.
The character walks very slowly. Running is slower than walking in other shooters. You are stuck in bullet time mode. This is a problem: in a mission, you have to protect two areas at the same time and going from one to another is aweful. Levels are huge and when I see big open environments, I feel like exploring them to find items or enjoy the landscape. In U2, you look where you need to go and head towards it on the shortest way, because any mistake would result in endless hiking. Of course, you could quicksave and -load but these are very long as well! There are lots of loadings, after cutscenes... And eventually, I found the sequences aboard the spaceship long and useless. Why bother with the armory if you start all missions with low ammo? The level design is not made to have fun: lots of elevators, some boring platform parts... Shootings are boring due to a poor AI. 3 stars for the engine. The levels look fantastic, with lots of details. And flames are awesome, I enjoyed using the flamethrower.
Awesomely oppressive! To those it might interest, there are simple hacks to easily bypass limited in-game saves via a command line parameter or assigning keys to quicksave and -load. This game is interesting because it is not a mere shooter set in the Alien or Predator universe. It offers a gameplay experience that differs from other shooters. Even the most classical campaign as a marine is original. You have to be a sharp shooter, fast and precise, because aliens move incredibly swiftly. The very second you see them, they are on you. Weapons are powerful and localized damages encourage headshots providing that you have enough time to aim. You can literally tear aliens into pieces. The player is always on tenterhooks, progressing carefully, watching for an alien ambush. Each encounter is scary. The tension is kept at a climax thanks to an overdramatic music, dark levels and unpredictable enemies. As for the other playable races, both are fun, it is very exciting to play non-human races and kill humans, it is as reversing the roles of hunter and prey. About the Alien, there are no such things as floor or roof, you have to think in 3D. I found it rather hard and bewildering. This leads me to the major downsides, the level design that can be a little mazy, with complex textures. I often found myself stuck, not knowing what to do or where to go, reading the messages again and again. The problem is that enemies keep spawning randomly. In many shooters, you often come to the point when you have cleaned the level and there is no threat left. In AvP, you never feel safe. If the game lasts too long, it becomes increasingly oppressive because you might run out of ammo. Highly worth the try!
Many levels are set in the open, which is nice. Levels are huge and varied with nice weather effects. Buildings and interiors are very well designed and decorated, villages in ruins look fantastic. Nature does not look as good, with corridors between walls of vegetation. Even Hidden & Dangerous 1 had better so-called forests. Although the game uses the Quake 3 engine, it is a little more realistic. Reloading takes ages, and you cannot run under heavy fire, even on the easiest mode. Major qualities include shootings that feel epic and convey a strange feeling of realism. The major battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan are faithfully reenacted, with excerpts from the movie soundtrack. When I came across stolen papers, a disguise and alarms, I feared there would be stealth levels. There are no, the player can choose its strategy to complete levels, which is great. As for the downsides, the absence of blood looks weird. The D-Day mission is extremely short, I wish I played longer on the beach. The interface could have listed all levels (as in many other games) instead of auto-saving at checkpoints, which results in an endless list of saves.
Consider you are buying RA2 and RA1 is gifted with it. RA1 has little interest. Even hardcore gamers and Star Wars fans are likely to be discouraged. RA1 is worth trying out of curiosity as one of the first CD-Rom games, frequently bundled with CD-Rom players. 'It's a trap!' the game will appeal to you as much as it will repel. Even in the 90s, it did not look that beautiful. I was more impressed by the quality of the music. This game will not make a Jedi of you, but a Zen master. It is hard to keep one’s composure while starting levels again and again. Even the cheats are hard to activate. The 3rd level in which you pilot an A-Wing through crystals on planet Kolaador seems neverending and the slightest piloting error is punished. This f***ing Ru Murleen made me lost years of life expectancy. Higher difficulty also means higher satisfaction, but I never finished the game, some levels are too boring. RA2 is much better. Back in time, this game was very flattering. I ran it on a modest 486 and it looked incredible! It felt like a game from the future played on a computer from the future. My friends were amazed by the graphics, especially because many did not know pre-rendered graphics and thought it was real 3D. Cutscenes are awesome. You will want to see them all. The game is an interactive movie. Like some other Lucasarts games, RA2 would have made a good Star Wars movie. The plot is interesting, the score is well used. Levels are varied, with piloting and shooting. It is great to play many prestigious ships. As for the gameplay, do not expect much. Targets always come near the center of the screen. You just have to keep calm, move as little as possible, point and click. It is like a software aimed at making you more efficient using your mouse in office softwares. A must-play.
There are many levels. They are beautiful, very huge, varied in design and settings, and realistic. So are the situations. When a mission start, you really feel you can take any path, use any weapon and achieve the objectives whichever way you like. This freedom of action is thrilling. You can use the vehicles you will come across. This game is really fun and never boring. The AI of the allied bots is limited. Most of the time, it is better not to rely too much on them, to keep them hidden in a safe place and order them to join you once the map is clear. Still, it is great to have them because you can conquer the map through different angles at the same time. A problem is that enemies are sharp shooters. Except for some rare parts, this will encourage you to play the whole game as a sniper simulator rather than a FPS. Most missions are a matter of weapon range. So you will probably find yourself sneaking your way precautiously, crawling and doing perfect headshots on enemies that are miles away without a gasp of wind or your hand shaking. The initial release had no save/load feature and was ridden with bugs which made the game difficult and frustrating. Of course, this game might look ridiculous today, but it was very complete and ambitious in its time. Worth the try!
