Blake Stone: Planet Strike

Like many of you guys, I played the original Blake Stone as a kid. It was probably the most advanced FPS my PC could handle at the time (Tandy 386 with 1 mb RAM, running at 25 mhz). However, it hasn't aged that well, mainly for the level design. The difficulty curve is very steep, and there is a lot of backtracking and getting lost in the mazes, which are arguably all too big. This is a problem through all 6 missions, which are really monotonous. I never got a chance to play Planet Strike back in the day, but now that I have it, I can say that it's *way* more fun and way more contemporary than the original. It looks better, thanks to a tweaked engine (complete with lighting effects that have me squinting into the distance). The environments are more interactive, and the weapon designs are improved -- thanks to Cygnus studios, the folks who made the great-looking Raptor. But the key difference is the level design. The levels are paced well, where load-up zones come between monster-closet shootouts and there's much more linearity than before. The live map makes things much easier to navigate (sort of like Corridor 7), and works much more smoothly than the later versions of Aliens of Gold. The levels are smaller than AOG, but I don't think that's a problem as it makes it much easier to play a couple of levels on a coffee break. The secrets are also much more telegraphed and intricate than before, and more rewarding too. The Blake series's biggest shortcoming is lame bosses, but at least they are a little less predictably placed in this game. It's never going to be Doom or Doom 2, but it's a lot of fun.

Good game, but as stated, even at release, the gameplay was outdated, in particular the lack of strafing and moving at the same time was unforgiveable. It's fun, the stages and enemies are different from the previous game, some stages are really short. The game overall is quite shorter than the first. The behavior of the enemies is like the first game. I got the feeling that this game was kind put out half-heartedly, knowing that compoeting with doom would be impossible. Good game if you can look over its shortcoming and worth it for the historic value too.

Aliens of Gold, while instantly overshadowed by Doom a week after release, did well enough with preorders and early sales. Considering it was made by two guys and some artists it probably didn't need much to turn a profit. Still, it was a little strange to see them put out a sequel in the wake of Doom II, especially on the Wolfenstein 3D engine which in 1994 was only seeing commercial use in one other game, the somewhat infamous Super Noah's Ark 3D. Essentially what Planet Strike boils down to is it's the Spear of Destiny for Blake Stone with twenty or so missions bringing it to about a third of the length of the original game and feeling more like an expansion than a true sequel. Unlike Spear of Destiny however, JAM Productions put some effort into making the game fresh. For most of the changes it feels like they were trying to bring the experience a little closer to doom. The overall atmosphere has been darkened from the brighter colors of Aliens of Gold though not unrecognizably so. Simple things like the gun bobbing when you walk was added as Doom made it a genre standard to make characters feel less stiff and robotic. A new rocket launcher like weapon was added with the ability to destroy unlocked doors and there are several new enemies throughout, the most interesting is able to shapeshift into inanimate objects. Probably the best addition is the updated automap which is always active on your hud and has multiple levels of zoom that consumes batteries but allows you to see enemies and at the max zoom secret pushwalls. Also, the first person gun graphics were redesigned to look better. Overall while Planet Strike is more of the same, it has more to offer over the original game than Spear of Destiny did over Wolfenstein 3D. It also brings the events of the first game to a conclusive ending. If you played Aliens of Gold and liked it, you'll love Planet Strike. If you only want to play one of these games, Aliens of Gold is probably the more definitive experience.

Must admit, Blake Stone series really got me hooked for its different kind of gameplay : action fps but with a little more of thought of your regular Wolfenstein (which the game was supposed to be a sequel). Although smaller (yes, it is - no more episodes), it's better than the previous one : Black stone planet strike offers new enemies, a new gun and way more action. Worth it? yes! although Planet strike was a little beyond its competition at the time but it offered a rare experience and it manages to give satisfaction even to this day. So, grab your plasma rifle and preserved your radar for any possible secret in the maps : it's time to finish the long run of Dr. Goldfire!

I love old FPS, but I've never experienced something so dull and repetitive. After finishing the first 10 levels I thought it is over but it was just the first of many level sets, omg. There is no variation whatsoever, so styling is not my cup of tea and the lack of mouse-look, wsad strafing and a game engine recreation (source code still missing...) isn't helping at all. I'll never touch this again, it's a waste of time imho. "Planet Strike" seems to be much better although I played around with it with an improved engine which is only available for OpenPandora since nobody made a proper desktop binary with the source and I'm completely incapable of compiling it. It gets one additional star from me for definitely not being too short.