I love this fucking game. I played it when a relationship was falling apart and I played it again during a serious depression. I'm a lot better now and playing it a third time on Hard. The graphics and music are just perfect and shooting mechanics are suitably awesome. Guns feel good.
My only issue with the game is it doesn't have a sequel yet.
First off, I would really like to give this game 4 or 5 stars and just be able to tell people to play it. I've played through it multiple times and have enjoyed it. There is a lot of fun to be had here.
The cavaet that keeps it's stars down and keeps me from just telling people to go and play it is bugs. Even more so the bugs that are added via the official patches. I'm currently on the 1.0.3.3 version through the beta channel because the 1.0.4.12 has issues with sounds getting stuck and looping, a glitched out end boss battle (light spoilers: the final boss for the second stage has tentacles that fire projectiles at you that you have to to destroy before you can kill the boss. In 1.0.4.12 these tentacles fire projectiles that have no velocity so they sit there by the tentacles. The tentacles are also no longer animated. They don't duck and hide, and you can't visibly gib them so you know which ones have been destroyed. It's annoying, and only a few of the issues in 1.0.4.12)
That is the game's real issue. Patches that seem to break as much as they fix. If you are willing to deal with bugs, or being stuck on the beta channel to avoid said bugs, then I think you would have fun. If bugs like what I've described are a deal breaker, than it's probably not the game for you.
Sorry, I don't think this is for me. This is a very simple game and the cool music, sound effects and lighting cannot detract from how quickly this can get quite dull.
I saw the GGGManlives review and did an insta-buy as it did look quite cool, but there are too many annoyances for me.
1/ The die-you-gotta-start-from-the-beginning issue. (Game isn't too difficult, but dynamite/explosion deaths can get you)
2/ The Doom 3 torch/gun toggle where you can't have both. (You literally can't even see which gun you're holding at times)
3/ The tacked on perk system
4/ The magic system where I can't be bothered to grind half way through the game to find some spell that's half-decent
5/ The horrible, horrible mini map which is so pointless. A large map with colour coded doors and switch icons could really speed up the action. Lotta backtracking/aimless wondering at some points.
6/ You can look up and down, but not much point. You can't jump or climb, so it's just walk, strafe, walk strafe, press button, repeat
Respect to the devs for the hard work that's obviously gone into this, but am going to park this game until there's some serious patching/modding done
The game is very derivative of its inspirations, especially Wolfenstein, as it doesn't have the complexity of Hexen, nor the Interesting level design of Doom. The game never truly tries anything new, content to stay in the foundation that games that came before it built. It feels like the devs ran out of ideas after episode 1, as everything after that is a slog to play through. Character progression is a joke, feeling both unimpactful and utterly damning if you do it wrong, with weapon upgrades . Music-wise, the game ranges from listenable to migraine inducing, with no stand out tracks. Now this isn't to say the game is all bad. The sprite work is gorgeous, and animates fluidly. The gun sounds are amazing, and part of the reason the game hooked me in the first place, and the bosses are very challenging and fun. Overall, it's not an abhorrent game, nor is it amazing. If you can look past its most glaring flaws, i.e no quick save/load system and no checkpoints between every level, there's an almost charmingly amateur take on 90s FPS.
This game is fun, but insanely difficult. I played it on the easiest setting, and I still had a hard time with this game. The default way to play this game is with a certain amount of lives, and after you lose all your lives, you lose all your data and have to start all over. I honestly commend anyone who can play the game this way. For me, with how difficult the game already is, having to start all over again after losing your last life was just too hardcore.
With that said, playing the game on "casual" mode, with infinite lives was more enjoyable. I was able to experiment and take some risks during the game, without the stress or fear of having to restart the game if I died. But even on casual mode, this game was still super difficult. And I'm not a newcomer to FPS games either. I've played FPS games from Bioshock to Wolfenstein to Call of Duty, the list goes on. I just have a feeling the developer wanted to make a hardcore, roguelike FPS, and he succeeded. Just know what you're getting yourself into.