Descent
I played this game like crazy when I was young. It’s really hard until you get the hang of it, and then you become basically unstoppable. The most scary part of the game for me was level 7, the first time I encountered the first boss. I went out into this big lava room and the boss made such a horrible scary sound when he appeared, and it killed me. Then I would hide inside the tunnel leading to the bosses' room, and it would appear nearby. My heart would nearly stop when I would hear the sound effect he would make, because then I knew he was nearby. The boss would fire missles into my tunnel I was hiding in, and the little green balls would lock onto my ship and destroy me. After trying countless times to beat him by shooting at him from inside my not-so-safe tunnel, I made a bold and daring move. I left the tunnel. And amazingly, even though I played only with the keyboard, my little fingers would move so fast I could slide up, down, right, left and spin in all kinds of crazy circles, the little green balls would try to lock onto my ship but I was able to dodge them all. The funnest part of this game for me was its built-in replay recording feature, which will record a replay of your game. Once I got good at beating the boss, I increased the difficulty level to “insane”, and recorded countless epic replays of me beating the boss on insane. He would shoot missles as fast as a machine gun on insane difficulty, and every one of those missles would explode into a cloud of green balls. Hundreds of green balls would be in the air at once. Shoulda been impossible for me to dodge them all. Even just one or two of them hitting me would destroy my ship at that level of difficulty. But I would dodge them all. I would do loop to loops around the boss, zig-zagging through all the green balls, all the while shootting at him and throwing his own green balls right back at him, destroying him with his own green balls! It was so much fun. Some of those replays were so insane, I wish I still had the recordings, but that was a long time ago. This is one of the few games where you will often be turning both up/down plus turning right/left plus sliding up/down plus sliding right/left plus moving forward/backward plus shooting –- all at the same time!
– Real player with 51.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic 1990's Games.
Descent is the kind of games which are hard to write a review about. No, not because it is kinda tricky and complicated or controversial. No, it’s quite opposite actually. The problem is else… Modern player will hardly pay attention to it and fans will buy without need of any reviews. So there is no audience for the review and a question, whether I should write it at all, rises. And that’s a pity because the game is quite unique and it still doesn’t have proper rivals (apart from its other titles). So, I am going to try to describe it shortly in hope that at least one rookie will pay their attention to it.
– Real player with 49.7 hrs in game
DOOM II
What I liked:
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Amazing modding community
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Fast paced, pick up and play with secrets for those that search
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Gameplay that may seem simple, but offer great challenge and variety that feels badass too
What You Need to Know:
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Like Doom, this game needs to be modded to play for anyone that is used to mouse and keyboard controls. Otherwise aiming with keyboard and no looking around will turn you off from the game.
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With mods like project brutality,brutal doom, doom 64, brutal “insert old fps game” mods are all really great and offer tons of variety and fun, along with tons of maps and you can never run short of mods to play
– Real player with 80.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic 1990's Games.
Should YOU play DooM 2?
First off you’re expected to be a 90s guy.
-You’re expected to be a filthy masochist. You’re punished for things that aren’t really your fault.
-You’re expected to not have learned controls of such a game. VERY SIMPLE CONTROLS
-You’re expected to be playing your first fps game ever and be amazed by everything.
-You’re expected to like the 90s aesthetic, so American exaggerations over realism.
-You’re expected to replay this. The second play through is more fun than the first.
– Real player with 32.1 hrs in game
Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
When I first played shareware version couple of decades ago I simply thought of it as yet another Doom clone the market was spewing out at the time. Played a few levels and didn’t think much of it except it being inferior to Doom. So I quit shortly thereafter as was the case with half a dozen other clones and thought nothing of it for a long time. Then couple of years ago I saw a LP on YT of a guy raging like a madman because the was getting killed in epically hilarious ways. Thought to myself to give it another shot with a different set of eyes this time.
– Real player with 51.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Dark Fantasy Games.
Ever wanted to play a game set in one of the Frank Frazzeta paintings? Then look no further than Heretic. Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders is the first game in the Heretic & Hexen series, and along with ID software games, have been the main force of evolution in the first era of first person shooters. Each game from Heretic & Hexen series have introduced a design concept that all other FPS games have followed ever since. Heretic SotSR remains the most accessible and action-packed title in the series, set in a dark fantasy universe with 54 complex levels which will guarantee you 20 hours and more of pure hectic and frenetic fun.
– Real player with 26.7 hrs in game
QUAKE
A very solid port and remaster. I personally prefer playing the game as it was originally meant to be played on Quakespasm, but this is the most easily accessible version of the game and it comes with a lot of awesome goodies. Machine Games & Nightdive are doing god’s work by not only maintaining this build, but adding on to it over time. Quake is one of those classics that just can’t be beat, and it’s fantastic to know it’s only getting more accessible.
– Real player with 61.0 hrs in game
An excellent port and remaster of the original Quake bundled with online multiplayer and brand new expansions (Dimension of the Past is the biggest highlight). The dark fantasy setting and visceral / brooding ambiance makes Quake feel very unique from contemporary First Person Shooters even two decades after it’s release. Even at full price there’s hours upon hours of content to enjoy, couldn’t recommend this enough.
– Real player with 39.8 hrs in game
Rise of the Triad: Dark War
Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a classic FPS that tends to be overlooked in favor of other classics such as Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. This is a shame, because ROTT is a great first-person shooter.
The game runs through DOSBox, which can have some problems from time to time, but I had a solid experience on mostly “as-is” settings, with a tiny audio hiccup happening once in a while. The game is really tricky to use the Steam overlay on though, so be wary.
Gameplay is as you’d expect, mostly shooting bad guys and occasionally solving a relatively simple puzzle. In terms of difficulty, it’s comparable to other shooters of that era, the main game is challenging, but not frustrating. The Extreme Rise of the Triad addon pack is there to challenge you if you feel you’ve mastered Dark War.
– Real player with 55.2 hrs in game
Important message
I have only played the hunt begins and Dark War. I will update my review when I have finished extreme rise of the triad (might take awhile).
What I liked about the game
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Has one of the best power ups in any game; one which allows you to become a dog which
allows you to bite people to death.
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Lots of different traps, makes the game quite challenging.
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The levels don’t feel too much like a maze. The levels are big and open, and they take place inside and outside.
– Real player with 49.1 hrs in game
Far Cry®
Far cry can be easily summed up this way…
Step on leaf = 1,000 elite soldiers, 3 Humvee’s and a UH 60 helicopter fitted with rocket launchers all bearing down on you.
For some reason version 1.4 uploaded to steam broke the AI so that they are nearly impossible to beat even on the easiest of settings. With this version, the AI can practically one shot you even with armour on, they are always alerted to your presence even from miles away even if your quieter than a mouse wearing moccasins and they can see and shoot you through walls, such as tents etc. While this more challenging mechanic has vexed many gamer’s requiring them to up their dose of Prozac, others have taken up the challenge to show that even the near perfect AI can still be beaten even on the hardest difficulty that being ‘realistic’.
– Real player with 311.0 hrs in game
PS: Use the patch 1.33 (find a guide on Steam) because the latest patch, 1.4, makes the AI OP af.
Short review
When Far Cry was released, this game finally brought out of the torpor the FPS fans have been in for too long. In an original setting of stunning beauty and despite an AI still perfectible but fierce, Far Cry is sure to seduce the fragger by its gameplay which, although basic, requires a certain caution and adds a feeling of freedom and permanent danger to make us reach a playful ecstasy. If you were looking for an excuse to finally play this game, you have it. This game is nice, and it will make you see what the first title of the now well-known franchise was about.
– Real player with 137.2 hrs in game
HeXen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
Bigger and badder Hexen, in form of an expansion released just 2 months after the main game. Back when they came packed with same amount of content as the main game itself, if you can believe that. In short, that is the only good part about it.
On the technical side game is 1:1 copy of regular Hexen with expansion .wad thrown in. It is not patched so the MIDI music isn’t mapped to correct levels. You can read about it here and get the patch here . Recommend using your own DOSBox install to apply the patch manually, if you opt for vanilla experience like myself that is. Doing so is not as trivial as it sounds so likely easiest way is just to plug the wads into a Source Port of your choice and play it using a modern scheme.
– Real player with 22.4 hrs in game
I struggled with recommending this expansion. Most of the problems I had with it though were due to the user so I cannot fault the title for that and decided to go with a positive review.
The gameplay is exactly the same as Hexen which is good. The enemies are the same and the puzzles are similar in complexity and fun. Since this is an expansion, it picks up where Hexen left off both story wise and difficulty wise. I played it as a stand alone game and honestly have no idea if you can transition from your final Hexen save to the beginning of this. I started from scratch with only a melee weapon. You do get fully armed fairly quick though which is nice, because you definitely need it.
– Real player with 20.5 hrs in game
Incoming Forces
NOTE: This game is a collection of original Incoming and Incoming Forces.
My first PC game is the original Incoming. It’s still good today.
For Incoming:
Pros:
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Various game modes. It includes three single player modes and four multiplayer modes. You can select arcade, campaign action/tactical, split screen, team deathmatch and other modes.
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Two secret mini-games. You need to type a cheat code “numberonedacrestreet” on the main menu in order to play them.
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Very beautiful explosion and debris.
– Real player with 46.4 hrs in game
Whoever got ahold of the IP for this ancient game felt they could print some money by dumping it on Steam. They didn’t bother making it actually work, however! Numberous critical bugs and incompatibility issues from Windows 8 upwards prevent it from running at all, unless you want to spend more time fixing legacy compatibility issues than there is content in the game. Even then, don’t expect any stability or enjoyment. It’s just too buggy.
Other publications have had some effort put in making them compatible on newer systems, so there’s no excuse here.
– Real player with 28.3 hrs in game
MadSpace: To Hell and Beyond
Very interesting old-school shooter with great visual and audio style. There’s a lot to take in in terms of controls, and the opening rail shooter segment is pretty meh. The meat of the game however is plenty of fun, and absolutely weird, which is a huge plus for me. The enemies have interesting designs, and there’s more non-Euclidean geometry than you could shake a career theoretical physicist at. A large selection of weapons, 10 of which can be held at once, and 2 simultaneous equips give solid combat variety, and even ‘boss’ weapons can be acquired. Bosses are my main gripe, actually. There’s only a few, but they are all equipped with the ‘Tracker’ which fires a cluster of explosive energy balls that will track you to the end of the goddamn stage and then oneshot you.
– Real player with 14.1 hrs in game
I am probably one of a handful of people to actually sit down and finish this game and let me tell you i am only giving it a thumbs up because steam doesn’t have a meh option in the reviews. It will take about 13 hours to beat.
This game while interesting is kinda frustrating to play. There are 26 levels to the game (Alphabet A-Z) and the main draw of the gameplay is Non Euclidean Geometry (see Lovecraft). The story you are greeted with is a massive wall of text that quickly becomes boring and nonsensical because it scrolls too fast. The game then decides to throw you into a FMV on rails shooter that takes FOREVER to finish and if you die at any point during it you START AT THE BEGINNING! It’s maddening, I can see what he was going for at the time of release, but now you should be able to just skip this part as it’s supremely boring. If you manage to make it through that you will finally get into the more interesting part of the game. This game has some very interesting level design to it and you see quickly why it’s called Madspace, both because of the crazy impossible hard to deal with level layout and how the game just pisses you off. Be prepared to take at least 1-2 hours for some levels depending on how lost you are. There is a map, but for the most part its completely useless especially in some of the later levels with layers. There was a level I can’t remember I think U or V where you are running around a giant square level that has tons of layers, you need to run around this thing looking for 3 switches to open it. It took almost 3 hours for me to find and open that door.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Master Levels for Doom II
“Master Levels” is an official expansion pack for Doom 2 that comes with twenty maps made by some of the best and well known independent mappers from the Doom community of the 90s!
They are collected into four sort of anthology arcs that tell the stories of different figures from the Doom universe.
The arcs are:
Titan:
By: Jim Flynn
Consisting of two maps.
The mysterious mansion belonging to a UAC Weapons Engineer located on the “Titan” moon of Saturn has become infested with demons due to the Mars Incident. The manor was full of unfinished weapons that would be vital in helping the UAC stop the demonic invasion. It is your mission to recover these prototypes and check for survivors.
– Real player with 20.9 hrs in game
Master Levels for Doom II is a pack of fan-made levels handpicked by id Software and put together for sale as an official product. As the name would suggest, these levels are intended for those who are already familiar with Doom II. I’ve also already reviewed Doom II and its predecessor so if you want more information on those basics then go check those out. If you’re still here, let’s talk about this one, shall we? Note that this is based on the Steam version of the game which runs through the program DOSBox. And additional thing to note is that I played the game with a controller using an extrernal program to map key presses to button presses. This means I can’t speak much for the control beyond how responsive it is to key presses rather than the layout and whatnot. Alright, let’s hit it!
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game