Last time, I talked about a Genesis FPS that kind of sucked. Amazingly, despite lacking any 3D hardware of any kind and in spite of being generally limited in the graphics department, the Genesis actually had kind of a bunch of FPS games, and this one is actually pretty good.
Zero Tolerance tells the totally original tale of some military types heading to space to battle an alien invasion. You can choose from a bunch of commandos, all of whom are exactly alike, then you get dumped into a big space station with a bunch of monsters and a metric ton of bullets. The game is pretty good looking- the engine smoothly draws textured walls (ray casting, I assume) and the open view of space above, coupled with big rooms, creates a feeling of being in a pretty open environment. Enemy sprites are pretty sharp looking, and features like opening doors are well realized. Gameplay is pretty rote "find keycard find bullets shoot stuff find exit" material, but it was the 90s so we can forgive that. Controls are smooth and responsive. One nice feature is a persistent minimap which helps you find your way around.
As an aside- this game is pretty tough. But it's a fair kind of tough, unlike Corporation.
7/10
Showing posts with label FPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FPS. Show all posts
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Corporation (Genesis)
Corporation is an innovative FPS that predated Doom, yet contained neato concepts such as an inventory, neutral NPCs, and readable material. The promising gameplay mechanics of Corporation are betrayed by totally godawful graphics and brutal unfairness, but hey, that's what you get when you play old games.
Corporation sees you, the player, busting into a corporate facility with a ton of guns to do... something. I don't know what, the in-game story is really weak, and I'm lacking the novel-length manual I'm sure the DOS release came with. Operating strictly on the cliched guideline that big business = bad, the player must shoot their way through floor after dimly lit floor while hunting mcguffins and occasionally interacting with some source of text there to lull them into thinking the game isn't just about killing.
Corporation certainly looks sharp for a Genesis game, with well-realized sprites and polygonal walls. Unfortunately your dude moves like a brick with wheels, enemies can shoot you from beyond their draw distance, and ammo is scarce, meaning that you die cheaply, a lot. The frustrating gameplay makes it hard to overcome the fact that, while Corporation looks good for its time and hardware, it's all a bit gray and samey, and the crummy Genesis audio isn't doing it any favors. There are a lot of forgotten FPS gems out there, from the crazy-deep Cy-Clones to the witty and surprisingly fun Strife, but there's not much reason to play this one.
3/10 (Don't feel bad, Virgin, your Disney games were good)
Corporation sees you, the player, busting into a corporate facility with a ton of guns to do... something. I don't know what, the in-game story is really weak, and I'm lacking the novel-length manual I'm sure the DOS release came with. Operating strictly on the cliched guideline that big business = bad, the player must shoot their way through floor after dimly lit floor while hunting mcguffins and occasionally interacting with some source of text there to lull them into thinking the game isn't just about killing.
Corporation certainly looks sharp for a Genesis game, with well-realized sprites and polygonal walls. Unfortunately your dude moves like a brick with wheels, enemies can shoot you from beyond their draw distance, and ammo is scarce, meaning that you die cheaply, a lot. The frustrating gameplay makes it hard to overcome the fact that, while Corporation looks good for its time and hardware, it's all a bit gray and samey, and the crummy Genesis audio isn't doing it any favors. There are a lot of forgotten FPS gems out there, from the crazy-deep Cy-Clones to the witty and surprisingly fun Strife, but there's not much reason to play this one.
3/10 (Don't feel bad, Virgin, your Disney games were good)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Let's Go Jungle! (Arcade)
Let's Go Jungle! is a fixed-lightgun rail shooter. Aliens was a fixed-lightgun rail shooter. Because of this you may assume that Let's Go Jungle! is totally awesome like Aliens. It's not.
Players take on the role of a young couple who are left stranded on a jungle island when giant spiders kill their (grotesque racist caricature) guides. With no way to defend themselves but two AK-47s and the power of love, players must set out to kill pretty much every living thing between them and the nearest Ramada.
Power of love, you say? What's that about? Apparently, this game was designed with actual couples in mind (which is dumb, no woman has willingly gone in an arcade since 1983) because in between acts the protagonists get all lovey-dovey and you get rated on how good you are as a couple. Seriously. If you both shoot the same creature? You understand each other as true friends. Protect your significant other from that lunging monster-leech, and you're clearly a loving partner. This can get a little uncomfortable if you aren't playing with your real SO, especially since the sit-down cabinet has privacy drapes.
Gameplay is pretty lackluster. The guns are ridiculously hard to aim accurately and don't want to aim at the far sides of the screen. There seems to be some smoothing that distorts how your aim tracks as well. There are a few fun quick-time events where players must move the guns around to do stuff in-game, but they're way too easy and don't add much to the whole affair. The graphics are pretty, but look oddly like those of the Sims games.
Overall Let's Go Jungle! is a pretty forgettable game. Not as fun as its premise would imply, or as exciting as it's genre demands, it's like a real trek through dense forest: frustrating and tedious.
4/10 (It'd be lower but player 2 is kind of hot)
Players take on the role of a young couple who are left stranded on a jungle island when giant spiders kill their (grotesque racist caricature) guides. With no way to defend themselves but two AK-47s and the power of love, players must set out to kill pretty much every living thing between them and the nearest Ramada.
Power of love, you say? What's that about? Apparently, this game was designed with actual couples in mind (which is dumb, no woman has willingly gone in an arcade since 1983) because in between acts the protagonists get all lovey-dovey and you get rated on how good you are as a couple. Seriously. If you both shoot the same creature? You understand each other as true friends. Protect your significant other from that lunging monster-leech, and you're clearly a loving partner. This can get a little uncomfortable if you aren't playing with your real SO, especially since the sit-down cabinet has privacy drapes.
Gameplay is pretty lackluster. The guns are ridiculously hard to aim accurately and don't want to aim at the far sides of the screen. There seems to be some smoothing that distorts how your aim tracks as well. There are a few fun quick-time events where players must move the guns around to do stuff in-game, but they're way too easy and don't add much to the whole affair. The graphics are pretty, but look oddly like those of the Sims games.
Overall Let's Go Jungle! is a pretty forgettable game. Not as fun as its premise would imply, or as exciting as it's genre demands, it's like a real trek through dense forest: frustrating and tedious.
4/10 (It'd be lower but player 2 is kind of hot)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
There's a good game hidden inside Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, but you have to ignore the hype to play it. The box for this game would have you believe you're playing some kind of 5th-grade Might and Magic fanfiction, a dark, edgy game with blood and guts and killing and evil and death and also grit and nastiness. You won't be. The game has blood and stabbing and whatnot, sure, but it's not extreme or edgy or any of that. It contains wizards with silly voices, maidens fair, cuclopses (cyclopi?) and all that fun stuff you'd expect from a fantasy game.
If you actually were expecting BloodKillHackcorpes: The Deathening, well, you'll be let down.
DMMM casts you in the mold of a generic fantasy hero who gets bounced around between incontinent old men performing quests. You get a hot spirit familiar who lives in your head because, you know, Halo, and you find and master an array of weapons. You also level up, learning various traits to become stealthier, stronger, or more magical. It's basically a fantasy Deus Ex, which suits me fine- it's certainly better than Deus Ex 2, so it works as a sequel, at least as well as Bioshock worked as a sequel to System Shock.
The big hook of this game is supposed to be combat, and it is pretty great. There's an Errol Flynn pirate movie swashbuckling feel to fighting in this game, as you hurl debris, trip your enemies, and kick dudes off of things. Or into things. Or over things. Kicking quickly becomes your most valuable attack, due to its power to propel your enemies into the many, many, many environmental traps that abound in this game. You can also block, do special melee attacks, and cast all sorts of fun spells. You can even sneak, which is a viable option because enemies can dish it out at least as well as you in most cases.
So if you can ignore the "there's blood and murder and EEEEEEEVILLLL" hype, this is a pretty fun FPS-RPG-action title. Just remember that F makes your dude kick, and you'll be fine.
7/10
If you actually were expecting BloodKillHackcorpes: The Deathening, well, you'll be let down.
DMMM casts you in the mold of a generic fantasy hero who gets bounced around between incontinent old men performing quests. You get a hot spirit familiar who lives in your head because, you know, Halo, and you find and master an array of weapons. You also level up, learning various traits to become stealthier, stronger, or more magical. It's basically a fantasy Deus Ex, which suits me fine- it's certainly better than Deus Ex 2, so it works as a sequel, at least as well as Bioshock worked as a sequel to System Shock.
The big hook of this game is supposed to be combat, and it is pretty great. There's an Errol Flynn pirate movie swashbuckling feel to fighting in this game, as you hurl debris, trip your enemies, and kick dudes off of things. Or into things. Or over things. Kicking quickly becomes your most valuable attack, due to its power to propel your enemies into the many, many, many environmental traps that abound in this game. You can also block, do special melee attacks, and cast all sorts of fun spells. You can even sneak, which is a viable option because enemies can dish it out at least as well as you in most cases.
So if you can ignore the "there's blood and murder and EEEEEEEVILLLL" hype, this is a pretty fun FPS-RPG-action title. Just remember that F makes your dude kick, and you'll be fine.
7/10
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Mechwarrior (SNES)
It's the 1990s. The Internet has yet to ruin tabletop gaming, and the game on everyone's lips is... Magic the Gathering. But if you wanted to play something more sophisticated, there was the Battletech/Mechwarrior franchise. These games combined DnD sensibilities with giant robot action and the overall flavor of the Dune books to create an exciting role-playing universe for gamers.
The only problem was expressing the game world to those playing. It's all well and good to say "you are looking out of the cockpit of a big robot and walking on people" over a cluttered table while swilling Mountain Dew, but it lacks oomph. The obvious thing to do was to make a video game that simulated the Mechwarrior experience.
Early DOS attempts produced interesting games that were less about combat and more about hiring and managing groups of mech mercenaries. Strategy was all well and good, but gamers wanted to jump into big robots and murder other big robots containing their friends. Of course the was the arcade game, but that was a virtual-reality simulator cabinet monstrosity that couldn't come home very easily.
The SNES Mechwarrior initially seems very impressive. The engine renders pretty large Mode-7 landscapes, with features like water you sink down in, and jumpjets you can take off with. You can use your war money to kit out your giant robot with an assortment of neat weapons, and choose between different sorts of missions as you pursue your parents' killers.
The problem is that the gameplay is totally lacking. The water lowers your camera, but you don't slow down or encur any defense bonus. Jumpjets lift you up, but your enemies can aim up too and there are no environmental encumberments that jets let you skip- the map is totally flat. Every mission basically boils down to "kill everything before it kills you" except for base attack missions, which are more "kill the base and ignore everything else."
Weapons could lead to good technical variety, but they don't. The only weapon you need is short range homing missiles, and the more the better. Just waddle your robot up to the enemy and hold the trigger until you win. This strategy works for basically the whole game, and grows more effective as you buy robots with more armor and more room for ammo.
The variability of missions is also a weak point. Aside from the fact that there are only about 10 maps in the game (and again, none of them functionally different) you are penalized for taking too many missions on- neglect the "leads" you get from NPCs too long and you get a game over as your targets escape you. Not that money matters, once you strap on the highest number of missile tubes and buy the biggest mech, you're done.
The SNES is the first console that could approach true 3D in a meaningful way, and a number of games for it had great real and simulated 3D- Mario Kart, Star Fox 1 and 2, and a pretty competant Doom port all demonstrated that the SNES could do 3D action. Mechwarrior tries valiently, but its neat universe and promising play are undercut by a lack of variety and dull, repetitive action.
If you liked Mechwarrior but want more variety, check out Crimson Skies. No, not the steampunk air pirate game (although that is fun), the WW1 SNES shooter where you have to take down the Red Baron. It plays a lot like Mechwarrior, but with a lot more depth and complexity.
5/10
The only problem was expressing the game world to those playing. It's all well and good to say "you are looking out of the cockpit of a big robot and walking on people" over a cluttered table while swilling Mountain Dew, but it lacks oomph. The obvious thing to do was to make a video game that simulated the Mechwarrior experience.
Early DOS attempts produced interesting games that were less about combat and more about hiring and managing groups of mech mercenaries. Strategy was all well and good, but gamers wanted to jump into big robots and murder other big robots containing their friends. Of course the was the arcade game, but that was a virtual-reality simulator cabinet monstrosity that couldn't come home very easily.
The SNES Mechwarrior initially seems very impressive. The engine renders pretty large Mode-7 landscapes, with features like water you sink down in, and jumpjets you can take off with. You can use your war money to kit out your giant robot with an assortment of neat weapons, and choose between different sorts of missions as you pursue your parents' killers.
The problem is that the gameplay is totally lacking. The water lowers your camera, but you don't slow down or encur any defense bonus. Jumpjets lift you up, but your enemies can aim up too and there are no environmental encumberments that jets let you skip- the map is totally flat. Every mission basically boils down to "kill everything before it kills you" except for base attack missions, which are more "kill the base and ignore everything else."
Weapons could lead to good technical variety, but they don't. The only weapon you need is short range homing missiles, and the more the better. Just waddle your robot up to the enemy and hold the trigger until you win. This strategy works for basically the whole game, and grows more effective as you buy robots with more armor and more room for ammo.
The variability of missions is also a weak point. Aside from the fact that there are only about 10 maps in the game (and again, none of them functionally different) you are penalized for taking too many missions on- neglect the "leads" you get from NPCs too long and you get a game over as your targets escape you. Not that money matters, once you strap on the highest number of missile tubes and buy the biggest mech, you're done.
The SNES is the first console that could approach true 3D in a meaningful way, and a number of games for it had great real and simulated 3D- Mario Kart, Star Fox 1 and 2, and a pretty competant Doom port all demonstrated that the SNES could do 3D action. Mechwarrior tries valiently, but its neat universe and promising play are undercut by a lack of variety and dull, repetitive action.
If you liked Mechwarrior but want more variety, check out Crimson Skies. No, not the steampunk air pirate game (although that is fun), the WW1 SNES shooter where you have to take down the Red Baron. It plays a lot like Mechwarrior, but with a lot more depth and complexity.
5/10
Metroid Prime 3
I started playing Metroid Prime 3 for the wii last Sunday. I was expecting the game to be good, but I was surprised when I found out the game was incredible! Metroid Prime 3 still keeps a lot of the same mechanics as the previous 2D and 3D Metroid games while adding a new control set with the wii.
The wii is perfect for First Person Shooter games. The movement of the wii remote and nunchuck feels very close to that of the keyboard and mouse, while adding another perspective of immersion for the gamer.
Samus is as bad ass as ever and from where I'm currently at in the game, I can tell it\'s only going to get better. Timed sequences (the infamous self destruct scenes), close quarter combat, fast paced action scenes, and REALLY big bosses make this an awesome game to add to your wii library. I love REALLY big bosses. :) Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to playing with my wii. 10/10
The wii is perfect for First Person Shooter games. The movement of the wii remote and nunchuck feels very close to that of the keyboard and mouse, while adding another perspective of immersion for the gamer.
Samus is as bad ass as ever and from where I'm currently at in the game, I can tell it\'s only going to get better. Timed sequences (the infamous self destruct scenes), close quarter combat, fast paced action scenes, and REALLY big bosses make this an awesome game to add to your wii library. I love REALLY big bosses. :) Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to playing with my wii. 10/10
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