I’ve been playing it for the first time myself, but the levels in that one got so convoluted.
I am getting stuck a lot, not knowing where to go next. But so far I’ve been able to figure it out. I think I’m on the 8th level now. I do love how claustrophobic it is.
Well that’s another thing that’s been turning me off in my case! It’s actually quite scary, especially with that eerie soundtrack.
There is just such a happy warmth to the original Doom carnage.
So let’s see, there’s basically four flavors of Retro Shooters, right?
Doom
Quake
Duke Nukem 3D
Hexen/Heretic
Or is that not a good classification? Like which one does Blood fit into?
I was not a fan of Duke Nukem and Hexen/Heretic kind, but I liked Doom and eventually Quake categories.
3D Realms will announce their 1998-style retro shooter sometime this year. I guessing it will be a more scripted FPS in style of O.G. Half-Life. Chuck Jones, the artist who designed the enemies in both Valve’s debut and Duke 3D, will be handling art duties so I’m cautiously optimistic.
Has anyone spent much time with Wrath during Early Access? I’m only interested in playing the final version, but it seems promising.
I think that’s a good breakdown. Blood definitely fits into Duke 3D. Not just because it’s running on Build, was originally funded/produced by 3DR, and has a wise-cracking voiced protagonist, but its focus on goofy weaponry and the level design taking place in mostly real-world locations makes it feel like it shares the same lineage.
Man I remember back in the day ‘shooters’ referred to R-Type and the like. These were all called ‘Doom clones’. This thread is confusingly titled. I feel old. Get off my lawn. :)
As for categorising them, I don’t think Heretic did anything worthy of note to come across as more than Doom in a codpiece. Hexen tried to break off a bit more from that template I think but I don’t remember how much as I never played it much. I’ve not played it but I imagine Marathon does more to deserve its own spot.
I think its probably fair to group by engine alone in that era as this largely dictated how a lot of these games ‘felt’ to play. Blood was my favourite Build game (and I replayed it all just a few months ago) but I don’t think it strayed that far from most of the ideas in Duke3D. Just better executed perhaps.
I think it was only around the time Half-Life came out that people really started making games that played completely different to whatever flagship game came attached to the engine. Half-Life itself was Quake! Heavily modified of course and possibly with some Quake 2 blended in but would you have ever guessed?
R-type and the like now fall under the Shmup category, I think.
Somebody mentioned the latter-day Shadow Warriors. The first revival wasn’t all that bad. A little masturbatory on the fan-service, but fast, and slick. Lots of shooting and moving.
SW2 doesn’t belong here because it’s a Borderlands wannabe, not a retro shooter.
Serious Sam 4:Planet Badass popped up on Steam (Devolver is having a sale) as Coming Soon in 2020
Hopefully it will be a fit for the thread
That’s a great name.
A friend without reliable internet in Zambia is looking for a good local co-op shooter he can play with some people through a router (installed in a tree so it reaches everyone’s computers.) No zombie games or always-online games like Destiny. Any suggestions? I could only think of some of the Tom Clancy games.
Heck yes, first Ghost Recon all the way!
Heh. I do now. I stayed away from it at the time because I heard it was even worse than Opposing Forces.
It was… less than stellar. :)
I heard about it. Didn’t it start as a Half-Life mod and then go commercial along the way?
I liked Opposing Force, btw.
Yeah, mod first.
I believe it’s one of the few Valve games you’ve never been able to purchase digitally. Maybe some rights issues with Sierra? Fortunately a Steam compatible version of the full game is available at Moddb, but I think you need HL1 for it to work. An interesting curio. I remember you had lots of freedom when it came to customizing the firing modes, including the spread, propulsion, and shooting rate, for your weapons in quite a bit of detail. Space cowboys fighting dinosaurs is the kind of goofy setting I wish more shooters would’ve pursued.