Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:08:00 GMT
TECNO – the Base is a cerebral first-person by Paolo Cosentino, and was released about a year ago. In the game you play Alexia, a worker at the “TECNO BASE” who must escape said base after an experiment turns all the robots inside hostile. Along the way you’ll solve various puzzles and destroy hell of crazy, freaked-out droids.
I have to say, for such an ambitious idea developed by one person (in Blitz 3d, no less), I’m really impressed… and so far I’ve only played through the demo! Though the graphics are fairly dated, they nonetheless look quite pretty – together with the audio they do a more than sufficient job of setting the mood. But what makes the game a diamond in the rough is how well the action and puzzle elements come together and keep the game continually fresh, despite a few missteps.
The demo is pretty linear, so if you get stuck on a puzzle, there’s not much you can do until you can figure it out. And with potentially multiple “puzzle pieces” in your hands at any given moment, sometimes it’s not obvious which lead to follow. There’s one spot in particular that I almost gave up on, and I imagine it’s a sticky point for a lot of players (hit me up in the comments if you can’t find the fourth battery!).
I also would have liked to see more in the way of a narrative. Honestly, had I not read the game’s description on the website I would never have figured out what was going on in the game. Although I do enjoy piecing together a story, I feel like TECNO provides very little in the way of context. A few more clues here and there would have done a lot in the way of establishing the game’s setting.
Overall, I very much enjoyed the demo and am considering a purchase (the full game is $15.99). It’s a clever and well-made title, and there’s a lot of potential in the first part of the game. It’s not on the level of, say, System Shock or Deus Ex, but then again, what is?
TIGdb: Entry for TECNO – the Base
(Thanks, Bad Sector! This one’s for you!)
Posted in FPS, Windows | Tags GuruyEntertainment | 39 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:50:00 GMT
Low-poly lovers rejoice! 8bit killer is a NES-style FPS made in Game Maker that features a 64-color palette, 32×32 pixel textures, and an energetic chiptune soundtrack. The game pays wonderful homage to the platform shooters that inspired it, employing linear levels along with the Wolfenstein-esque maze levels. It works pretty well.
There are, I believe, 4 areas in total, with 3 stages in each area, with every 3rd stage being a boss battle. Six weapons. The variety of enemies and textures in the areas I’ve played so far is surprising.
8bit killer is a very fun and polished game. I also love the look of Locomalito’s current projects, a platform game named Grialia and a Gradius-inspired shoot ‘em up named Hydorah. They’re definitely a developer to watch out for!
(Note: the game uses standard WASD + mouse FPS controls. Press “Enter” at any time to toggle between 1x and 2x resolution.)
TIGdb: Entry for 8bit killer
Posted in FPS, Highly Recommended, Windows, Freeware | Tags Locomalito | 65 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:41:00 GMT
A developer known only as “Volumetric Pixel” has released Voxelstein 3d, a single level alpha release of his Wolfenstein 3d-inspired first person shooter. The game is built using Ken Silverman’s open source Voxlap engine. In case you haven’t guessed, it renders graphics using VOXELS (cubes) rather than flat polygons.
Voxelstein 3d is moderately entertaining as a tech demo and nice to look at, in an ugly sort of way. I definitely appreciate the way you can (and must) deform the walls, as you make your escape from the Nazi villa. But unfortunately, moving around in this voxel world feels very disorienting for me, and the combat is also less than satisfying (the eyes popping out is a nice touch, though).
It’s short, it’s voxelated, its Wolfenstein-ish! I’m interested in seeing if/how the game develops.
(Thanks, MisterX!)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, FPS, Remakes, Windows, Freeware | 50 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:14:00 GMT
When a trailer begins with the words “Awake now the sleepy artist / To an insane world of strife” and there is a vicious man cooing about finger painting in the background, you know it’s probably not going to be your average mod for Unreal Tournament 2004.
Introspect puts you in control of an insane artist named Gabriel. In the game, you’ll be exploring Gabriel’s demented psyche, a metaphorical world whose visual style is influenced by American McGee’s Alice. Despite the dark themes, the game is purportedly non-violent, and trades in the flak cannons and link guns of UT2004 for an artist’s palette, which you can use to manipulate your surroundings.
Unfortunately, I can’t play the mod, but for what is ostensibly an “arthouse” game, Introspect seems like it has some actual substance.
(Source: The Random Gnome’s Lair)
Posted in FPS, Games and Art?, Mods / Hacks | 17 comments
Posted by Tim
Sun, 14 Oct 2007 03:47:00 GMT
Sleazy.
(Source: Kotaku)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, FPS, Browser Games | Tags AdultSwim | 14 comments
Posted by ithamore
Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:00:00 GMT
Joe Barr at Linux.com recently reviewed the Quake II-based Alien Arena and declared it better than the Quake III-based Tremulous which use to be ”. . . the best free software FPS game [he had] had the pleasure of playing.”
From the review:
“If you’re a gamer but not familiar with Alien Arena, think of Quake III or Unreal Tournament and you won’t be far off the mark. If you’re not familiar with those icons of the first-person shooter genre, think massive, sustained, unrelenting, ankle-deep-in-blood, kill-or-be-killed carnage which can be enjoyed solo, just you against the bots on your PC, or, if your taste in killing tends toward living targets, in multiplayer mode on a network server.”
Also, here is a bit on Tremulous:
“Tremulous is basically a struggle between two teams: the humans, a species I will assume you are familiar with, and the aliens, which look like bugs and sometimes crawl along walls and ceilings. During the game, each side progresses through three stages, with advanced abilities and equipment coming in during the second and third stages. There is one major difference between the species, beyond being on different teams. Humans can upgrade their equipment. Aliens can upgrade themselves. Both species have structures peculiar to themselves.”
I haven’t tried either game, since I’m not into FPS’s, so you’ll have to tell us what you think about them and which is better in the comments. And, for the record’s sake, this is the first time Slashdot (the source) has been “officially” TIGSourced [Edit: on the new TIGSource that is], the unofficial Mac version of Tremulous is available here, and the images I used were nabbed from the games’ websites.
Posted in FPS, Macintosh, Mods / Hacks, Linux, Windows, Freeware | 12 comments
Posted by Guest Reviewer
Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:24:00 GMT
[Guest review by MedO]
Adam Foster recently released the last part in the first episode of Minerva, his amazing Half-Life 2 mod. I’ve played through it a few days ago and I think it’s vastly better than Valve’s own HL2:Episode1. In fact, it’s one of the best games I’ve played in the last few months.
The story takes place in the Half-Life universe, on a tiny island somewhere in the Baltic Sea that has been burrowed out by the Combine. You are dropped off there by the unknown and unseen character calling herself Minerva, who sends you (sometimes cryptic) text messages to inform you of important events or sometimes just to insult you. She doesn’t seem to care about your life, but wants you to survive as long as possible to gather information, and cross the Combine’s plans. Guided by Minerva, you begin to explore what the Combine are up to, descending ever deeper into the island’s underground.
One very nice thing about the mod is that you’ll rarely see the loading screen, because they are created in a very economic way – there’s almost an hour of gameplay in each map. Since you are descending ever deeper, you have several layers of rooms on the same map, all below each other. The long time you spend in each map sometimes allows you to see into areas you will only reach a while later, and makes it possible to have enemies appear in a realistic fashion: sometimes you can see Combine hurrying along above or below you some time before they actually get to you, which adds a lot to the feeling of realism in the game.
(The Minerva Development Blog is here.)
Posted in FPS, Mods / Hacks, Freeware | 11 comments
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:10:00 GMT
I meant to post this ages ago, but then… things. So here it is NOW!
Penumbra: Overture is the first in a trilogy of full, commercial followups to the 3D horror game/demo Penumbra.
I’d probably have a bit more to say about the game if it would run on my (shoddy) laptop. But it doesn’t. The screenshots and trailers look sweet, though!
Discover a demo here.
Posted in FPS, Highly Recommended, Adventure, Windows, Physics | 13 comments
Posted by Shabadage
Sat, 25 Nov 2006 08:53:00 GMT
Sauerbraten is the follow up to Cube, a fun freeware shooter released a few years ago. Like Cube, Sauerbraten focuses on letting the user make their own maps in-game. I myself didn’t get to try out the editor, as it seems my system isn’t haas enough to run the game fully. I did, however, enjoy a few levels of mock deathmatch (damn imp…things). The engine is VERY solid, though as a game it’s still lacking a bit (The single player campaign isn’t finished for example, but there are quite a few single player mock deathmatch levels). You can also head over to Quadropolis for even more maps.
But a free FPS isn’t the only game that Sauerbraten (The engine) has up it’s sleeve, there’s an RPG called Eisenstern in development using the engine, and it’s also been licensed for a commercial use by Proper Games, who seem to be pushing the engine to new heights.
Posted in FPS, Community, Windows, Developers, Freeware | 5 comments
Posted by ithamore
Thu, 09 Nov 2006 16:31:00 GMT
Ovine
Ovine’s Cholo
Remake, which has reached its first anniversary, places you in control of a
"RAT" droid, which must be used to free your fellow citizens and yourself from
the bunker after generations of imprisonment. Eventually, you will collect specialized droids strewn
about the robot controlled city to aid your mission.
In the website’s
archives, there is plenty of backstory provided in the pre-nuclear war
news of the
city and in a copy of the
novella that had
been included with the original game in 1986. I appreciate the extra content, but it’s not necessary for getting into the game. Although, some helpful hints can be gleaned from the news.
It’s a very open game that not only encourages but demands exploration.
Besides having to find the droids and Rampaks need to complete the game, there
are plenty of hidden secrets to discover. It has a slow pace (which is
very fitting for its atmosphere) and can easily take 5 to 10 hours complete. There is a light FPS element to Cholo but
don’t expect it to get intense.
In addition to all the venturing in the game, I admire its Tron-ish
look and its futuristic ambient music. Ovine could have made the city larger, but
this game shines in so many ways that I have no real reason to complain.
Now, please excuse me. The computer has reminded me to drink my Choco
while it’s still warm.
(Source:
Home of the Underdogs)
Posted in FPS, Remakes, Adventure, Freeware | Tags Ovine | 2 comments
