Comment on One Of The Best Games Ever Turns 25, And You Still Can't Buy It
Eldritch@piefed.world 3 days agoEverything is of course subjective. But it was a unique concept and execution. With solid gameplay and decent graphics in an era known for originating the boomer shooter and all its clones.
If you crave run and gun, probably not. But if you enjoy the kitschy, retro James Bond, Secret Agent aesthetic. And very early, but decent female protagonist. It's a lot of fun.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 days ago
The writing, setting and concept were charming and the art direction is good which means despite being polygonally challenged I don’t mind the way it looks. Great soundtrack too. That being said I tried playing it earlier this year for the first time and it just struck me as one of those games that have aged like fine milk mechanically. It really really wants you to be a stealthy spy sneaking around and being non-lethal yet the stealth gameplay felt terrible, and going guns blazing wasn’t particularly fun either as gunplay in these old games is hard for me to enjoy having gotten used to modern FPSes. And it doesn’t help that the guns blazing approach forces you to listen to a constant soundtrack of blaring alarms, which frankly was hard for me to deal with.
I couldn’t make myself finish it despite really wanting to be able to say I’ve played it, but maybe I’ll give it another go some day. At least I don’t think it’s all that long.
GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
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I always enjoy reading your comments!
Eldritch@piefed.world 3 days ago
That can definitely be said about a lot of classics from that era. Things have changed a lot since then for better and for worse. It's an absolutely unique experience, though. I would love to see a more modern take on it if it were possible.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 days ago
For me in general I think FPS games have aged the worst. There is such a big part of the pleasure that comes from animations, gunplay, recoil implementation, enemy AI, ragdolls, hit effects… I have a much easier time playing something like Fallout 1&2 - which are even older but have mechanics that are more timeless.
But yeah it was definitely a time in gaming where technological advancements felt like they were happening at an exponentially increasing pace. Comparing games from 2000 with just a few years later is like night and day. Splinter Cell came out only two years after NOLF and that’s a stealth game that’s aged spectacularly. And even Monolith’s own F.E.A.R. came out in 2005 and feels like one of the first truly modern shooters - one that still really holds up well.