Thanks for the offer but components have a habit of dying around me so I won't risk it! I'll make do with my MX440. I have a rattly 6600LE somewhere if I really need a (small) speed boost.
Project: First Person Shooter History
- Thread starter almoststew1990
- Start date
Thanks for the offer but components have a habit of dying around me so I won't risk it! I'll make do with my MX440. I have a rattly 6600LE somewhere if I really need a (small) speed boost.
Soldato
SiN deserves to be remembered in the proper old school bracket. Playing the demo for the first time with it's full colour graphics and stylistic gameplay was quite revolutionary compared to the browns and pixels post half-life.
A couple more from the later in the era, Tron 2.0, Voyager Elite Force.
A couple more from the later in the era, Tron 2.0, Voyager Elite Force.
This
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixJY_FAQ1ww
EDIT: While not a first person shooter as such I'd strongly recommend adding the original Thief to the list if playing games of that era. Max Payne and Daikatana might be worth as a consideration as well. While it kind of missed out on being part of the main evolution Fakk 2 is an interesting one as well as it took the Quake 3 engine and went sideways with it.
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Ah how did I forget about SiN?! One of my favourites at the time, I think it was quite a step up in graphics at the time and really enjoyed it. I'll always remember them posting out a patch CD for it which was delivered to my next door neighbour by mistake who is a bible basher... you can imagine their face when a CD arrives with SiN written on it...
There is another earlier FPS than that I'm trying to find, I don't think it was that popular and was only a demo but the texururing on it was ahead of its time.
edit: Chasm: The Rift is on the ones I was thinking of but think there is another
Oh and Delta Force and Painkiller are worth a look.
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I've hit another roadblock. I'm having lots of sound issues. Windows wants to put my sblive sb16 emulation to irq10. I set it to 5 in the bios and Windows will mirror that, but when booting it says emulation loading failed due to irq conflict! Windows doesn't show any conflicts occurring. The bios has all PCI IRQs to auto and I've disabled all serial, parallel, floppy, even USB to make sure there are no conflicts. But it's still not happy 
Soldato
Sad to hear it's not totally straight forward, though I'm slightly relieved as it means I can stop thinking about doing the same with my old 386 DX25, P2 450 and Athlon 1800+
You're not off the hook as I am just thinking about using my proper w98 pc for the dos and early 3D stuff and sticking XP on this pile of junk! It would have just made it more interesting if I had done 13 years of FPS games on one PC...
Aaaaaah... DMA's, IRQ's and I/O's... Fun.
So many memories of hours of anger and swearing. Add in HIMEM, Emm386, QEMM.... joy. Still have a backup of my autoexec.bat and config.sys which gave me a menu to choose what config I wanted in 6.22 and 7. One config got 634kb of free base memory.
So many memories of hours of anger and swearing. Add in HIMEM, Emm386, QEMM.... joy. Still have a backup of my autoexec.bat and config.sys which gave me a menu to choose what config I wanted in 6.22 and 7. One config got 634kb of free base memory.
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Phils computer lab has a similar thing, a "super easy mode" which is a folder with a cd, mouse and creative sound drivers as well as a ready prepared autoexrc.bat and config.sys with a menu for what drivers you want to run / how much memory you need. It's very useful!
Right I've got everything up and running on my backup backup PC - the 650MHz P3 (currently overclocked to about 720MHz @ 112MHz FSB), 256MB RAM, MX440 and an AWE32 Value. Surprisingly this ISA card worked just fine, no IRQ conflicts or not being detected. Now I'm trying out a few late games to see how the CPU overclock holds up and once I'm happy I can get started on the first game, Catacomb Abyss (and then Wolf3D). I've updated the games list too.
I'll be building an XP PC of some kind to play the later games, from MoH:AA onwards.
I'll be building an XP PC of some kind to play the later games, from MoH:AA onwards.
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Well I've finished Game 1 game!
The Catacomb Abyss 3D - Shareware
This was suggested as a very early FPS, ahead of Wolfenstein 3D. I thought I'd give it a go as I've played Wolfenstein a bit (maybe for a couple of hours in total over the last two years in dosbox on and off etc).
Getting it running
The shareware version I had came "pre-installed" with no need to extract anything. It's less than 1mb big so it may well have come like this on a floppy. No setup menu / options, just start.exe to start.
It wouldn't detect my Soundbaster 32 / AWE32 for its ablib sound effects, so it played through the PC speaker, which I decided gave a touch of "genesis" to this first game on my list.
It had a fairly simply numbered main menu with quick start / read me (which you need to read as its helpful for both controls and gameplay) as well as some lore which sounded very oldschool rpg.
Gameplay
It controls with the arrows, with left and right turning rather than strafing. Strafing requires you to hold alt, and fire is ctrl. Quick turn is TAB, which is necessary to use when you get hoards of enemies around you, and my hands had to learn some new positions / muscle memory as alt, ctrl and tab do not really come naturally to my left hand! After about 20 minutes I was able to slide around like a pro; it isn't as unintuitive as it sounds.
I was surprised at how "standard" minute-to-minute gameplay was. You have a health meter, ammo counter, even a minimap (although it would have been helpful to have shown the walls on it!). I suppose it's functional and tells you what you need to know just fine, so why change what works well 27 years later! There are health pick ups loot chests with more powerful attacks (automatic fire and a sort of scatter bomb that fires spells in all directions around you); however on easy mode (there is a choice between easy and master only!) I had 99 of everything by the final boss fight. It certainly was too easy, but then I was playing at 60fps and have evolved FPS reflexes, which I wouldn't have had if I was playing this when it came out (also I was 2 years old
).
Shooting dudes in The Catacomb Abyss has the same appeal and satisfaction as shooting in modern games, more so even perhaps as there is less in the way between pressing fire and a dude dying. No reloading, no sprint to jog animation, no ADS. The core shooting dudes gameplay was genuinely fun, with no nostalgia required.
Level design is are an absolute maze. I've read about mazey early 3D games but, bloody hell, it's hard going when you're used to intuitive levels that tell you where to go (or encourage open ended exploration) without words. Worst of all was Ogre Mines / Trolls Something, which was designed specifically to be like a maze in an already mazey game engine. It's even worse when you're forces down zig-zagging corridors 1 block wide, with the narrow FOV it doesn't feel like a 3D game anymore.
You can see the transition from top down rpgs and crpg dungeon crawlers (I thinnk their called) in this game, there is a status window saying what you're currently doing (turning, retreating, magic), and each location has a name. The names are great and add some personality to the game.. assuming they're being ironic! Names like The Field of Sighs, The Garden of Tears, Chamber of Many Bones". I'm interested to see the transition from this type of gameplay to modern gameplay. Find the exit keys and then exit, to "the exit is fairly obvious but getting their alive is the hard part", to "there isn't really an exit as such, the story / level will progress when something natural happens; just kill the dudes and see..." over the years.
I completed the shareware game in about 90 minutes. I only died once, on the final level when the boss threw a curveball (*****). Quicksaving is supported so I only lost about 3 minutes.
Each level is "destructible"; some walls (identifiable by a different texture on each level) will collapse when you shoot them and you'll need to collapse walls to complete each level. Unfortunately this means I spammed my spells at the start of each level of find out what texture is destructible.
Graphics and Performance
It's EGA graphics and early 3D, so it looks like arse. Just the colours to me are really off putting with bight greens and blues; I understand there are a few palettes to choose from when using EGA, perhaps a less garish one would have been better. Sprites and animations look alright, as expected, they have a few frames for moving and a few for dying, but it was always enough to know where the dudes are they are and what they are doing. I liked the smooth motion of the spells, slow enough to look good in motion and require a bit of skill to hit a moving target, fast enough to not be a pain to work with.
I can't really comment about performance; it ran fine on my 720MHz P3! It's gameplay is at least not tied to the framerate. I do like the look of these games when you're running down a straight corridor at 60fps. I might try to make a GIF of it.
Sound
It only had sound effects, but that could have been a shareware limitation due to memory size. Ablib (i.e. OPL2 I think?) didn't work, so PC speaker it is. Not much to say other than my speaker is pleasantly quite and tonal so it wasn't an absolute pain. I tried out the ablib sound in dosbox; it's not great but nicer than PC Speaker obviously.
Was it fun?
Yes
Should you play it?
I'll see how it compares to Wolf3D...
Anyway this turned out much longer than expected so here are some "screenshots" and a gameplay video.
The Catacomb Abyss 3D - Shareware
This was suggested as a very early FPS, ahead of Wolfenstein 3D. I thought I'd give it a go as I've played Wolfenstein a bit (maybe for a couple of hours in total over the last two years in dosbox on and off etc).
Getting it running
The shareware version I had came "pre-installed" with no need to extract anything. It's less than 1mb big so it may well have come like this on a floppy. No setup menu / options, just start.exe to start.
It wouldn't detect my Soundbaster 32 / AWE32 for its ablib sound effects, so it played through the PC speaker, which I decided gave a touch of "genesis" to this first game on my list.
It had a fairly simply numbered main menu with quick start / read me (which you need to read as its helpful for both controls and gameplay) as well as some lore which sounded very oldschool rpg.
Gameplay
It controls with the arrows, with left and right turning rather than strafing. Strafing requires you to hold alt, and fire is ctrl. Quick turn is TAB, which is necessary to use when you get hoards of enemies around you, and my hands had to learn some new positions / muscle memory as alt, ctrl and tab do not really come naturally to my left hand! After about 20 minutes I was able to slide around like a pro; it isn't as unintuitive as it sounds.
I was surprised at how "standard" minute-to-minute gameplay was. You have a health meter, ammo counter, even a minimap (although it would have been helpful to have shown the walls on it!). I suppose it's functional and tells you what you need to know just fine, so why change what works well 27 years later! There are health pick ups loot chests with more powerful attacks (automatic fire and a sort of scatter bomb that fires spells in all directions around you); however on easy mode (there is a choice between easy and master only!) I had 99 of everything by the final boss fight. It certainly was too easy, but then I was playing at 60fps and have evolved FPS reflexes, which I wouldn't have had if I was playing this when it came out (also I was 2 years old
).Shooting dudes in The Catacomb Abyss has the same appeal and satisfaction as shooting in modern games, more so even perhaps as there is less in the way between pressing fire and a dude dying. No reloading, no sprint to jog animation, no ADS. The core shooting dudes gameplay was genuinely fun, with no nostalgia required.
Level design is are an absolute maze. I've read about mazey early 3D games but, bloody hell, it's hard going when you're used to intuitive levels that tell you where to go (or encourage open ended exploration) without words. Worst of all was Ogre Mines / Trolls Something, which was designed specifically to be like a maze in an already mazey game engine. It's even worse when you're forces down zig-zagging corridors 1 block wide, with the narrow FOV it doesn't feel like a 3D game anymore.
You can see the transition from top down rpgs and crpg dungeon crawlers (I thinnk their called) in this game, there is a status window saying what you're currently doing (turning, retreating, magic), and each location has a name. The names are great and add some personality to the game.. assuming they're being ironic! Names like The Field of Sighs, The Garden of Tears, Chamber of Many Bones"
. I'm interested to see the transition from this type of gameplay to modern gameplay. Find the exit keys and then exit, to "the exit is fairly obvious but getting their alive is the hard part", to "there isn't really an exit as such, the story / level will progress when something natural happens; just kill the dudes and see..." over the years.I completed the shareware game in about 90 minutes. I only died once, on the final level when the boss threw a curveball (*****). Quicksaving is supported so I only lost about 3 minutes.
Each level is "destructible"; some walls (identifiable by a different texture on each level) will collapse when you shoot them and you'll need to collapse walls to complete each level. Unfortunately this means I spammed my spells at the start of each level of find out what texture is destructible.
Graphics and Performance
It's EGA graphics and early 3D, so it looks like arse. Just the colours to me are really off putting with bight greens and blues; I understand there are a few palettes to choose from when using EGA, perhaps a less garish one would have been better. Sprites and animations look alright, as expected, they have a few frames for moving and a few for dying, but it was always enough to know where the dudes are they are and what they are doing. I liked the smooth motion of the spells, slow enough to look good in motion and require a bit of skill to hit a moving target, fast enough to not be a pain to work with.
I can't really comment about performance; it ran fine on my 720MHz P3! It's gameplay is at least not tied to the framerate. I do like the look of these games when you're running down a straight corridor at 60fps. I might try to make a GIF of it.
Sound
It only had sound effects, but that could have been a shareware limitation due to memory size. Ablib (i.e. OPL2 I think?) didn't work, so PC speaker it is. Not much to say other than my speaker is pleasantly quite and tonal so it wasn't an absolute pain. I tried out the ablib sound in dosbox; it's not great but nicer than PC Speaker obviously.
Was it fun?
Yes
Should you play it?
I'll see how it compares to Wolf3D...
Anyway this turned out much longer than expected so here are some "screenshots" and a gameplay video.
Brilliant review Stew. I like your Dell monitor - I am also using a Dell 19" (E198FP) which is great for retro gaming. Great blacks and games look pretty good!
I passed on Catacombs back in the day. As you say, the limited colour palette or EGA graphics put me off. I was spoiled by my mates SNES and Mario Kart. I got my first PC in 1992 and first game was Aces of the Pacific - a helluva baptism of fire for my first PC game and the ballache getting it to work - managed it in the end!
I was a massive sim player back in the day, especially Microprose sims. If only I had given this a proper chance, I think I would have loved it. I got the Catacombs pack on my GOG wishlist.
Thanks for taking the time to share and looking forward to your next installments.
I passed on Catacombs back in the day. As you say, the limited colour palette or EGA graphics put me off. I was spoiled by my mates SNES and Mario Kart. I got my first PC in 1992 and first game was Aces of the Pacific - a helluva baptism of fire for my first PC game and the ballache getting it to work - managed it in the end!
I was a massive sim player back in the day, especially Microprose sims. If only I had given this a proper chance, I think I would have loved it. I got the Catacombs pack on my GOG wishlist.
Thanks for taking the time to share and looking forward to your next installments.
Soldato
great post look forward to more to come
Game 2 down!
Wolfenstein 3D
The big one; the logical starting point for early 3D FPS games. It doesn't really need an introduction!
Getting it running
I had the registered version on my hard drive from long ago with six episodes; the first three as part of the original release, the last three as a prequel. I didn't bother with episodes 4 to 6!
The game came already unpacked, and simply starts with Wolf3d.exe. I would imagine as a id game it would have had a "deice" installer of some kind originally. Sound is auto-detected and found my AWE32 just fine. Volumes are a bit out though; digitised sound is much louder than OPL playback.
Gameplay
As with The Catacomb Abyss, it plays with the arrow keys. I was used to it now having played C:A previously. It lacks a quick turn button but does have a sprint button, which I rarely used as Right Shift means taking my index finger off the left arrow. I Turning speed is a little slow, but on later levels you'd be dead before you finish turning regardless of turning speed if there are duded behind you!
W3D felt like a step back from C:A. No mimimap, no various spell types. The three guns all share the same ammo so there was no reason not to use the chain gun. A lot more of the screen is given over to the 3D "rendering" compared to C:A which meant less space for HUD. However I never felt I wasn't being told enough information. This game feels much more like a FPS than C:A did, without the RPG hangovers in the HUD.
W3D, as you might expect, has you hunting for keys to unlock doors but is nice enough to only require one key per level in the first episode. As such, you spend a lot of time navigating the mazey levels, although they are nowhere near as bad as C:A. Rarely, progress on the level will be hindered by needing to activate a hidden wall, but mostly they are reserved for hiding secrets.
Whilst the game has a lives system, it is largely useless due to the ability to quicksave and quickload. Why would I die and start the level again, with no guns or ammo, when I can just quick load!
Shooting in W3D is enjoyable, especially with the thumpy SMG. Seeing an Officer go down after a second of SMG fire, before he has time to react, is very satisfying. Again, like C:A, without reloading, ADS etc, there is very little getting in the way of your shooty action!
I completed the main game in about 2.5 hours. I died about 10 times on the second difficulty level, five of which were against mecha-hitler (douche).
Graphics and Performance
W3D uses 256 colour VGA graphics so it is at least less garish to look at, but the early 3D still is not easy on the eyes. Sprites and animations are much like C:A, quite sparse but get the important information across. As you can see in the screenshots, there is not much opportunity for variety in the graphics of this game which does make it a bit repetitive.
As before I can't comment about performance; it ran fine on my 720MHz P3! It's gameplay is at least not tied to the framerate. I do like the look of these games when you're running down a straight corridor at 75fps. I have now made a GIF of it (at 25fps, boo).
Sound
I used soundblaster music and sounds effects with no digitised sounds. The digitised sounds replaces the sound effects (as they're better quality I assume), however, they were very loud on my soundcard so I didn't bother. The sound effects are basic but good enough to let you know when a guard has spotted you.
The music is similarly simple, with some basic but good OPL tunes.
Was it fun?
It was, but I think I prefer C:A as a "my first FPS".
Should you play it?
Yes, but only because of its fame to see what the fuss is all about.
Screenshots and a final boss video.
In the Official Hint manual, which I used some of the time, has a quote from Creative Director Tom Hall "I like how you can look past the columns out at the starry night sky. Maybe it's just me, but I think it looks really sharp. And somehow, it makes you feel a little colder". This is the sort of area where, in my opinion, modern games do work much better, in creating an immersive atmosphere.
The game only credits seven people for making the game, including music and the strategy guide cover illustration
Wolfenstein 3D
The big one; the logical starting point for early 3D FPS games. It doesn't really need an introduction!
Getting it running
I had the registered version on my hard drive from long ago with six episodes; the first three as part of the original release, the last three as a prequel. I didn't bother with episodes 4 to 6!
The game came already unpacked, and simply starts with Wolf3d.exe. I would imagine as a id game it would have had a "deice" installer of some kind originally. Sound is auto-detected and found my AWE32 just fine. Volumes are a bit out though; digitised sound is much louder than OPL playback.
Gameplay
As with The Catacomb Abyss, it plays with the arrow keys. I was used to it now having played C:A previously. It lacks a quick turn button but does have a sprint button, which I rarely used as Right Shift means taking my index finger off the left arrow. I Turning speed is a little slow, but on later levels you'd be dead before you finish turning regardless of turning speed if there are duded behind you!
W3D felt like a step back from C:A. No mimimap, no various spell types. The three guns all share the same ammo so there was no reason not to use the chain gun. A lot more of the screen is given over to the 3D "rendering" compared to C:A which meant less space for HUD. However I never felt I wasn't being told enough information. This game feels much more like a FPS than C:A did, without the RPG hangovers in the HUD.
W3D, as you might expect, has you hunting for keys to unlock doors but is nice enough to only require one key per level in the first episode. As such, you spend a lot of time navigating the mazey levels, although they are nowhere near as bad as C:A. Rarely, progress on the level will be hindered by needing to activate a hidden wall, but mostly they are reserved for hiding secrets.
Whilst the game has a lives system, it is largely useless due to the ability to quicksave and quickload. Why would I die and start the level again, with no guns or ammo, when I can just quick load!
Shooting in W3D is enjoyable, especially with the thumpy SMG. Seeing an Officer go down after a second of SMG fire, before he has time to react, is very satisfying. Again, like C:A, without reloading, ADS etc, there is very little getting in the way of your shooty action!
I completed the main game in about 2.5 hours. I died about 10 times on the second difficulty level, five of which were against mecha-hitler (douche).
Graphics and Performance
W3D uses 256 colour VGA graphics so it is at least less garish to look at, but the early 3D still is not easy on the eyes. Sprites and animations are much like C:A, quite sparse but get the important information across. As you can see in the screenshots, there is not much opportunity for variety in the graphics of this game which does make it a bit repetitive.
As before I can't comment about performance; it ran fine on my 720MHz P3! It's gameplay is at least not tied to the framerate. I do like the look of these games when you're running down a straight corridor at 75fps. I have now made a GIF of it (at 25fps, boo).
Sound
I used soundblaster music and sounds effects with no digitised sounds. The digitised sounds replaces the sound effects (as they're better quality I assume), however, they were very loud on my soundcard so I didn't bother. The sound effects are basic but good enough to let you know when a guard has spotted you.
The music is similarly simple, with some basic but good OPL tunes.
Was it fun?
It was, but I think I prefer C:A as a "my first FPS".
Should you play it?
Yes, but only because of its fame to see what the fuss is all about.
Screenshots and a final boss video.
In the Official Hint manual, which I used some of the time, has a quote from Creative Director Tom Hall "I like how you can look past the columns out at the starry night sky. Maybe it's just me, but I think it looks really sharp. And somehow, it makes you feel a little colder". This is the sort of area where, in my opinion, modern games do work much better, in creating an immersive atmosphere.
The game only credits seven people for making the game, including music and the strategy guide cover illustration
Not sure you need to go through a full list, I'd certainly not have time to properly play all those.
I'd definitely take a look at:
1993: Doom
1996: Quake
1997: Quake 2
1998: Rainbow 6
1999: Quake 3
2000: Counter Strike (I believe there are still servers/you can still play this online)
I'd definitely take a look at:
1993: Doom
1996: Quake
1997: Quake 2
1998: Rainbow 6
1999: Quake 3
2000: Counter Strike (I believe there are still servers/you can still play this online)
Game 3 Complete!
Doom
The third "arrow key shooter", I was interesting to see how the extra two years since W3D would allow the gameplay, graphics and sound to develop. I'm definitely ready for mouse look now though!
Getting it running
This was the first game that came with a setup executable, which I like as I can be sure the game will be running at the maximum "settings" my system can do. Unfortunately I had sound issues with my AWE32... Soundblaster FM synthesis music it is then! Otherwise, I didn't have any issues getting it to run in MS-DOS mode in Windows 98, just run doom.exe and I was good to go.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to the other arrow key shooters, although sprint was mapped by default to both left and right shift, so I could both turn and sprint (left shift) and shoot and sprint (right shift) - yay for sensible game ergonomics! Rotation speed is still too slow - there were several occasions where a dude would spawn behind me and I'd take multiple hits, or about 100 health before Doom Guy had turned his fat ass around.
Whilst there is no minimap, Doom does benefit from a full-screen map (activated by pressing tab) that uncovers as you explore. There are pick ups, I assume in every level, that turns on the whole map so you can see where you haven't explored. The map is very useful, particularly as you can still move around whilst in map view, which feels a bit like driving a car through an obstacle course in a top down view. I found myself doing this a lot later on in levels when most of the enemies have been cleared when busy backtracking.
The levels have been improved significantly through the development of two technologies - vertical change and angled surfaces. This creates the potential for much more enjoyable (and less mazey) levels. This is the first game where the levels can give off the impression I am running around an actual "place" rather than a game level / maze. However, whilst the technology appeared to be there to create a place rather than level, the level design itself is still very mazey and gamey, like a designer has created a hamster obstacle course with demons, not a place that has a function whilst still being fun to play (like half life). In particular there is a lot of symmetry, like cruise ship central stairs which I feel doesn't make the most of the technology, and I found myself running up a set of stairs and having to turn left and then right and seeing that they actually met up in a loop.
The game still uses keys to lock and unlock certain parts of the levels and I was still backtracking (sometimes four times) to unlock, lock, teleport, etc to get to the exit door, but the map at least means you are rarely lost. I am definitely getting bored of keycards now.
Shooting remains enjoyable in Doom, in particular the shotgun (which is pretty much your default gun after a couple of levels), which has a nice thump to it, and the plasma rifle, which fires very rapidly; demons make an "owwy" sound for every hit so you can feel the damage with the plasma rifle Doom is my favourite arrow shooter so far for pure gameplay.
I complete the game in about 6 hours on medium difficulty, although that included dying a million times. Thankfully quicksave and quickload had my back. I liked how the boss from episode one ends up a regular baddy in later episodes which makes me appreciate how the stakes have been raised (still a ******* though).
Graphics and Performance
From a technical standpoint this is huge leap over W3D, with the verticality, non 90 degree angled walls, much higher quality sprites and less weird perspective and texture shimmer. Outside environments really show off the engine, and there is even some form of lighting engine. I see walls light up when I fire my pistol and flickery lights are deliberately, and effectively, used to make quite a scary atmosphere in places (disclaimer - I am a wimp).
It continued to play nice with much more modern hardware and gameplay is not tied to the framerate. I'm tempted to see how it runs on my 386SX 4MB RAM PC which will probably be unplayable.
Sound
Doom is the first game in my list that supports AWE music, so I was keep to try it out. However, this would just give a very loud, high pitched whine when loading up the game (that continued when the game was closed). I ended up using standard Soundblaster music, which to be fair is much better than the simple loops in W3D. One tune in particular really adds to the atmosphere. Soundeffects continue to the basic but effective; the weapon sounds in particular are thumpy and visceral.
Was it fun?
Yes, but 3 episodes is definitely enough (although that could just be retro shooter fatigue!)
Should you play it?
Yes, it makes a much better starting point than W3D for actually having fun in a retro shooter.
Screenshots
These really show off the huge leap in technology from Wolfenstein 3D!
No video this time, I was too busy dying.
Doom
The third "arrow key shooter", I was interesting to see how the extra two years since W3D would allow the gameplay, graphics and sound to develop. I'm definitely ready for mouse look now though!
Getting it running
This was the first game that came with a setup executable, which I like as I can be sure the game will be running at the maximum "settings" my system can do. Unfortunately I had sound issues with my AWE32... Soundblaster FM synthesis music it is then! Otherwise, I didn't have any issues getting it to run in MS-DOS mode in Windows 98, just run doom.exe and I was good to go.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to the other arrow key shooters, although sprint was mapped by default to both left and right shift, so I could both turn and sprint (left shift) and shoot and sprint (right shift) - yay for sensible game ergonomics! Rotation speed is still too slow - there were several occasions where a dude would spawn behind me and I'd take multiple hits, or about 100 health before Doom Guy had turned his fat ass around.
Whilst there is no minimap, Doom does benefit from a full-screen map (activated by pressing tab) that uncovers as you explore. There are pick ups, I assume in every level, that turns on the whole map so you can see where you haven't explored. The map is very useful, particularly as you can still move around whilst in map view, which feels a bit like driving a car through an obstacle course in a top down view. I found myself doing this a lot later on in levels when most of the enemies have been cleared when busy backtracking.
The levels have been improved significantly through the development of two technologies - vertical change and angled surfaces. This creates the potential for much more enjoyable (and less mazey) levels. This is the first game where the levels can give off the impression I am running around an actual "place" rather than a game level / maze. However, whilst the technology appeared to be there to create a place rather than level, the level design itself is still very mazey and gamey, like a designer has created a hamster obstacle course with demons, not a place that has a function whilst still being fun to play (like half life). In particular there is a lot of symmetry, like cruise ship central stairs which I feel doesn't make the most of the technology, and I found myself running up a set of stairs and having to turn left and then right and seeing that they actually met up in a loop.
The game still uses keys to lock and unlock certain parts of the levels and I was still backtracking (sometimes four times) to unlock, lock, teleport, etc to get to the exit door, but the map at least means you are rarely lost. I am definitely getting bored of keycards now.
Shooting remains enjoyable in Doom, in particular the shotgun (which is pretty much your default gun after a couple of levels), which has a nice thump to it, and the plasma rifle, which fires very rapidly; demons make an "owwy" sound for every hit so you can feel the damage with the plasma rifle
Doom is my favourite arrow shooter so far for pure gameplay.I complete the game in about 6 hours on medium difficulty, although that included dying a million times. Thankfully quicksave and quickload had my back. I liked how the boss from episode one ends up a regular baddy in later episodes which makes me appreciate how the stakes have been raised (still a ******* though).
Graphics and Performance
From a technical standpoint this is huge leap over W3D, with the verticality, non 90 degree angled walls, much higher quality sprites and less weird perspective and texture shimmer. Outside environments really show off the engine, and there is even some form of lighting engine. I see walls light up when I fire my pistol and flickery lights are deliberately, and effectively, used to make quite a scary atmosphere in places (disclaimer - I am a wimp).
It continued to play nice with much more modern hardware and gameplay is not tied to the framerate. I'm tempted to see how it runs on my 386SX 4MB RAM PC which will probably be unplayable.
Sound
Doom is the first game in my list that supports AWE music, so I was keep to try it out. However, this would just give a very loud, high pitched whine when loading up the game (that continued when the game was closed). I ended up using standard Soundblaster music, which to be fair is much better than the simple loops in W3D. One tune in particular really adds to the atmosphere. Soundeffects continue to the basic but effective; the weapon sounds in particular are thumpy and visceral.
Was it fun?
Yes, but 3 episodes is definitely enough (although that could just be retro shooter fatigue!)
Should you play it?
Yes, it makes a much better starting point than W3D for actually having fun in a retro shooter.
Screenshots
These really show off the huge leap in technology from Wolfenstein 3D!
No video this time, I was too busy dying.
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Soldato
Nice write up 
This is making me want to try something similar but with RTS games
This is making me want to try something similar but with RTS games
Game 4 as "complete"
Rise of the Triad
This game promised to inject a bit of humour and liveliness into quite a grim and brown shooter genre and is known for its lightness of tone, jump pads and dog! Unfortunately I just couldn't get along with it.
Getting it running
Many aspects of the game can be configured via setup.exe, and sound via sndsetup.exe (or something). I had no issues getting it up and running.
Gameplay
This was the first game I could use WASD and the mouse comfortably. I mean, I'm using a rollerball dell mouse that I suspect has flatspots on it, so it really doesn't roll very well (especially in a fast paced game like this!) but it made a welcome change from using tank controls on the arrow keys.
This game has a noticable shift in tone to a lighthearted almost arena shooter from the late 1990s. It has jump pads, pick ups for things like elastic, god, flying and doggie modes. You have an absolutely ludicrous sprint speed (which comes in handy when you're lost) and it does have an enjoyable tone after shooting serious demons in serious hell, or nazis.
In practical terms this means that the game is very vertical - sprint pads will catapult you to a second height level where keys will be located (yes still keys going on). Dudes with MP40s will step on them and shoot you from the air, you can Drunk Missile several dudes at once with a 360 shot and it can be quite fun.
However, I just couldn't get on with it. The levels are murderously complicated with progression to the level exit hidden behind the most obscure hidden panel activated by a switch on the otherside of the map, hidden behind a pillar you need to push out the way, that you don't know is pushable because 99.9% of pillars are not pushable. Some hidden areas are locked, you can't just push/ click on it, you need to activate a trip switch on the floor (or normal switch elsewhere) that is naturally hidden itself. I struggled to complete levels even following youtube videos on it. As someone who's enjoyment was wearing a bit thin with this kind of shooter, the nasty level design really killed any fun I was having with the shooting and jumping gameplay. Either I'm a thickybobo or this really is not fun level design, even for the era.
It's based on a Wolfenstein 3D engine (and was going to be sequel to W3D at one point but that didn't happen), and retains the cube 90 degree angle walls. It's a huge step back from Doom and the difficult maps are made much worse by this.
In the end, I gave up after completing the first episode. It's too much of a step back from Doom.
I complete the first episode in about 3 hours on medium difficulty, with not many deaths but backtracking four or more times trying to find where to go next.
Graphics and Performance
Whilst the gameplay received a big upgrade from W3D, unfortunately the graphics were a let down, being back in a Minecraft world. Yes, lighting has been improved and the first person perspective much better than the trippy W3D style, but the worlds felt incredibly hamster maze like, compared to Doom's (albeit very gamey) actual world.
Still no performance issues; gameplay is not tied to the framerate.
Sound
AWE32 sound worked perfectly on this with instrumental music rather than just FM synthesis, which did make a nice change. Unfortunately, the music just isn't very good, being very fast paced, high-pitched almost cartoony music. I grew tired of it very quickly of its 2 minute loop after spending 30 minutes or in each level!
Was it fun?
No
Should you play it?
No - play Doom for a early FPS, play Quake III if you want an arena style shooter that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes (and ears) out.
Screenshots
Rise of the Triad
This game promised to inject a bit of humour and liveliness into quite a grim and brown shooter genre and is known for its lightness of tone, jump pads and dog! Unfortunately I just couldn't get along with it.
Getting it running
Many aspects of the game can be configured via setup.exe, and sound via sndsetup.exe (or something). I had no issues getting it up and running.
Gameplay
This was the first game I could use WASD and the mouse comfortably. I mean, I'm using a rollerball dell mouse that I suspect has flatspots on it, so it really doesn't roll very well (especially in a fast paced game like this!) but it made a welcome change from using tank controls on the arrow keys.
This game has a noticable shift in tone to a lighthearted almost arena shooter from the late 1990s. It has jump pads, pick ups for things like elastic, god, flying and doggie modes. You have an absolutely ludicrous sprint speed (which comes in handy when you're lost) and it does have an enjoyable tone after shooting serious demons in serious hell, or nazis.
In practical terms this means that the game is very vertical - sprint pads will catapult you to a second height level where keys will be located (yes still keys going on). Dudes with MP40s will step on them and shoot you from the air, you can Drunk Missile several dudes at once with a 360 shot and it can be quite fun.
However, I just couldn't get on with it. The levels are murderously complicated with progression to the level exit hidden behind the most obscure hidden panel activated by a switch on the otherside of the map, hidden behind a pillar you need to push out the way, that you don't know is pushable because 99.9% of pillars are not pushable. Some hidden areas are locked, you can't just push/ click on it, you need to activate a trip switch on the floor (or normal switch elsewhere) that is naturally hidden itself. I struggled to complete levels even following youtube videos on it. As someone who's enjoyment was wearing a bit thin with this kind of shooter, the nasty level design really killed any fun I was having with the shooting and jumping gameplay. Either I'm a thickybobo or this really is not fun level design, even for the era.
It's based on a Wolfenstein 3D engine (and was going to be sequel to W3D at one point but that didn't happen), and retains the cube 90 degree angle walls. It's a huge step back from Doom and the difficult maps are made much worse by this.
In the end, I gave up after completing the first episode. It's too much of a step back from Doom.
I complete the first episode in about 3 hours on medium difficulty, with not many deaths but backtracking four or more times trying to find where to go next.
Graphics and Performance
Whilst the gameplay received a big upgrade from W3D, unfortunately the graphics were a let down, being back in a Minecraft world. Yes, lighting has been improved and the first person perspective much better than the trippy W3D style, but the worlds felt incredibly hamster maze like, compared to Doom's (albeit very gamey) actual world.
Still no performance issues; gameplay is not tied to the framerate.
Sound
AWE32 sound worked perfectly on this with instrumental music rather than just FM synthesis, which did make a nice change. Unfortunately, the music just isn't very good, being very fast paced, high-pitched almost cartoony music. I grew tired of it very quickly of its 2 minute loop after spending 30 minutes or in each level!
Was it fun?
No
Should you play it?
No - play Doom for a early FPS, play Quake III if you want an arena style shooter that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes (and ears) out.
Screenshots
Game 5 Complete (Shareware)
Heretic
With RoTT being a let down, I jumped into Heretic feeling a bit burned out on this whole project, thinking I could smash out the shareware version I have in an hour or two to power through to where things get interesting - Descent, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. Whilst I certainly did do just that, I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would!
Getting it running
Another Setup executable that lets you configure stuff before launching the game, another game running without issues. I really was expecting more problems getting these DOS games running.
Gameplay
Based off the Doom engine, I was back to arrow key tank controls, but they're second nature to me now!
Heretic feels like a halfway house in tone between very miserable Doom and OTT ROTT. It's not got the miserable music and satanic imagery but is still grounded (literally) with fun pickups like flying mode and "upgrade all my weapons for a minute" mode. The slower pace was welcome.
I was glad to be back in the Doom Engine and out of RoTT's upgraded Wolf3D engine. Varying corner angles and verticality are back! Whilst I felt Doom did not make the most of this engine to create levels that feel like places (if that was even a design consideration at the time at all!), Heretic definitely does try to create an actual environment and not a game level. Buildings, harbours, paths, stairways all actually create a believable world rather than just a game level that looks a bit like a very square dungeon.
This was reflected in the level design being not very mazey at all, and actually being nearly intuitive to navigate! Just finding my way around was not a pain and made for a much more enjoyable experience.
I can't stress how much the level design helped me enjoy the game from navigating to creating a world I am fighting through.
There are a range of magic-y weapons which effectively reflect pistol / shotgun / automatic gun, just as Doom had these style of weapons. This is the first game where ammo was a little hard to find and let to some tense fights against otherwise easy enemies, which did add positively to experience, knowing I couldn't use my laserdeathray3000 to get myself out of this corner. The enemies too are varied with giant bat things being the cannon fodder (who get an upgrade to 'pistol' making them more of a threat in groups), to melee focussed grunts who can take a lot of damage but walk slowly, to green elite soldier things that shoot green magic doing a fair bit of damage, and flying mages who can do a lot of damage.
I completed the shareware, with a grin on my face, in about 90 minutes.
Graphics and Performance
Graphics are an improvement over Doom, partially due to lighting and water usage and partially down to the way the engine has been used to create the levels. A few more colours have been used to create a more vibrant world.
Still no performance issues; gameplay is not tied to the framerate.
Sound
Just as with Doom, AWE32 sound didn't work so I went back to soundblaster / Adlib compatible FM synthesis. The music was largely forgettable apart from a couple of tunes later on (particularly in the Cathedral level). As with Doom (and RoTT) sound effects are functional but forgettable.
Was it fun?
Yes
Should you play it?
Yes, as a good twist on the Doom experience.
Screenshots
Heretic
With RoTT being a let down, I jumped into Heretic feeling a bit burned out on this whole project, thinking I could smash out the shareware version I have in an hour or two to power through to where things get interesting - Descent, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. Whilst I certainly did do just that, I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would!
Getting it running
Another Setup executable that lets you configure stuff before launching the game, another game running without issues. I really was expecting more problems getting these DOS games running.
Gameplay
Based off the Doom engine, I was back to arrow key tank controls, but they're second nature to me now!
Heretic feels like a halfway house in tone between very miserable Doom and OTT ROTT. It's not got the miserable music and satanic imagery but is still grounded (literally) with fun pickups like flying mode and "upgrade all my weapons for a minute" mode. The slower pace was welcome.
I was glad to be back in the Doom Engine and out of RoTT's upgraded Wolf3D engine. Varying corner angles and verticality are back! Whilst I felt Doom did not make the most of this engine to create levels that feel like places (if that was even a design consideration at the time at all!), Heretic definitely does try to create an actual environment and not a game level. Buildings, harbours, paths, stairways all actually create a believable world rather than just a game level that looks a bit like a very square dungeon.
This was reflected in the level design being not very mazey at all, and actually being nearly intuitive to navigate! Just finding my way around was not a pain and made for a much more enjoyable experience.
I can't stress how much the level design helped me enjoy the game from navigating to creating a world I am fighting through.
There are a range of magic-y weapons which effectively reflect pistol / shotgun / automatic gun, just as Doom had these style of weapons. This is the first game where ammo was a little hard to find and let to some tense fights against otherwise easy enemies, which did add positively to experience, knowing I couldn't use my laserdeathray3000 to get myself out of this corner. The enemies too are varied with giant bat things being the cannon fodder (who get an upgrade to 'pistol' making them more of a threat in groups), to melee focussed grunts who can take a lot of damage but walk slowly, to green elite soldier things that shoot green magic doing a fair bit of damage, and flying mages who can do a lot of damage.
I completed the shareware, with a grin on my face, in about 90 minutes.
Graphics and Performance
Graphics are an improvement over Doom, partially due to lighting and water usage and partially down to the way the engine has been used to create the levels. A few more colours have been used to create a more vibrant world.
Still no performance issues; gameplay is not tied to the framerate.
Sound
Just as with Doom, AWE32 sound didn't work so I went back to soundblaster / Adlib compatible FM synthesis. The music was largely forgettable apart from a couple of tunes later on (particularly in the Cathedral level). As with Doom (and RoTT) sound effects are functional but forgettable.
Was it fun?
Yes
Should you play it?
Yes, as a good twist on the Doom experience.
Screenshots