STG's

Project Warlock is a retro FPS for PC. Graphics are very adequate, given the retro label, this might not please new players. What I did miss (but, again is adequate for the period being replicated) is the lack of a tutorial. You are just thrown in and nothing is explained. There are a few features not common for FPS of the time, like a RPG progression. But frankly I haven't spent much time with the game. Overall, somewhat entertaining. Not sure if I will play it more, though.

I recently got Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. I've played Wolfenstein 3D quite a while back when it was released, and I was a huge fan of other ID games, such as Doom and Quake, which I played for endless hours. This one is made by MachineGames, instead of ID. Lately I haven't played many ID games because they usually were buggy on my hardware, such as Rage or the latest Doom. When this Wolfenstein was on sale on Steam with excellent reviews, I though I should try it. I'm glad I did - it is very good. I particularly like how they allow you to choose (not always, but a lot of the time) to take a stealthy approach or go guns blazing. The guns are pretty good, there are plenty of them and in an old school way, you can carry almost as many as you want (except for the big machine gun). In that sense, it is quite different and smarter than the old ID games, and there is a lot of alternative options - such as little tunnels - to use. There are also some secret areas. I also l...

Shadow Warrior (2013) is a very nice PC FPS. I actually almost bought it again on a bundle. After I realized it looked very nice (and that I already had it), I downloaded my previously purchased copy and started playing. It is a very nice old school FPS, where you shoot your enemies (demons, without a lot of strategy involved, although there is some in the choice of weapons) or cut them with your ninja sword. There are lots of secret areas. You have plenty of upgrades - including for your guns, extra skills and powers. It is a bit more violent than most games - you can dismember/behead enemies with your gun or swords, and get extra karma with it. You have plenty of special moves, too - including healing, spinning around with your sword, dropping everyone around with a power wave, etc. Graphics are very good, specially when you consider the game is a few years old now, and not an AAA title. Bosses are somewhat interesting. What I don't like is that it ...

I 'm   was going to keep this brief (but got carried away), because Far Cry 3 is pretty old. But I only got around to trying it a few weeks ago, way after the Steam sale where I got it. I really liked the original Far Cry. The engine was great, but the nicest thing is that the game didn't care how you accomplished objectives. You could come up with plenty of ways to do things, many of them nowhere near being imagined by the designers. Far Cry 2 had the annoying malaria part (which is jokingly mentioned in 3), and for these and other reasons I never played more than the start. I am mostly enjoying Far Cry 3. I like the whole open world style, and the "destroy enemy bases" mechanism. Speaking about those, I really like how the whole stealth thing goes, but that you are still not forced to be stealthy (it is just much easier). Also, the bases have very nice varieties, so every approach can be a little different. Some are a bit too easy, though. Graphics are prett...

Drunken Robot is a bullet hell FPS with procedurally generated graphics. It is almost good, but personally I didn't enjoy it at all.

Towers of Guns is an interesting rogue-like FPS, where you enter rooms with random enemies and traps. Also like most rogue-likes, if you die, you die. No save games, no second chances. The pace can be pretty hectic, as you dodge cannon balls, bombs, flying saws, etc.  It feels very old school in that regard. There are a few guns you can get  (unfortunately, I have just unlocked the easier few) and several weird items, such as extra weapons, teleporter belts, etc. You can also upgrade a ton of stats, including damage, speed, jump - either by drops or by buying them around with coins found around the levels. My biggest is complain is that after the initial spawn, enemies will still spawn from nowhere, specially on boss rooms. I find that quite annoying, as I am always suddenly getting hurt while I was focusing on the boss (and extra health is really hard to find). There is a back story, but it consists of some text and an icon at the beginning of each level. Cute, but ...

Retrovirus is a 6 degree of freedom, first person shooter.  The immediate comparison, for any old PC gamer at least, is with Descent. I've played all 3 and really, really liked it, so when I saw this game and that it had good reviews I instantly bought it. However, my experience with it isn't great. Somehow, the shooting experience isn't fun, and the enemies seem a bit silly. And the music, oh the music is spectacularly annoying after a few minutes. The story revolves about a worm that invaded the computer and is corrupting it. You, the anti-virus, go around destroying the virus, as well as disinfecting citizen code. You also get access to upgrades and extra weapons later in the game. The graphics are a bit garish, but are nice for the setting. It is the gameplay and the music that are the problem. Overall, I really didn't like it. Not recommended at all.

Dishonored is a stealth FPS, with a steampunk universe and plenty of magic mixed in. In the game, you are a bodyguard to the empress, who is turned into a stealthy assassin when you are framed for her murder. Graphics are pretty good, and overall I really like the stealth system (a little too simple compared to the old light meters, though). Movement is great and there are plenty of roof and pipes if you want to go that way. You have a number of powers available, which can be bought using runes. The first one you get allows you to teleport between short distances, which is great on a stealth game. There are upgrades for health, stealth, etc too. You have quite a few weapon upgrades, too, which you buy with coins and other rare objects you find in the world. There are plenty of ways to kill your enemies or sneak by them, and the game allows to you to go either way. I think the stealth option is usually way more fun, though (although a bit harder). You can also just knock oppon...

Another game that I got at a discount on Steam was Left 2 Dead 2. I played the first one, and found it reasonably fun, although it didn't have any lasting power to me - I find it fun for a few minutes, but I tend to get sick of it after a while (say, more than 30 minutes). The feeling is the same with Left 4 Dead 2. It looks great, and it is fun - but only for short periods.

I've recently completed the single player campaign of Bad Company 2. I got it from a Steam special offer (which is how I get most games these days), and I wasn't really aware that it was a regular, Call of Duty like campaign, instead of the Battlefield style multiplayer-with-bots maps. It was a pleasant surprise. The game was pretty good, with great battles and very fun destroyable walls. The M60-S is pretty awesome - you can snipe with it and seriously clear enemy groups in seconds (just like Modern Warfare MP). The story isn't particularly good, but I don't feel it was particularly bad for a FPS. I believe the campaign took about 8 hours. I haven't looked much into it, but at first glance I really didn't like the MP section. AFAIK, there is no way to do as in BF2 and BF2142 and just play the maps with bots. BTW, in the few games that I played, I can't help but think that the group coordination of the bots is actually better than the players... My...

I've just noticed the demo for Iron Grip: Warlord on Steam, and checked it out. It is a mix of RTS, FPS and a tower defense game. The graphics are so outdated it's silly. The level design is barely ok. That said, I just loved the gameplay... I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a demo so much. And if you have an older computer, it should still play fine (an advantage for those outdated graphics). I've sometimes thought of RTS/FPS hybrids. This one is everything I dreamed of. After playing a level I went and bought it - it's pretty cheap at US$9.95. Totally recommended. Drop by their site  now, and download the demo.