Posted April 20, 2010
This is one of those games that really shows what PC gaming can be. It defies a genre description... the best I could come up with is action-adventure, which is so general it doesn't really mean anything. The makers of this game weren't burdened by thinking about what KIND of game they were making, they simply imagined a world and a story, and then made that. And it's utterly fantastic.
I played it for the first time last year and promptly decided it was one of the best games I've ever played. Many people consider the graphics dated now, but I found them to be beautiful. The voxel technology used for the terrain means that the outdoor areas have gorgeous rolling hills and mountains, and the character animations are also very impressive. The overall resolution is a bit low but the artistic design is so good I hardly noticed. And there are so many little touches, like when you activate your mini-map and you actually see the futuristic visor slide out over your character's eyes. Then there's the combat, which is also gorgeous... seriously, these are some of the nicest explosions I've ever seen, and they were made back in 1999!
Sound is also great; others have mentioned the fantastic soundtrack, but I also really enjoyed the voice acting, which seemed much better than a lot of modern games. The story is captivating, with a lot of twists, some of which I was very proud of myself for predicting and others which were total surprises. But really, the game is even better than the sum of its parts. They're not just features or details, everything works towards the cohesive whole.
Basically, imagine a really awesome sci-fi action movie, and then imagine PLAYING it. That's what this game is like.
Also, major kudos go to GOG for fixing many of the issues associated with running this game today. The voxel technology runs entirely on CPU, meaning that super-fast modern CPUs could cause problems... when I played it last year I had to use a separate program to slow down my CPU. But, according to the forums, GOG has managed to fix this problem, which is amazing! For $5.99 we can get this classic without worrying about getting working properly. It's a no-brainer.
I played it for the first time last year and promptly decided it was one of the best games I've ever played. Many people consider the graphics dated now, but I found them to be beautiful. The voxel technology used for the terrain means that the outdoor areas have gorgeous rolling hills and mountains, and the character animations are also very impressive. The overall resolution is a bit low but the artistic design is so good I hardly noticed. And there are so many little touches, like when you activate your mini-map and you actually see the futuristic visor slide out over your character's eyes. Then there's the combat, which is also gorgeous... seriously, these are some of the nicest explosions I've ever seen, and they were made back in 1999!
Sound is also great; others have mentioned the fantastic soundtrack, but I also really enjoyed the voice acting, which seemed much better than a lot of modern games. The story is captivating, with a lot of twists, some of which I was very proud of myself for predicting and others which were total surprises. But really, the game is even better than the sum of its parts. They're not just features or details, everything works towards the cohesive whole.
Basically, imagine a really awesome sci-fi action movie, and then imagine PLAYING it. That's what this game is like.
Also, major kudos go to GOG for fixing many of the issues associated with running this game today. The voxel technology runs entirely on CPU, meaning that super-fast modern CPUs could cause problems... when I played it last year I had to use a separate program to slow down my CPU. But, according to the forums, GOG has managed to fix this problem, which is amazing! For $5.99 we can get this classic without worrying about getting working properly. It's a no-brainer.
