Blimey, this game actually kind of side-swiped me. I mean, yes I know it's classic Doom and all but I wasn't expecting the N64 to deliver such an intense experience.
So the good thing is, after a bit of rejigging the controls, this plays like Doom/Doom2. It's fast and furious with the weapons delivering the kick you want. And Nintendo's anti-gore stance is thankfully not enforced here. Doom is obviously too important.
What is different then? Well first and foremost: the tone. Now some people would say that Doom is a fairly scary game already with its demonic enemies and hellish iconography. But Doom 64 really knocks it up a notch into the genuinely unsettling thanks in most part to Aubrey Hodges supremely edgy almost ethereal soundtrack. Combined with the newly redrawn monsters and overall darker palette, you have a FPS to rival most survival horror for sheer intensity. Compare this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsfjHCFosw with this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaP49EOe ... A6F3F95562 and you get a picture of how different the feel of this game is. You creep through these corridors not run at full pelt.
The N64 hardware was also used to allow for alteration in levels to take place; one level has a switch that activates a industrial jackhammer that smashes through to the floor below another has a room with a circular structure that when activated falls away in concentric circles revealing enemies and a key.
I feel the N64 version is more puzzle orientated than previous Doom installments. Usually it's fine and the level design is outstanding, but there are a few instances where the puzzles require tough timings or you hear a door open but can't see it. This game is also quite fond of traps, some of which are unavoidable on a first play through. Some keys and weapons will instantly spawn enemies when acquired and some tiles will activate dart throwing tripwires. Overall though I found it a much more fair and intelligently designed game than say Exhumed.
I guess the only bad things I could say about the game are that it doesn't have multiplayer or a save function. It can also at times be toodark, as in, I can't see anything dark. And the final boss is a serious dick. Really cheap.
Doom 64 wasn't really appreciated in its time and I feel bad now that I listened to the reviewers of the time giving tripe like Turok 2 95% and looking down on Doom 64 as old hat. Doom 64 has, like the 2D games of that era, aged considerably better than many of its contemporaries and stands behind only Goldeneye and Perfect Dark as far as I'm concerned.
I like it.
So the good thing is, after a bit of rejigging the controls, this plays like Doom/Doom2. It's fast and furious with the weapons delivering the kick you want. And Nintendo's anti-gore stance is thankfully not enforced here. Doom is obviously too important.
What is different then? Well first and foremost: the tone. Now some people would say that Doom is a fairly scary game already with its demonic enemies and hellish iconography. But Doom 64 really knocks it up a notch into the genuinely unsettling thanks in most part to Aubrey Hodges supremely edgy almost ethereal soundtrack. Combined with the newly redrawn monsters and overall darker palette, you have a FPS to rival most survival horror for sheer intensity. Compare this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsfjHCFosw with this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaP49EOe ... A6F3F95562 and you get a picture of how different the feel of this game is. You creep through these corridors not run at full pelt.
The N64 hardware was also used to allow for alteration in levels to take place; one level has a switch that activates a industrial jackhammer that smashes through to the floor below another has a room with a circular structure that when activated falls away in concentric circles revealing enemies and a key.
I feel the N64 version is more puzzle orientated than previous Doom installments. Usually it's fine and the level design is outstanding, but there are a few instances where the puzzles require tough timings or you hear a door open but can't see it. This game is also quite fond of traps, some of which are unavoidable on a first play through. Some keys and weapons will instantly spawn enemies when acquired and some tiles will activate dart throwing tripwires. Overall though I found it a much more fair and intelligently designed game than say Exhumed.
I guess the only bad things I could say about the game are that it doesn't have multiplayer or a save function. It can also at times be toodark, as in, I can't see anything dark. And the final boss is a serious dick. Really cheap.
Doom 64 wasn't really appreciated in its time and I feel bad now that I listened to the reviewers of the time giving tripe like Turok 2 95% and looking down on Doom 64 as old hat. Doom 64 has, like the 2D games of that era, aged considerably better than many of its contemporaries and stands behind only Goldeneye and Perfect Dark as far as I'm concerned.
I like it.
Syndicate360
So, I have no experience with the Syndicate franchise prior to popping in this game, but I did know this is considered a controversial update.
For me it seems less like the developers asked "What would Syndicate be like updated in 3D?" and more like "What would Deus Ex be like if it was Call of Duty?". For me that's a question only a EA executive would ask.
This isn't really a bad game by any means I suppose. Starbreeze are a good studio and it shows here. The weapons are generally fun to use and have that Starbreeze chunkiness to them that I've seen in The Darkness. The hacking powers you posses are also useful and can be implemented on the fly to create your own solutions to enemy encounters. The graphics and sound (minus some out of place dubstep) are also pretty good. And there's even a touch of satire, the end of level statistics being treated as a employee performance review was a nice touch.
It's just that it's also really badly paced, has some severe issues with story and falls back on a few of the lazy FPS cliches we've seen creep in over this last generation.
Some examples: a fight boxed in fight aboard a train becomes a boring turret section for most of its duration. There is one immensely empowering section with a flamethrower that lasts all of three minutes before you go back to regular firearms. Nearly every door or hatch must be opened with obnoxious QTE's. There is one level that has some nice detail and art design, but mostly the game is played in dank grey corridors, the only difference being if they are intact or damaged. Hit-scan and miniguns do not a fun boss fight make! Also this game is really violent towards bystanders, which combined with the lack of context given, made me a bit queasy at times.
The plot is very loose, to the point where it feels perhaps there shouldn't be any plot. All characters have barely any depth and the player character is just a passive avatar. This is especially odd considering EA obviously gave Brian Cox and Rosario Dawson a fairly hefty check for their voices talents. The final boss also exposes a bit of failing in plot logic as I should really be able to use my hacking powers to have him off himself. In fact, that might've made for a more poignant ending. But no, you just punch him to death.
So yeah, not a terrible awful game, but a really ordinary and strangely unimaginative one. Maybe a bit more time spent on the analysis of how a Syndicate update could work (See X-com) and less on EA trying to match COD's success at every turn and we could have a had a better game.
For me it seems less like the developers asked "What would Syndicate be like updated in 3D?" and more like "What would Deus Ex be like if it was Call of Duty?". For me that's a question only a EA executive would ask.
This isn't really a bad game by any means I suppose. Starbreeze are a good studio and it shows here. The weapons are generally fun to use and have that Starbreeze chunkiness to them that I've seen in The Darkness. The hacking powers you posses are also useful and can be implemented on the fly to create your own solutions to enemy encounters. The graphics and sound (minus some out of place dubstep) are also pretty good. And there's even a touch of satire, the end of level statistics being treated as a employee performance review was a nice touch.
It's just that it's also really badly paced, has some severe issues with story and falls back on a few of the lazy FPS cliches we've seen creep in over this last generation.
Some examples: a fight boxed in fight aboard a train becomes a boring turret section for most of its duration. There is one immensely empowering section with a flamethrower that lasts all of three minutes before you go back to regular firearms. Nearly every door or hatch must be opened with obnoxious QTE's. There is one level that has some nice detail and art design, but mostly the game is played in dank grey corridors, the only difference being if they are intact or damaged. Hit-scan and miniguns do not a fun boss fight make! Also this game is really violent towards bystanders, which combined with the lack of context given, made me a bit queasy at times.
The plot is very loose, to the point where it feels perhaps there shouldn't be any plot. All characters have barely any depth and the player character is just a passive avatar. This is especially odd considering EA obviously gave Brian Cox and Rosario Dawson a fairly hefty check for their voices talents. The final boss also exposes a bit of failing in plot logic as I should really be able to use my hacking powers to have him off himself. In fact, that might've made for a more poignant ending. But no, you just punch him to death.
So yeah, not a terrible awful game, but a really ordinary and strangely unimaginative one. Maybe a bit more time spent on the analysis of how a Syndicate update could work (See X-com) and less on EA trying to match COD's success at every turn and we could have a had a better game.
