AschTheConjurer
joined
I'm just a kiwi guy for whom gaming is basically the only regular hobby. I enjoy writing good reviews, and shitty stories, while I look for a job. I've played a whole ass-load of videogames in my time from all sorts of genres, I dive into game lore on the regular, and have an appreciation for what goes on during development and publishing as well as the games themselves.
Reviews
DEATHWISH for Blood is probably one of my favourite mods for any of my favourite oldschool shooters. I usually try to give things 9/10 because nothing is really perfect, but DEATHWISH has enough care and interesting extras to push it over into a 10 for BLOOD Fans.
It has fantastic level design in plausible locations (which has only got better with updates), it has horror references that inspire entire levels instead of being throwaway jokes, and with the release of BLOOD: Fresh Supply, the nice little features and scripts of the mod are even better if played through that source port.
I'd say the author of this mod not only understands what made BLOOD great, but also how to make a fun, well-paced shooter in general.
To be honest, I'd be interested to see them join a team developing a modern "retro-shooter" as at least a Level Design Lead.
TL;DR:
If you're a big fan of DOS-FPS games, not playing The AMC TC is screwing yourself out of a very good time. It scratches all the right itches and will supply you with plenty of in-jokes and satisfying Shooty Goodness. The few flaws are outweighed by the sheer scope and passion of the mod.
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The AMC TC is a very, very solid mod in eDuke32 that introduces some utterly fantastic gameplay mechanics. A home base, multiple playable characters, tech research -- all of the above being persistent -- and custom loadouts are just the most obvious ones.
There are some bugs, some broken AI, and some occasional 'what were they thinking' level design, but the mod is well worth your time anyway because you're still VERY likely to enjoy yourself.
Anomaly is like a few other sandbox mods such as CoC and Dead Air, but arguably is a bit more polished, and contains a LOT more features. NPCs seem more interesting and the world is a bit more fleshed out.
This mod doesn't suffer a lot of technical problems I've experienced in other CoP-based sandbox mods either: no microstutter, very few crashes, and far fewer bugs (outside of BETA 1.5.0 content).
Once the dedicated STALKER player has finished the story provided in the usual 3 STALKER games, I highly suggest they install this mod for the last game, Call of Pripyat. It converts the game to an open sandbox (although it does have the original quest to disable the Brain Scorcher as a starting point), provides all maps available in all the games (and some that weren't finished/were cut) and includes small generated quests for a little non-looting income. Sometimes the costs of items and repairs are high, but certain factions buy certain items at high prices (try selling mutie parts to the Scientists) and there's enough sources of income that it's not difficult for the player to flourish in The Zone, as long as they're not slacking off.
I only give it an 8/10 because it's a slightly incomplete experience with rare updates, but what's there already is fantastic if you like sandbox games and can deal with a few random crashes -- although it's much more stable than the base games tended to be on my system. If you played MISERY and managed to get along well, this mod will provide almost the same experience but without some of the downsides like the cumbersome inventory management and the convoluted system of medications and drugs it had.
I absolutely recommend getting addons for it like Arsenal Overhaul, and whatever else you feel like: because if you enjoy being in the world of STALKER, this will give you an excuse to roam ad-infinitum.
This mod is a paragon of gaming, from gameplay itself to visuals to being a powerful example of how to encapsulate catharsis in your game. I'd award it a 9.9999 recurring if possible just to take nuanced 'personal taste' into account.
Your mileage may vary on specific elements but Brutal DOOM has plenty of addons which change sounds, add more weapons, add randomization to pickups and the monsters themselves, and give the player a plethora of ways to customize the experience.
If you even passingly liked DOOM in your life but would like to play it with more modern gameplay choices, (and you've got all your vanilla-compatible WADs somewhere) then GET THIS MOD. 2016's Doom reboot was ostensibly based on this mod, but it doesn't quite meet the quality and replayability this mod and its addons provide.
