[b][i]Note: Despite the playtime saying only 20~ minutes, I've played through the game on a source port which is not tracked on Steam. I HIGHLY recommend doing the same, as the included DOSBox emulator is not great.[/i][/b]
The less talked about version of the classic Sega Saturn FPS which was remastered recently by Nightdive...this version actually came first and was made to showcase the legendary Build Engine by Ken Silverman/3D Realms, the engine that powered classics such as Blood, Duke3D, and Shadow Warrior.
Apparently when this game was ported to consoles such as the Sega Saturn and Playstation it was completely redesigned both to perform on weaker hardware, and to provide a new gameplay experience... In short: this original PC version plays almost nothing like console version that gets most of the mainstream attention!
The gameplay here is closer to a clone of Duke Nukem 3D or Doom 2, being a breakneck run-and-gun romp through a linear chain of 20 maze-like levels. This is a stark contrast to the platform-heavy Metroidvania-style gameplay of the console port, which has you backtracking through previously cleared levels after acquiring new powers. The story is pretty simple: you must stop the evil Kilmaat (alien invaders) from reanimating the mummified corpse of King Ramses with their fiendish technology. Should you fail, the Kilmaat will use their newly enslaved King Ramses and his awesome power to conquer the world and the human race.
Your objective within the levels, however, is simply to access the exit and move on to the next. You'll accomplish this by finding various keys, flipping switches, navigating jumping puzzles, and kicking as much alien butt as possible. The only thing to help you out is your ever-growing arsenal of weapons and various magical spells you will collect, the latter of which confuses me in its implementation.
Not only must you have enough magic power (represented by the blue mana gauge opposite your red health gauge), but you use up copies of the spell along with mana each time you activate it. I guess this is to keep you from collecting a particular spell once and then reusing it infinitely throughout the game, but I don't know why mana is even a requirement at that point. Just have the spells themselves be finite.
Once you get past this oddity though, these spells provide a much needed (but very temporary) boost to tackle some of the tough segments of the game. Their benefits include: lighting up dark areas, underwater breathing, super damage, full healing, or outright invulnerability to all oncoming attacks.
The weapons are pretty unique as far as a retro FPS goes, starting out with staple entries such as a melee weapon for when you run out of ammo, a humble pistol, and a machinegun. This offering quickly expands to the flamethrower, the cobra staff (which acts as a homing rocket launcher of sorts), and the magical bracelet of Ramses which can call down lightning bolts on your foes.
If you're a fan of retro shooters but want to try something off the well-tread path of Duke3D and Doom, this game is a no-brainer. Just keep in mind if you want the best experience you'll have to figure out how to use a source port (which in the case of BuildGDX at least, is as simple as copying the PWRSLAVE folder from the Steam install directory and running the BuildGDX executable), as playing the game on DOSBox is quite painful.
