Strife: Veteran Edition

Terrible FPS! Never enough ammo for tanky enemies. Barely any health either, I only found one medkit which didn't do much because of getting shot at left right and centre. I could barely progress as every door is locked and needs some damn key. Boring level design and the music makes me wanna rip my headphones off.

Despite people calling this precursor to Deus Ex, it actually has very little to do with that game. It's not an immersive sim; stealth here is rudimentary at best, and generally it's still a DooM-like shooter. But with dialogues and peaceful NPCs. And a Hexen-like hub world. But is it a good game? Yes, it is. If you enjoy good old DooM or Hexen, you will love it. It's polished well enough; it has an interesting plot, fun guns, memorable enemies, coolest art-style, medieval-cyberpunk setting and totally badass soundtrack. After all, it's a competent shooter, nicely balanced, and smooth to play. The only thing I can whine a bit about is level design. The level design is complicated, but it is not as difficult as in Hexen or as frustrating as in Turok 2. The problem is that there are not many interesting things to look at, and mostly it blurs into brown-grey samey arenas and corridors (but with some really cool exceptions). Verdict: for old-school FPS nerds, Strife is a must-have without any second thoughts. PS. This time I have some gripes with the Nightdive remaster though: 1) They added some new content and quests; that's good. But in the new level I managed to softlock myself into a room, because you can jump into it through the window without opening the door. But you can't get out through the same window. And the door is locked, and the switch to open it is outside. Not cool; had to use noclip and forget about achievements. 2) After opening and closing the automap, the framerate drops significantly for a couple of seconds. Not deal-breaking, but annoying. 3) Gamepad support. There is no weapon wheel, and switching between 10+ weapons/ammo types using LB/RB is really long and handicaps the player tremendously in combat situations.

Достойный ремастер одного из первых иммерсив-симов на движке первого ДУМ'а. Есть город-хаб с магазинами, НПС, квестами. Также в этом городе можно прокачивать персонажа, оружие. От города есть входы непосредственно в боевые локации с секретами и зачастую очень запутанными структурами. В некоторые области сразу не попасть. Набор оружия стандартен для шутеров 90-х, разве что арбалет с разными стрелами слегка выбивается из общей картины того времени. Присутствуют несколько концовок. Игра — настоящий бриллиант ПК-гейминга, к сожалению, она осталась в тени более крутых проектов, вышедших с ней в одно время.

All time classic!

Strife is an interesting look at what FPS RPGs looked like 20+ years ago when the genre was first starting to be formed. For an early entry, it's impressive at what it was trying to do and what it does well. A large, connected open world with side quests, shopping systems, and upgrades that you get throughout the game. It's narrative has some simple choices that for the time weren't common in FPS titles. That being said, even with Nightdive's enhancements the game is still clunky at times and it's resource management system begins to fall apart towards the end of the game when levels become resource syncs without any gold or shops nearby to restock. This is especially harsh considering the final two levels of the game are notoriously difficult slogs with the final boss requiring health pick ups to beat as health is ammo for the only weapon able to kill it. Looking at other reviews, this seems to be a sticking point for the final areas of the game, and I feel as if it's because these levels don't share the design the rest of the game has. They're full on Doom levels where Strife doesn't fit for it. The ending is a sticking point because it relies less on you performing well and more on how much health you have, and there are no health pick ups in the final boss's chamber. It's a fine game otherwise, but that last stretch really does make it stumble at the finish line. Mixed.

boobs