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DNF #1
Duke 3D #1
as this wait even for demo might actually take Forever I thought it's kinda good idea to start a topic in which we recommend each other what to play in meantime waiting for Duke Nukem Forever.
Expectations from recommended games/mods:
# it should be similar in gameplay to Duke Nukem 3D / Duke Nukem Forever (at least what we think)
# it's best to be FPS
# it's dated at least as Duke Nukem 3D (games 1996+)
So let's rock and he're is my list:
#1 SiN (1998)
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Set in the near future of 2037, many of the levels and locations are reminiscent of their current day equivalents. Banks, building sites, sewage works and other everyday recognisable buildings form the basis of many of the levels in SiN. One major difference in the world of SiN is the lack of a police force. 10 years prior to the game, it is revealed that the police force collapsed due to inefficiency and ineffectiveness against the rising tide of crime. Private security companies have taken their place, some patrolling the streets like the former police, some in charge of protecting their employer's assets.
One of these companies which employ their own armed security forces are SiNtek, a large multi-national biotechnology firm owned by the beautiful and charismatic Elexis Sinclaire. Elexis took over the firm following the disappearance of her father, Dr. Thrall Sinclaire, who formed it in 2005.
The protagonist of the game, Col. John Blade, is the commander of one of the largest security forces in the city of Freeport, HardCorps. Prior to the beginning of the game, John is working to rid the streets of a potent new recreational drug named U4, which is gaining in popularity in Freeport. Yet, the source of the drug is still unknown, and its effects not entirely studied. As the game begins, the player is placed into the shoes of John Blade as he responds to a full scale bank heist and hostage situation perpetrated by a well known criminal, Mancini. But as the player progresses and pursues the criminals behind the heist, further questions are raised: Who is really behind the heist? And is this linked to the reported appearance of mutants in the city?
Throughout the missions, Blade is aided via radio link by a computer cracker working at HardCorps, JC. JC is a skilled cracker, capable of breaking into even the tightest of networks. In fact, Blade first found out about JC when investigating a cracker who had broken into the HardCorps system. After tracking down the hacker, Blade, recognizing the perpetrator's talents, decided to make him a job offer at HardCorps instead of arresting him. Thus, JC became one of HardCorps most valuable assets.
One of these companies which employ their own armed security forces are SiNtek, a large multi-national biotechnology firm owned by the beautiful and charismatic Elexis Sinclaire. Elexis took over the firm following the disappearance of her father, Dr. Thrall Sinclaire, who formed it in 2005.
The protagonist of the game, Col. John Blade, is the commander of one of the largest security forces in the city of Freeport, HardCorps. Prior to the beginning of the game, John is working to rid the streets of a potent new recreational drug named U4, which is gaining in popularity in Freeport. Yet, the source of the drug is still unknown, and its effects not entirely studied. As the game begins, the player is placed into the shoes of John Blade as he responds to a full scale bank heist and hostage situation perpetrated by a well known criminal, Mancini. But as the player progresses and pursues the criminals behind the heist, further questions are raised: Who is really behind the heist? And is this linked to the reported appearance of mutants in the city?
Throughout the missions, Blade is aided via radio link by a computer cracker working at HardCorps, JC. JC is a skilled cracker, capable of breaking into even the tightest of networks. In fact, Blade first found out about JC when investigating a cracker who had broken into the HardCorps system. After tracking down the hacker, Blade, recognizing the perpetrator's talents, decided to make him a job offer at HardCorps instead of arresting him. Thus, JC became one of HardCorps most valuable assets.
source & more at wiki
Video Gameplay: 1st level gameplay (from demo)
PC demo link: PC demo & MAC demo & Linux demo - gateway from Ritualistic to Fileshack
Personal comment:
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This is one of the best games I've played since era of Duke Nukem 3D. John R. Blade comments like Duke, makes jokes similar to Duke, communicates via intercom. Gameplay is very fast and straightforwad. Mostly urban environment. Huge interactivity. On higher difficulty settings (medium and up) it's quite challenging. Graphics are dated - it's powered by Quake 2 engine and it runs smoothly on P233MMX with 64MB RAM and 3Dfx Voodoo 2. OpenGL supported but software rendering also possible. No problems running at Windows XP. I coulnd't find any widescreen hack so if you've WS LCD like I do you've to stick with something like 1024x768, 1280x960 or 1600x1200. Don't be mistaken by low ratings - in early days the game was buggy as hell and couldn't be even finished but now in latest version (1.11) it's all fixed.
#2 Wages of SiN (1999)
Personal comment:
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As I don't want you guys spoil the gameplay experience of SiN I just say that's it's mission pack for original SiN and a must have if you liked original SiN.
Unfortunately no demo available and it's quite difficult to get it...
Unfortunately no demo available and it's quite difficult to get it...
source & more at wiki
no demo, no video gameplay
#3 SiN Episodes: Emergence (2006)
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SiN Episodes is the title of a series of episodic games for the PC that would have expanded upon the 1998 computer game SiN. A total of nine episodes were planned with only the first one released. Developed by Ritual Entertainment and powered by the Source engine, the first episode "Emergence" was the first computer game by a major developer to both be produced episodically and delivered over the Internet without the intervention of a publisher. This was accomplished through Valve Corporation's Steam content delivery system.
source & more at wiki
Video Gameplay: it's from like first third of the game - shows most accurately the gameplay
No demo available.
Personal comment:
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Just another gem which died on it's effort for perfection, episodic gaming is now found to be too expensive to develop considering it's price ($20) so atm we're left with this only one episode. Based on HL2 source engine so no graphics disappointment this time 
. Similar gameplay to original SiN, huge interactivity some babes added 
. What is revolutionary in this game is it's automatic difficulty modifications - so if you're doing too many headshots and game is weak for you, it spawns more enemies and less medpacks on the other hand if it's becoming to be too difficult it spawns more medpacks, difficulty and challenge is configurable at any time.
. Similar gameplay to original SiN, huge interactivity some babes added . What is revolutionary in this game is it's automatic difficulty modifications - so if you're doing too many headshots and game is weak for you, it spawns more enemies and less medpacks on the other hand if it's becoming to be too difficult it spawns more medpacks, difficulty and challenge is configurable at any time.#4 Kingpin: Life of crime (1999)
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Gameplay in Kingpin was most noted for its profanity laden dialog and its graphic depiction of violence. An idea incorporated into the game was that of area-specific damage: a shot to the head deals more damage than a shot on the leg. To complement this, each game character also has a deformable skin, which indicates where and how badly the character had been injured. Injured characters also bleed, and leave a blood trail making it easier to follow them. Instead of having a universal armor value for the player, armor is split into three different types, helmet, body armor and leggings, with separate values for each one.
Another innovative feature of the game is the use of weapon modifications. Various mods can be used to upgrade the weapons in the game. The pistol, for example, can be modified to increase its magazine size, or its rate of fire, among other things.
Kingpin also features heavy NPC interaction for a first-person shooter; the player can interact with NPCs and choose between positive or negative responses. This can lead to various outcomes such as gleaning new information, hiring gang members, or provoking an enemy into attacking. The NPC response to the player also takes into account whether the player's gun is holstered or not. Some areas, such as bars and clubs, which acted as hubs for the chapters, force the player to lower his weapon. The player can also hire gang members to join him, and in some cases this is necessary as the player would need an AI character's specific skill.
Another new feature is the introduction of cash. Fallen enemies can be padded for cash, which can then be used to purchase weapons and ammunition at the Pawn-O-Matic, a shop found in every chapter. Cash can also be used to hire gang members.
Another innovative feature of the game is the use of weapon modifications. Various mods can be used to upgrade the weapons in the game. The pistol, for example, can be modified to increase its magazine size, or its rate of fire, among other things.
Kingpin also features heavy NPC interaction for a first-person shooter; the player can interact with NPCs and choose between positive or negative responses. This can lead to various outcomes such as gleaning new information, hiring gang members, or provoking an enemy into attacking. The NPC response to the player also takes into account whether the player's gun is holstered or not. Some areas, such as bars and clubs, which acted as hubs for the chapters, force the player to lower his weapon. The player can also hire gang members to join him, and in some cases this is necessary as the player would need an AI character's specific skill.
Another new feature is the introduction of cash. Fallen enemies can be padded for cash, which can then be used to purchase weapons and ammunition at the Pawn-O-Matic, a shop found in every chapter. Cash can also be used to hire gang members.
source & more at wiki
Video Gameplay: this one is from demo and it's really messy - not really safe for work
pc demo link: http://www.fileshack...57/Kingpin+Demo
Personal comment:
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One of the guys at youtube below video from the game asked: "what happened to good fun games like this?" and the reply "cross-platform gaming, censore and the lack of ideas" - it quite says it all. If you haven't played this gem I really suggest you to get back to it and get it somewhere. Game is quite dated (1999) and powered by Quake 2 engine so something like P233MMX with 64MB RAM and Voodoo 2 is enough, however hi-res texture pack exists (didn't tried). Interactivity is quite ok but don't expect something like SiN or Duke. It's been some time I played it so watch videos and get the demo
#5 Soldier of Fortune (2000) & Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002)
and 
SoF (2000)
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The story involves the theft of nuclear weapons, and the main enemy turns out to be an Afrikaner Neo-Nazi group based in Germany, led by Sergei Dekker. At the beginning of the game, terrorists steal four nuclear weapons from a storage facility in Russia, and proceed to sell them to various third world nations. This is a prelude to the acquisition of advanced weapons of mass destruction by this terrorist group.
John Mullins, working for a U.S.-based mercenary ("soldier of fortune") organization known only as "The Shop", and his partner, Aaron "Hawk" Parsons, are assigned to prevent the nukes from falling into the wrong hands, and stop the terrorists in their plans.
John Mullins, working for a U.S.-based mercenary ("soldier of fortune") organization known only as "The Shop", and his partner, Aaron "Hawk" Parsons, are assigned to prevent the nukes from falling into the wrong hands, and stop the terrorists in their plans.
source & more at wiki
Video Gameplay: it's not really gameplay but I think you can get the idea from it
PC demo link: http://www.fileshack...of+Fortune+Demo
SoF II (2002)
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The theme of the sequel is germ warfare, as the mercenary Mullins and his new partner Madeline Taylor travel to Colombia to investigate a viral outbreak in a small town, only to link it to a shadowy organization called Prometheus. The virus, called Romulus, is followed by a computer virus called Remus which is programmed to delete files on any computer in the world, in this case, files relating to Prometheus and Romulus, so an anti-virus cannot be formulated. Prometheus then plans to blackmail the G8 countries at a summit in Switzerland for billions of dollars. It is revealed throughout the course of the game that a mole inside The Shop may be feeding information to the terrorists.
source & more at wiki
Video Gameplay: just to get the idea what is it all about...
PC demo link: http://download.cnet.com/Soldier-of-Fortun...4-10246058.html
Personal comment:
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Again - it's been some time since I played them but just another gems, interactivity is maybe not so good as in SiN but still lots of fun.
I've 15 years experience of PC gaming and it's really difficult to pick true gems, but I did my best. There are lots of other great games - for exampet Half-Life and HL2 or Unreal, but I consider it too far in gameplay from Duke so I didn't mentioned them. If you guys know any games/mods to other games similar to DNF bring it on
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