[Jinroh]

Thanks for adding more about Rex Blade Mr. Flibble I remembered reading some of that stuff, but couldn't find exactly what threads they were in to reference, refresh my memory. ^^

What about Chasm: The Rift?

That was more Quake-like, but still a rad mid-90s run and gun FPS. Had voice acting and "locational damage" though if I remember right.

[Mikko]

Chasm with its repetitive level design and dull overall look is pretty far from being a Duke-like game.

[Jinroh]

Mikko_Sandt, on 23 May 2012 - 05:33 AM, said:

Chasm with its repetitive level design and dull overall look is pretty far from being a Duke-like game.

Sure with its muddy brownness like I mentioned it's more Quake-like, but still it has some redeeming features I think. xD At least you have some guy like General Graves barking at you like Duke does. xD

[Come On And Slam]

Chasm: The Rift is not very cool because the level design is so confusing and full of those god awful " Wait, what did I just do? Where do I go? What now? This is so boring. " moments. If it were much more streamlined, had music, better sounds, cooler guns, and the like, it wouldn't suck so bad. Still, the fact that you can blow enemies arms off is really cool and new for the time.

[Jinroh]

Slippy_Pig, on 23 May 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:

Chasm: The Rift is not very cool because the level design is so confusing and full of those god awful " Wait, what did I just do? Where do I go? What now? This is so boring. " moments. If it were much more streamlined, had music, better sounds, cooler guns, and the like, it wouldn't suck so bad. Still, the fact that you can blow enemies arms off is really cool and new for the time.

Yes I always thought that was a pretty cool feature. It's not so bad, but I consider it like a "poor man's Quake". xD I did rather like it, but maybe I'm being too forgiving.

[MrFlibble]

I have played Chasm through some time ago (not the add-on episode though, just the original game). I wouldn't say it's much Duke-like per se, but calling it a Quake clone would be also not entirely correct (although the developers obviously aimed at the Quake-playing audience here ). The game is more slow-paced than Quake, leaning towards the standards of the earlier instalments of the Wolfenstein 3-D era. In the first episode, the designers tried to create some more realistically-looking locations, which does work (there are distinct areas like the computer room, conference room, refrigeration facility, troop barracks etc.); in the latter, time-travelling episodes, it's rather hard to talk about realism, but all the locations like the Egyptian temples and tombs, medieval castles etc. are all recognizable. What doesn't help a lot here is that the layout of the levels is often not very well thought out, and you have to do a lot of back-tracking with multiple "Where is it?" moments. It had never been too annoying for me though, and sometimes you have to solve interestingly designed puzzles to make your progress. What I really liked about Chasm though are the puzzle bosses, although I know some people dislike the game for exactly that reason. I guess the developers tried to please a wide audience of FPS players and at the same time introduce innovative features, which resulted in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Perhaps they would have done it better if they focused more on the puzzle part, since there are no huge fight-outs with hordes of monsters in the entire game anyway. Another quite serious minus in the level design that could put off players is that the developers really spam scripted ambushes all too often.

But, on the bright side, there's a good deal of interactivity in the game, I remember playing the first level for the first time, blasting the street-lights in the base yard, then the glass in the window. That was pretty cool, although it doesn't serve any purpose gameplay-wise though. Overall, Chasm deserves a steady B, and I think that it's drawback lie more in the general lack of polishing (nothing that an extensive testing wouldn't be able to fix), not in some serious design flaw that breaks the game.

[MrBlackCat]

I don't have time to join the conversation right now, but I am going to post here so I can find it easier later in case it stays active for some time. I have most 3D FPS's from Castle Master (1990) to Quake II. There is SO much to say here! I currently show 376 unique boxed games and their add-on, but of course many of them are indirect repeats like Duke Nukem Shareware is one, and Duke Nukem 3D, then Duke Nukem Atomic Edition and Plutonium Pack is one etc... so those would all be "Duke 3D" technically. But the point is that there are SO many unique games which relate to Duke at various level for this thread.
As I read this thread I find myself getting down boxes of every title mentioned and looking through them to see versions etc.

Anyway, have to go now. Used up all my forum time just reading!

Great thread...

MrBlackCat