Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
One dozen weapons on your back! Badass MID muzak! Digitalized explosions! Ludicrous gibs! There was no time like the 90's for any serious FPS fan (let alone PC gamers), and in this thread we show our appreciation towards all kinds of first person games that fell behind the mighty power of Doom and Quake, but were fuckawesome nonetheless. I'm just going to post a few that hold special significance in my now near extinct gaming life (getting old is such a bitch, I'm sure other DN3D fans can relate), but feel free to post and discuss your own favourites.
Blood (1997)
Quite possibly my favourite FPS ever. The game began as a Duke Nukem 3D follow-up developed by 3D Realms, but it was later sold to Monolith after they realized they had no resources to finish all the games they had in development. I don't know what happened during that time, but the results were fucking spectacular. You get into the shoes of Caleb, some kind of undead cowboy and former minion of a Cthulonian deity in a dystopic 20's setting. The CD version came with some incredibly spooky Red Book Audio tracks, but in case you wanted to play without the disc, you could install it in your HDD with the (immensely gross) cutscenes and enjoy the also tremendous MIDI score instead. Can you imagine that nowadays?
The ambience was spectacular, mixing horror, black humour, and hundreds of geeky references. It was also the game that outgibbed Soldier of Fortune long before SOF was even an idea. Caleb could kill a cultist, blow it to pieces with dynamite and then jump on the remains (oh, the squishy sounds) until they disappeared in a pool of blood. Or rip some mime's head with your Tommy gun and then play soccer with it while humming Strangers in the Night. Did I mention that every weapon had secondary fire modes? And that most enemies could die in more than three ways? You could gun them down, set them alight, made them explode or even suck up their "vital energy" with the voodoo doll. You know, all that stuff that no developer would dare to implement these days. And the deathmatch mode was fucking brutal, with Jace Hall taunting through the speakers after every kill. Blood is easily the most impressive Build game ever made, and a goddamned classic that was followed by an unfortunate sequel about as enjoyable as a smegma popsicle.
Videos:
First level
The Temple
The Haunting+Super Secret
Homages (there is a fuckton of them, believe me)
BONUS: Soundtrack!
Realms of the Haunting (1997)
Holy crap, man. That game. That fucking game. Although more of an action adventure than a straight up FPS, ROTH was so fucking impressive that deserves its own place here. Unlike other FMV-heavy "multimedia games" of the era, this unique multi-disc title developed by Gremlin was all about the gameplay, which was hard as fucking nails. Plot excerpt from Mobygames:
Unfortunately the system requirements were quite hefty and I could only enjoy it several years after its release, missing part of the shock that came from its no longer detailed pseudo-3D graphics. Still, a classic that begs rediscovering.
Videos:
Let's Play part 1
Let's Play part 2
Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995)
Fucking wow is all I could say after taking Kyle Katarn's blaster for the first time and dispatching a dozen of stormtroopers at my cousin's house. Dark Forces was LucasArt's first FPS game when the company still had a reputation of making classics as if they were sausages, and although shadowed by Doom, it damn well deserves its own place here. The John Williams-esque dynamic music was terrific, the atmospheric effects of the Jedi Engine were something to behold, a vast repertory of then still somewhat obscure SW weapons, highly creative levels and puzzles, and the fact that the game had frikkin' thermal detonators and even blaster-bouncing walls (which could create all sorts of mayhem) made Dark Forces a must have for any Star Wars nut. And I was a huge one back them. A true gem that it's still the pinnacle of the series IMHO.
Videos:
Demo
Some cutscene+gameplay
Rise of the Triad (1995)
A relatively simple game that had much more innovations than most people remember. You are part of a UN commanded crack team sent to a remote island to investigate the activity of a bizarre, evil cult formed by monks with a penchant to explode into tiny bits of flesh. Akimbo drunk rocket launchers have that effect. Besides the dual gun idea, ROTT also featured intricate maps, a random level generator, a dog mode (woof), drug abuse (gotta love those shrooms) and enemies that would feign their death only to shoot at you when you gave them your back. Nothing that couldn't be taken care of with some napalm, tho. Seeing their corpses turn into charred, brittle skeletons was almost as fun as the ludicrous gibs, that would spray your screen with blood, guts, flying middle fingers and eyeballs. Also, Tom Hall, the man, the myth, the legend, served to model El Oscuro and provided the voice for your enemies. I still use the main theme (and the Apogee intro) as a ringtone.
Videos:
E1A1-E1A2+Intro
Cheats
Name your favourites now!
Blood (1997)
Quite possibly my favourite FPS ever. The game began as a Duke Nukem 3D follow-up developed by 3D Realms, but it was later sold to Monolith after they realized they had no resources to finish all the games they had in development. I don't know what happened during that time, but the results were fucking spectacular. You get into the shoes of Caleb, some kind of undead cowboy and former minion of a Cthulonian deity in a dystopic 20's setting. The CD version came with some incredibly spooky Red Book Audio tracks, but in case you wanted to play without the disc, you could install it in your HDD with the (immensely gross) cutscenes and enjoy the also tremendous MIDI score instead. Can you imagine that nowadays?
The ambience was spectacular, mixing horror, black humour, and hundreds of geeky references. It was also the game that outgibbed Soldier of Fortune long before SOF was even an idea. Caleb could kill a cultist, blow it to pieces with dynamite and then jump on the remains (oh, the squishy sounds) until they disappeared in a pool of blood. Or rip some mime's head with your Tommy gun and then play soccer with it while humming Strangers in the Night. Did I mention that every weapon had secondary fire modes? And that most enemies could die in more than three ways? You could gun them down, set them alight, made them explode or even suck up their "vital energy" with the voodoo doll. You know, all that stuff that no developer would dare to implement these days. And the deathmatch mode was fucking brutal, with Jace Hall taunting through the speakers after every kill. Blood is easily the most impressive Build game ever made, and a goddamned classic that was followed by an unfortunate sequel about as enjoyable as a smegma popsicle.
Videos:
First level
The Temple
The Haunting+Super Secret
Homages (there is a fuckton of them, believe me)
BONUS: Soundtrack!
Realms of the Haunting (1997)
Holy crap, man. That game. That fucking game. Although more of an action adventure than a straight up FPS, ROTH was so fucking impressive that deserves its own place here. Unlike other FMV-heavy "multimedia games" of the era, this unique multi-disc title developed by Gremlin was all about the gameplay, which was hard as fucking nails. Plot excerpt from Mobygames:
Unfortunately the system requirements were quite hefty and I could only enjoy it several years after its release, missing part of the shock that came from its no longer detailed pseudo-3D graphics. Still, a classic that begs rediscovering.
Videos:
Let's Play part 1
Let's Play part 2
Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995)
Fucking wow is all I could say after taking Kyle Katarn's blaster for the first time and dispatching a dozen of stormtroopers at my cousin's house. Dark Forces was LucasArt's first FPS game when the company still had a reputation of making classics as if they were sausages, and although shadowed by Doom, it damn well deserves its own place here. The John Williams-esque dynamic music was terrific, the atmospheric effects of the Jedi Engine were something to behold, a vast repertory of then still somewhat obscure SW weapons, highly creative levels and puzzles, and the fact that the game had frikkin' thermal detonators and even blaster-bouncing walls (which could create all sorts of mayhem) made Dark Forces a must have for any Star Wars nut. And I was a huge one back them. A true gem that it's still the pinnacle of the series IMHO.
Videos:
Demo
Some cutscene+gameplay
Rise of the Triad (1995)
A relatively simple game that had much more innovations than most people remember. You are part of a UN commanded crack team sent to a remote island to investigate the activity of a bizarre, evil cult formed by monks with a penchant to explode into tiny bits of flesh. Akimbo drunk rocket launchers have that effect. Besides the dual gun idea, ROTT also featured intricate maps, a random level generator, a dog mode (woof), drug abuse (gotta love those shrooms) and enemies that would feign their death only to shoot at you when you gave them your back. Nothing that couldn't be taken care of with some napalm, tho. Seeing their corpses turn into charred, brittle skeletons was almost as fun as the ludicrous gibs, that would spray your screen with blood, guts, flying middle fingers and eyeballs. Also, Tom Hall, the man, the myth, the legend, served to model El Oscuro and provided the voice for your enemies. I still use the main theme (and the Apogee intro) as a ringtone.
Videos:
E1A1-E1A2+Intro
Cheats
Name your favourites now!
