The Forgotten PC Games 05.15.08: Shooter Extravaganza

Posted by Chris Vicari on 05.15.2008

Are you in the mood for action-packed and riveting shooters to help you pass the time during the summer months? Here are three forgotten games which are some of the best around. Enjoy and have fun!

The thrill ride that is the First-Person Shooter genre has unleashed numerous classics and favorites onto our doorstep. The idea of running headfirst into battle with guns blazing is an opportunity that is very difficult to pass up. From the humble beginnings of Wolfenstein 3d and Doom, the FPS genre has been remolded and improved upon in all aspects. Gun battles have become more intense while the environments and storylines have grown more detailed and richer. Thankfully not all FPS games are created equal and there are so many different variations of the genre there is at least one game to appeal to nearly everyone. Here are three forgotten greats that are all so different from one another yet still provide some of the best gaming experiences money can buy.

PDAs, atmosphere and much, much more




Hailed as one of the greatest games ever created, System Shock 2, or SS2 for short, delivers an unprecedented scary atmosphere, intricate plot, and engrossing experience. Released in 1999 by Irrational Games and now-defunct Looking Glass Studios, developers of spiritual successor Bioshock and the Thief Series respectively, SS2 was and still is a massive gaming achievement. Winner of over a dozen awards, eight of which were Game of the Year, SS2 deserves to be one of the most coveted gems in any gamers' collection. If you've never had the privilege of playing SS2, you owe it to yourself to play this gaming classic.

With great pleasure I would also like to say that SS2 is currently free to download from various abandonware websites and it's completely legal. You can find SS2 in all of its glory at www.classic-pc-games.com.

Despite its supreme critical success however, SS2 failed to meet sales expectations potentially destroying any possibility of a direct sequel and making it a tad more unknown than it should be. These days SS2 is often overlooked purely due to its aging graphical content over anything else and that's a very sad thing to hear. Luckily SS2 has a very dedicated modding community and numerous graphical improvements have been introduced making the SS2 experience even better.

Two of the most famous mods to be released by the modding community are Rebirth and the Shock Texture Upgrade Project or SHTUP for short. Rebirth significantly increases the quality of npc models making them look more realistic while SHTUP makes the in-game textures much cleaner and crisper.

Here is a video which shows off what the mods can do with comparisons between SS2's graphics untouched and then altered.

Sorry, no funky music this time.- Movie created by ViridianGames

Direct Link for Rebirth - http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,8.0.html

Direct Link for SHTUP - http://shtup.home.att.net/

Enjoy!

Synopsis

System Shock 2 is a sequel to System Shock which was released back in 1994. The game is set in the year 2114 aboard the TriOptimum starship Von Braun and takes place 42 years after the events of the first game. The Von Braun is Earth's first ship capable of faster-than-light speed and is on its maiden voyage when something goes terribly wrong. The Von Braun along with its military escort, the Rickenbacker, become infested by an alien organism called The Many. Von Braun's onboard AI system called XERXES also becomes infected by this organism and goes haywire.

You play the role of an unnamed and amnesic soldier who awakens in a cryo-tube aboard the Von Braun five months into the voyage. With no recollection of what happened, the protagonist is dropped into this pressure situation and must escape from the ship. In the beginning you are contacted by Dr. Janice Polito, who is one of the few remaining survivors, and she aids you with information on how to escape.

What begins is one of the most atmospheric and scary games in existence. You must fight your way through mutants, rogue droids, and out-of-control computer AI systems while piecing together how everything happened by viewing ghostly apparitions and reading diary logs from long-dead co-workers. If you've played Bioshock at all, SS2 will feel very familiar to you because Bioshock adopted many of SS2's fine qualities nearly verbatim.

Unique for its time?

SS2 isn't your typical FPS since it incorporates multiple genres all under one roof. You have your typical FPS flair with guns and bludgeoning weapons, you can also use psychic powers to battle your enemies. SS2 also incorporates an inventory screen and the opportunity to customize your character any way you see fit using cyber-modules. Some devices throughout the ship can also be hacked, a fairly unique element for the time, allowing you to open locked containers, turn off security cameras or pay lower prices at various shops.

A fine example of combining FPS and RPG elements.

While the story itself is very intriguing and well-written, the way it is told is even better. As you make your way through the Von Braun trying to survive, you will find the diaries of your fallen co-workers. Here you will find out how the story unfolds and get an idea as to how everything went down. This method of story telling was very unique for its time and some games have even begun to use it such as Bioshock and Doom 3. There was nothing scarier than listening to a co-worker's voice for information and then out of no where a monster comes out and rips you a new one.

System Shock 2 is the definitive must-have title. Get it!

The Choices We Make



Hot off the heels of System Shock 2, Deus Ex is another reason why combining FPS and RPG elements works. Released in 2000 by Ion Storm Inc., Deus Ex is phenomenal in practically every way. Winner of several Game of the Year awards and earning Best PC Game of All Time by PC Zone in 2007, Deus Ex is yet another game worthy of its praise.

Deus Ex also has a vibrant modding community which is still active to this day and has produced several mods upgrading Deus Ex's graphical and gameplay content. The most famous is the High Definition Texture Pack which completely revamps the game's graphics engine. Unlike System Shock 2 however, Deus Ex is not free to download but it can be purchased from Direct2drive.com for only ten bucks.

Synopsis

Deus Ex is an action role-playing game set in a dystopian future where a lethal virus is spreading and the world is spiraling into chaos. A company by the name of VersaLife has concocted a cure for this deadly disease called Ambrosia but can only produce it in short supply and only administering it to people they deem as vital. Because of this, several terrorist organizations have formed and the United Nations creates the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO) to combat these groups.

You play the role of an UNATCO agent named JC Denton who is also a nanotechnologically augmented individual. The main plotline has Denton tracking down a leader of one of the terrorist groups for capturing a large shipment of the Ambrosia vaccine. Deus Ex also features various subplots with multiple endings letting you experience the game differently each time.

System Shock 2 clone?

Although it's fairly similar to SS2 since Deus Ex includes an inventory screen, weapon customization and the ability to augment your character's skills for completing objectives. What sets Deus Ex apart from many other games at the time is that player choice plays an integral role in the game. While the objectives may remain the same in certain areas, the player can opt to complete them through very different means. You can run in with guns blazing, try to coerce a guard to let you through or hack a security door to sneak your way in. It really is all up to you. Because of this freedom, you may miss other parts of the game but this allows Deus Ex's wonderful replayability to step right in. Each time you play the game it can be very different than before based on the choices you make. Linearity is very rare here.

How to proceed is completely up to you.

In all honesty, Deus Ex is absolutely phenomenal and is one of the best games to come out for the PC. Please buy it and experience it for yourself.

Run and Gun Mayhem



If you wish to relive the extremely fast-paced and gut-wrenching action of games like Doom, Blood and Painkiller than Serious Sam is definitely right for you. Released in 2001 by Croteam, Serious Sam is probably one of the most fast-paced and difficult games you will ever play. Earning Game of the Year in 2001 courtesy of Gamespot and Editor's Choice from IGN, Serious Sam along with its expansions and packs are perfect games for any action junkie.

Serious Sam also ships with full multiplayer support and cooperative play letting you go on a rampage with all your friends.

Synopsis

As the title depicts, you play the role of Sam "Serious" Stone who looks suspiciously like Duke Nukem but still distributes a fair amount of ass-kickery and clever one-liners to boot. There's nothing fancy about the plot since it really doesn't takes center stage here but basically you fight the forces of Overlord Notorious Mental who's an alien hellbent on destroying humanity.

This game is all about action and Serious Sam delivers more than you can possibly imagine. With dozens of enemies attacking you at once from every direction, you really have to be quick to survive the hardest difficult levels. Boss battles are even more intense because they are ridiculously huge, they want to kill you, and they send all of their minions on you as well. The enemies themselves are enjoyable and challenging to fight and there are so many different types of them as well.

Serious Sam puts many weapons in your disposal and they are all really fun to use. You get your usuals like the machine guns, rocket launchers and bombs, but then you also get awesome weapons like the cannon ball launcher, laser guns, flamethrowers and chainguns. Many times while playing this game I let loose maniacal cackles as I mowed down hundreds of enemies at one time.

Easier difficulty – Multiply what you see by … 10 and that's the hardest difficulty level- Video created by Games5522

Is Serious Sam really that tough?

You bet your ass. On the hardest difficult levels Serious Sam throws everything it has at you making it extremely difficult and challenging, but boatloads of fun at the same time. If you're in the mood for a rollercoaster ride of action, mayhem and destruction then definitely pick this game up now.