Tag Archives: first-person shooter

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: The Eidolon

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First-person shooters came about with Wolfenstein 3-D, right? Wrong! Not only did they not come about with Wolfenstein 3-D’s spiritual precursors in the Catacomb series, they date right back to the ’80s and Lucasfilm’s incredible work on Atari 8-bit.

The EidolonΒ uses the same fractal landscape engine as the company’s classicΒ Rescue on Fractalus,Β but here it’s used to create labyrinthine cave systems filled with terrifying monsters. Can you make it out alive, or will you become a dragon’s dinner? Only one way to find out!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget toΒ subscribe on YouTube for more!

Atari A to Z

Retro Select, Videos

Retro Select: Quake

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Quake is here! Again. Only this time around, it’s (re)releasing in a context where it actually feels fresh and interesting, rather than a technologically superior version of things we’ve seen before.

It’s fascinating quite how wellΒ QuakeΒ holds up today, particularly when compared to today’s takes on first-person shooters. Night Dive Studios’ new remaster of the game is incredibly respectful to the original while adding a bunch of conveniences that modern players would demand — and there’s a whole lot of game in there to enjoy, too.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget toΒ subscribe on YouTube for more!

Retro Select, Videos

Retro Select: TimeSplitters 2

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You know me, I’ll find any excuse to play TimeSplitters 2. So even though we looked at the PS2 version a while back, here’s the mostly identical Xbox version. Because I felt like playing it.

TimeSplitters 2Β is an amazing game that still feels just as fresh and enjoyable today as it did back in the early years of the 21st century. And in its Xbox and GameCube incarnations, you even had four controller ports to enjoy split-screen multiplayer to the max without the need for any extra hardware! Apart from controllers, obviously.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget toΒ subscribe on YouTube for more!

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Heretic

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It’s often a good idea to revisit games that were dismissed for one reason or another back when they were originally released; they’re often great experiences in their own right.

Raven Software’sΒ HereticΒ is a great example; while it didn’t exactly receive aΒ negativeΒ reception per se, it was considered to be little more than aΒ DoomΒ clone by many people, despite the innovations it added to the mix. Revisit it today, divorced of that original context, and you’ll find there’s lots to enjoy — and there are many more games like this out there!

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: TimeSplitters 2

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You asked for it, and I… was going to do it anyway, but here it is! TimeSplitters 2, one of the finest console first-person shooters ever created — and indeed one of my favourite games of all time.

TimeSplitters 2Β took everything that was good about the first game and provided more.Β Much, much more. We have a story mode that is much closer to what its spiritual predecessorsΒ GoldenEyeΒ andΒ Perfect DarkΒ provided on the Nintendo 64. We have a more structured single-player experience for the “arcade” mode. We have a wide variety of weird and wonderful challenges. And we have many, many,Β manyΒ characters to collect.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: TimeSplitters

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I love me some TimeSplitters. And I was in the mood for some TimeSplitters lately. So what better way to scratch that itch than to play some TimeSplitters?

The originalΒ TimeSplittersΒ was a PlayStation 2 launch game developed by ex-Rare employees who previously worked onΒ GoldenEyeΒ andΒ Perfect Dark — and it actually got some flak for being less narrative-focused than its spiritual predecessors. Today, however, its arcade-style, mechanics-centric action is blessed relief from the myriad open world, XP-grinding, 100-hour epics we have today, even outside the RPG genre. Just turn on, play, enjoy.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more. There’s more I want to talk about with regard toΒ TimeSplitters,Β so this will likely return to short;Play at some point in the near future!

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Ion Fury

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I’m not so hot on them these days, but back in the ’90s I absolutely loved first-person shooters — and for me their pinnacle of pure fun factor was Ken Silverman’s Build engine.

It was with some excitement, then, that I booted upΒ Ion Fury for the first time; this is the first Build engine game to be produced for about 20 years, and promised a somewhat different twist on the “enhanced retro” experience that is quite a popular aesthetic approach these days.

I was not disappointed. This game is like being back in the ’90s again. Join me for some foul-mouthed fun in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

Atari Collection 1, Evercade

Alien Brigade: The 7800’s Crown Jewel?

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We’re all about the Evercade here on MoeGamer, so where better to kick off our exploration of all the games available on this retro wonder-device than with the first game on the first cartridge in the library?

Alien BrigadeΒ is a rail shooter originally released for Atari 7800 in 1990. It’s regarded by many Atari 7800 enthusiasts as one of the best games on the system — and certainly one of the finest titles that is completely unique and exclusive to the 7800. It’s also quite hard to find a copy of these days, so in keeping with the Evercade’s unofficial mission to resurrect a variety of somewhat lesser-known retro titles for the modern collector, it’s entirely appropriate that this is where the whole library opens.

Is it actually any good, though? Well, read on.

Continue reading Alien Brigade: The 7800’s Crown Jewel? →

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Blake Stone – Aliens of Gold

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One of the reasons I wanted to introduce the short;Play series was to celebrate some of my favourites from yesteryear that don’t get talked about all that much.

Today we take a look atΒ Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold,Β a sci-fi first-person shooter running on an enhancedΒ Wolfenstein 3-D engine… and a game that has been mostly forgotten by history thanks to the fact that it came out a week before the legendaryΒ Doom.

I like this game a whole lot, and it provides a noticeably distinct experience from both its spiritual predecessor and id’s subsequent classic. Check out the video below to find out more — and don’t forget to subscribe over on YouTube while you’re at it!

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Infestation

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The early days of polygonal 3D gaming were gleefully experimental, even though the technology of the time wasn’t quite up to realising the grand vision of many creators.

InfestationΒ from Psygnosis is a particularly interesting example, as it provides a level of interactivity that we don’t tend to see even in a lot of modern games. It was certainly ambitious — though perhaps a little too obtuse for its own good at times.

Get an idea of what it’s all about from my own attempts to stumble about (and get lost in a ventilation system) in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

Atari A to Z