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Ripper

Retro FPS thread - other games to play

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A question for you, gamers:

what are your favourite retro/retro-style FPS games to play excluding DOOM?

My favourites so far are:
-Duke Nukem 3D
-Shadow Warrior

So far I couldn't get into BLOOD or Quake

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For Me:

 

Quake

Duke Nukem

Hexen

 

Not as old but still old:

 

Red Faction

Area 51

Black

Halo

Pariah

Half Life

Bodycount

Blacksite

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Real retro games (pre-Windows '95):

  • Dune II
  • Command & Conquer
  • Space Quest III & IV
  • Duke Nukem 3D
  • Ultima Underworld
  • Secret of the Monkey Island
  • Day of the Tentacle
  • King's Quest V & VI (best Sierra game ever)
  • X-Wing
  • Tie Figher
  • Hero's Quest (later Quest for Glory)
  • Wing Commander (I through IV)
  • Dynablaster
  • WarCraft / WarCraft II

 

God almighty, I'm old !!

Edited by Apprentice : I'm really getting old, forgot WarCraft / WarCraft II

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  • Wolf3D
  • Spear of Destiny
  • Blake Stone Aliens of Gold
  • Blake Stone Planet Strike
  • Duke Nukem 3D
  • Shadow Warrior
  • Blood
  • Serious Sam (First and Second Encounter)

And of course...

  • Quake and the mission packs. (Quake II isn't too bad, either...)

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46 minutes ago, Apprentice said:

Real retro games (pre-Windows '95):

(...)

  • Secret of the Monkey Island
  • Day of the Tentacle

(...)


well, I don't exclude other genres from this thread.
Truth be told, I thoroughly enjoy the classic Monkey Island series :)

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In no particular order:

  • Quake 1-3
  • Unreal
  • DUSK
  • Amid Evil

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Proper retro games:

 

Quake

Quake 2

Duke Nukem 3D

Blood

Shadow Warrior

Heretic

Hexen

Strife

 

Modern retro style games:

 

Dusk

Amid Evil

Hedon

Ion Fury

Prodeus

Severed Steel*

Edited by hybridial : Corrected the name I got wrong

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3 hours ago, Ripper said:

So far I couldn't get into BLOOD

you really need to!

From the three great Build games, Blood is the one with the best custom mapsets.
I tried a lot of mapset ford Duke 3D and they pale in comparison to those made for Blood. I still not found any mapset nor for Duke3D nor for Shadow Warrior that reach the level of uniquenes of mapsets for Blood like Death Wish, Blood Lines, Bloody Pulp Fiction, French Meat or the recent Flesh Out.

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  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein (I mostly remember this one for its multiplayer)
  • Half Life + OpFor
  • Soldier of Fortune
  • Tokyo Wars

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1 hour ago, P41R47 said:

you really need to!

From the three great Build games, Blood is the one with the best custom mapsets.

(...)


judging from the popularity of this game's fan-made content, it might be worth playing.

What threw me off were the difficulty spikes in the shareware episode. (MARANA INFIRMUX!)
Mind you, I was playing through DOSBox just to try out the game before spending any money.

Although I admit - since the earliest levels I appreciate this game's art style and sound design \m/

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7 minutes ago, Ripper said:


judging from the popularity of this game's fan-made content, it might be worth playing.

What threw me off were the difficulty spikes in the shareware episode. (MARANA INFIRMUX!)
Mind you, I was playing through DOSBox just to try out the game before spending any money.

Although I admit - since the earliest levels I appreciate this game's art style and sound design \m/

Blood is no joke, even on easier difficulties its hard.
I don't recommend you to start on a high difficulty setting from the get go, you will never enjoy it that way.
Custom mapsets are even harder than the base game :/

Its a different playstyle than duke or shadow warrior or doom.
Blood is more peek and shoot than properly facing the enemies.
They usually come in packs and hitscanners are far deadlier than anything.

So once you know a little more of the gits while playing on lower difficulties, you will be able to enjoy more the higher ones.
;)

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Other than the Doom series, Blood and Quake 1/2/Arena are really cool and the ones i've been playing the most. I quite like the stuff based on the Q3 engine as well.

 

Medal Of Honor: Undergroud and Final Doom were my first contacts with the genre back in my PS1 days, and I've also been wanting to try Goldeneye/Perfect Dark out and i'll probably emulate those.

 

Duke 3D never clicked with me, i just am not too much into the style of it, and i didn't play it in my childhood so there's no nostalgia factor.

 

Edit: I've also played some Heretic recently! it's hella fun. Haven't tried Hexen yet but it also looks interesting, if not a bit too different from what i'm used to.

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It's not because it's 3D it's not retro.

I say Half-life in this case and of course, quake.

 

What about powerslave/exhumed too?

And kinda, RtCW?

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1 hour ago, RetroAkaMe said:

What about powerslave/exhumed too?

And kinda, RtCW?


what about those?

Can't really form an individual opinion on a product I haven't tried.
I assume you've had very fond memories of playing those games

More power to you

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Wolfenstein 3D + Spear of Destiny

Blake Stone

Duke Nukem 3D

Blood

Gloom

Rise of the Triad

Heretic

Hexen

Quake

Quake 2

Half-Life

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14 hours ago, Ripper said:

A question for you, gamers:

what are your favourite retro/retro-style FPS games to play excluding DOOM?
 

Mmm...  If I had to exclude DOOM then my favourite choice would be Blood, without a single doubt. Man! That is such a great game with some nice maps and a lot of awesome weapons (the Flare Gun, the Tesla Cannon and of course the TNT!)

 

Another great retro FPS for me is HeXen (playing it as The Fighter). Even though I consider it inferior to DOOM and Blood, I somehow find it special in a way I don't find other FPS games, well, special. I must say that HeXen is a game that for some reason I only enjoy playing it in let's say "special circumstances"

 

If I had to mention just ONE more classic FPS game, then that game would be Descent! A very unique FPS IMO, with awesome atmposphere and great music (music from maps 6 and 7, anyone?)

 

 

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Quake

Shadow Warrior

Dusk

I'm gonna try getting into Blood soon, maybe during November and try out any fan made maps for it.

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I like Wolf3D clones (Blake Stone, Corridor 7 and Nitemare 3D). I think they are very cute!
Heretic is also a favorite of mine.

Edited by Noiser

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21 hours ago, Ripper said:

A question for you, gamers:

what are your favourite retro/retro-style FPS games to play excluding DOOM?

My favourites so far are:
-Duke Nukem 3D
-Shadow Warrior

So far I couldn't get into BLOOD or Quake

 

In that case, the very first suggestion would be Ion Fury. It is modern build engine (EDuke32) game made by Duke3D modders and mappers. When compared to other build engine games, it's gameplay is closest to Shadow Warrior in terms of difficulty and weapon design, albeit more polished than SW in gameplay.

 

I won't recommend Dusk. While Dusk is a fantastic game, you might not like it if you didn't like Quake and Blood since those are Dusk's main inspiration.

 

Other than Ion Fury, I would recommend to check out the different Doom engine games (Heretic, Hexen, Strife) as well as following games:

  • Quake 2
  • Quake 3
  • Unreal 1 and Unreal Tournament series
  • Half-Life and its expansions (arguable if it should be called retro or not. For me, Half Life is the first "modern" FPS)
  • Red Faction (takes inspiration from Half Life)
  • Amid Evil
  • Prodeus
  • Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
  • Warlock

Upcoming games to look at:

  • Selaco
  • Supplice
  • Graven

 

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On 9/27/2021 at 5:11 AM, Ripper said:

A question for you, gamers:

what are your favourite retro/retro-style FPS games to play excluding DOOM?

My favourites so far are:
-Duke Nukem 3D
-Shadow Warrior

So far I couldn't get into BLOOD or Quake

 

Give Quake II a shot. It's got nothing to do with the first Quake (other than the Quad Damage and some similar insignias on boxes) and instead has a sci-fi military setting, similar to what Doom had in the UAC (minus the Demons). It's kind of like Starship Troopers, except that you're obviously alone. It also has a proper metal soundtrack, as opposed to the industrial and mostly atmospheric tracks by Trent Reznor. Quake 1 is the opposite, it's like Doom minus the sci-fi and only the Demons/gothic elements. Stick with it, or come back to it later. It's a great game with some iconic (and inventive weapons) and stellar level design. The Quake 1 expansion also has a kickass metal soundtrack as well, and has several Tech settings in a row then several gothic/demony settings, as opposed to base Quake doing one tech level in the beginning of the episode and then all gothic.

 

Half-Life (goes without saying) is also up there, but since that game to me feels like the natural progression from Quake II (which is a progression from Quake 1, and that from Doom II, etc.) I'd do Quake II first.

 

If you enjoy Duke Nukem's style of all out action/goofy fun then check out Rise of the Triad, which is anything BUT a serious game. It's a (sorta heavily modified) Wolf 3D clone that Apogee/3D Realms did after Blake Stone (which is a total Wolfenstein clone) but before Duke3D. It's got a great OST, multiple different characters to choose from, infinite bullets, and all sort of crazy powerups which I won't spoil here.

 

If you want a Doom clone, few define the name better than the Heretic series (or Quake 1 clone, which is what Hexen 2 is). It's basically Doom gameplay and engine with a few tweaks here and there (such as looking up/down, inventory items) and a medieval/fantasy setting. Like Doom, it still has you alone against the forces of Hell, with lots of lovely imagery of skulls and decapitations and big red winged things gibbing from a wand (pistol). Again, great ost and level design here, but imo not as timeless as Doom. But think of it as a paid mod and it's really good.

 

If you're a Star Wars fan then you must try Dark Forces, which began life as a Doom mod for Star Wars but became so much more. Kyle Katarn is as badass as Duke and has his own tale that evolves over that game and its sequels that is almost like his own SW trilogy. (In fact I consider it the real sequel trilogy, not that Disney garbage). Also, the sequels changed the name to Jedi Knight, so you eventually get to not only play some of the best FPS games of the 90s, but you get first-person and 3rd person lightsaber/force combat in a way which still hasn't really been surpassed. (Maybe Force Unleashed surpassed in the force department, but definitely not lightsaber dueling)

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23 hours ago, Ranger46 said:

For Me:

 

Quake

Duke Nukem

Hexen

 

Not as old but still old:

 

Red Faction

Area 51

Black

Halo

Pariah

Half Life

Bodycount

Blacksite

 

Halo on PC is so much better now that they fixed (after 20 years) all the issues the Gearbox port introduced. The experience in original graphics mode is now equivalent to what it was on Xbox.

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Also, if you do enjoy Half-Life, then there are several great early 00s shooters that took inspiration from or felt like a spiritual successor to Half-Life. Doom 3 is an obvious one, but also FEAR (which has Max Payne/Matrix-style bullet time slow-motion). The original Far Cry and Crysis by Crytek also felt to me like a torch-carrier of that classic PC shooter vibe. They don't really have as much to do with Half-Life's style of gameplay, but you definitely get the feeling that these are PC titles first, unlike some of the later entries in the Crysis series. They have a similar action/sci-fi/thriller setting as opposed to military shooters which were gaining in popularity during that time.

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5 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

 

In that case, the very first suggestion would be Ion Fury. It is modern build engine (EDuke32) game made by Duke3D modders and mappers. When compared to other build engine games, it's gameplay is closest to Shadow Warrior in terms of difficulty and weapon design, albeit more polished than SW in gameplay.

 

I won't recommend Dusk. While Dusk is a fantastic game, you might not like it if you didn't like Quake and Blood since those are Dusk's main inspiration.

(...)


Here's something interesting. I don't actually dislike Quake. I just forgot to finish my playthrough using Quakespasm.
Because of this I'm undecided in regards to that game.

I've been looking forward to trying out DUSK, however I have a 9-old netbook with an iGPU and a 32-bit CPU :)
Until I update my rig, I'll probably won't be able to enjoy the most recent PC games.

Thanks to DOOM mods I was able to play DOOsk, which simply whetted my appetite for the real deal
 

2 hours ago, QuaketallicA said:

Also, if you do enjoy Half-Life, then there are several great early 00s shooters that took inspiration from or felt like a spiritual successor to Half-Life. Doom 3 is an obvious one, but also FEAR (which has Max Payne/Matrix-style bullet time slow-motion). The original Far Cry and Crysis by Crytek also felt to me like a torch-carrier of that classic PC shooter vibe. They don't really have as much to do with Half-Life's style of gameplay, but you definitely get the feeling that these are PC titles first, unlike some of the later entries in the Crysis series. They have a similar action/sci-fi/thriller setting as opposed to military shooters which were gaining in popularity during that time.


After watching a video critique on FEAR series by Whitelight I'm actually curious about the game itself.
I remember playing through Crysis 2 on my PS3. I'll admit a controller doesn't yield itself as nicely as mouse and keyboard
when it comes to FPS games.

Spec Ops: The Line on the other hand - one of my favourite games I've ever played - is perfectly playable on consoles.

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5 hours ago, QuaketallicA said:

Also, if you do enjoy Half-Life, then there are several great early 00s shooters that took inspiration from or felt like a spiritual successor to Half-Life. Doom 3 is an obvious one, but also FEAR (which has Max Payne/Matrix-style bullet time slow-motion). The original Far Cry and Crysis by Crytek also felt to me like a torch-carrier of that classic PC shooter vibe. They don't really have as much to do with Half-Life's style of gameplay, but you definitely get the feeling that these are PC titles first, unlike some of the later entries in the Crysis series. They have a similar action/sci-fi/thriller setting as opposed to military shooters which were gaining in popularity during that time.

 

I have the FEAR trilogy, Crysis trilogy and Far Cry games but I haven't played them yet. I have a huge game backlog and tons of games yet still to play. The Far Cry series especially looked like top shooters.

6 hours ago, QuaketallicA said:

 

Halo on PC is so much better now that they fixed (after 20 years) all the issues the Gearbox port introduced. The experience in original graphics mode is now equivalent to what it was on Xbox.

 

I also haven't played Halo on pc yet, only Xbox original, I may look into it though in the future, I was going to pick up the Master Chief compilation anyway at some point anyway.

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F.E.A.R. (don't bother with continuations, they're going downhill)

Red Faction (again, don't bother with any parts except the first one)

Marathon (it's… let's say, has its charm ;-)

Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay

Aliens: Colonial Marines (lolsorry)

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On 9/28/2021 at 7:46 PM, QuaketallicA said:

Also, if you do enjoy Half-Life, then there are several great early 00s shooters that took inspiration from or felt like a spiritual successor to Half-Life. Doom 3 is an obvious one, but also FEAR (which has Max Payne/Matrix-style bullet time slow-motion). The original Far Cry and Crysis by Crytek also felt to me like a torch-carrier of that classic PC shooter vibe. They don't really have as much to do with Half-Life's style of gameplay mod apk, but you definitely get the feeling that these are PC titles first, unlike some of the later entries in the Crysis series. They have a similar action/sci-fi/thriller setting as opposed to military shooters which were gaining in popularity during that time.

Shooting games often have loud and deadly sounds, I usually choose games with soft sounds like farm games.

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On 9/27/2021 at 6:05 PM, Ripper said:


judging from the popularity of this game's fan-made content, it might be worth playing.

What threw me off were the difficulty spikes in the shareware episode. (MARANA INFIRMUX!)
Mind you, I was playing through DOSBox just to try out the game before spending any money.

Although I admit - since the earliest levels I appreciate this game's art style and sound design \m/

Btw, as you mention playing in DOSBox, the original Blood shipped with an insane bug where damage scaling is inverted after loading a save. Loading a game saved on easy will still have less monsters but with absolutely lethal attacks, whilst the hardest skill will give you gentle hordes. The middle skill is the only one that functions correctly in the game as released, although it's admittedly still fairly hard.

 

In terms of all-round raw fun out of the box, Blood is the best shooter of the 90s in my view.

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