Thanks to the codex i've closed another case filling my cabinet of unfinished titles. The game starts like a Sword & Sorcery story, but soon we realize we won't fight with the power of steel. Our longhaired alter ego Kyle
Reese to kill Terminator has a good old shotgun which will be always our friend and doesn't need any ammo to find. Of course it's not that easy when we start to encounter enemies and the system of covering which is essential to see the ending. We have a proto cover system with 2D graphics.
We can hide in the background waiting for the foe to give his last shot and before he hides feed him with a bullet. It's all about timing, knowing how much bullets will the enemy fire, plus later on we need to lookout for 2 or even 3 of them shooting in different patterns. From the other titles I can't remember anyone using something remotely similar. It's easy to learn, but can be frustrating for those who are impatient. Especially we realize that if we don't hit enemies at least once he will start mowing onward. Step by step, he is preparing his leg to kick us in the balls and we don't want that. Of course if there is a gap between Kyle and goblins/orcs/etc. we don't need to worry. The enemies are getting tougher and shoot more bullets "per round" but thankfully we will find people who will upgrade in a specified locations our main and only weapon. At the end we will shoot exploding bullets really fast, but some enemies will have them too. If you can shoot 2 times someone, it's all good and you are really good.
We've got also spider walking bombs, turrets that activate through pedestals, that only make matters more complicated. You can kill everyone with no repercussions, the slaves mostly died caught in the fire when I approached foes.
And of course the puzzles. Keycards for making stable platforms, keys, levitator which gives us a vertical boost when we can't jump high enough on a platform. This is the bread and butter of every level. We have also a couple of bomb types which can destroy doors, enemies and shield generators. Especially nasty is remote wasp one, which some troops use too. You can navigate and fly manually and then detonate in the desired place. Great fun!
Platforming is less convenient than in Flashback. In the latter you could just start running and Conrad would grab the first upper segment that he sees in front of him. Here, we need to do everything by ourselves, and remember that we won't stop at first moment we will stop running. Gaining momentum with the timed closing parts of levels isn't that easy when we have 2 separated screens to move through.
Final boss is really cool, not very difficult once you know the patterns of his attacks but you shouldn't underestimate him. The fireball / storm (really nasty when it's a couple of segments being electroshocked and you missed the safe spot) / melee with fast moving trio plus the two gargoyles in the upper part makes the whole encounter really good. You gain some health upgrades too, so if you are careful you shouldn't have a problem.
Graphics are really good. Something in between cartoon / grimdark with nice pixel art touch. Blizzard knew from the beginning how to make their games appealing. I liked the music, especially in the forest when it blended with the rainy weather. Levels are segmented and we have "main theme" for each and after a couple of elevators later we move on. It's similar to the Lost Vikings. Strange that there wasn't any sequel, because the game was really polished and didn't overstayed it's welcome. The number of levels, and constantly higher difficulty is perfect for me.
Finished Snes version. The Megadrive has changed Kyle's sprited character with some prerendered manboon. It looked so bad that I've quitted it after 5 minutes of playing.
That screen from the intro of . It looks like a metal cover ready for print on the Cd. Notice the Quake II helmet on lower right.
Those guys don't care if you point shotguns at them. Using the bombs is the only way to go.
The Forest of Onehand is probably most confusing and being dark in many places you can't miss the available sections.
The desert, here things are getting really tense and enemies are a lot tougher than before.
Oops, stepped on a turret trap. Quickly crouch and after avoiding the rain of bullets destroy it. After that we need bomb wasp to move on.
Final boss, ready for Kyle after lacking troops to send on us. As you can see both health bars this isn't a fair fight in the beginning, this isn't balanced fight.
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