Duck and Cover

OK apart from the obvious - Shadowruns, Deus Ex, Syndicate Wars, System Shock, Blade Runner etc.

Am I missing anything good or is that all this pathetic industry could do for a genre that should fit gaming hand-in-glove? Some 10 y.o. FPSers, even older 32-bit console games, or even older point and click adventure games.

i guess thats all there is

There was an adventure game called Hell way back in the day, but I don't know where you'd find it or even if it would run. It's been so long I can't remember if it was even particularly good.

EDIT: http://www.oldgames.sk/en/game/hell-a-c ... -thriller/ there you go for info about it.

Yeah thanks, most of what I'm finding is old point and click adventures like this.

Played Dreamweb, not too bad. Funny how an old game like that can really nail atmosphere, while modern games have all these tech tools at their disposal and come up with anything better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6W1B_8lu2g

Ye oldie but a goodie is The Nomad Soul.

dreamweb is pretty darn dope
beneath a steel sky is great as well, freeware these days i think, runs on scummvm
also you mention syndicate wars but not syndicate, whats up with that, wars is pretty much shit compared to the original

but yeah cyberpunk videogames are few and far between, especially good ones. is blade runner any good? never played it for some reason

Gimp Mask wrote: also you mention syndicate wars but not syndicate, whats up with that, wars is pretty much shit compared to the original

Honestly, I haven't played them since release so memory is fuzzy.

Gimp Mask wrote: is blade runner any good? never played it for some reason

Yes, and it still stands pretty strong IMO. It nails the atmosphere and setting. Writing and VO is top fucking notch and that goes a long way. It has surprisingly a lot of C&C, rendered settings have some sustain. I dust of the CDs every once and a while and give it a whirl. Always fun to administer the Voight-Kampf test (cool thing IIRC they shuffle up who is a replicant and who isn't in subsequent playthroughs).

It's really embarrassing for contemporary games how well some of these old games do hold up. The graphics don't, and the point-and-click thing is a dead-end, but I think it's pretty damning that they surpass most recent games in every other area.

Cimmerian Nights wrote: It's really embarrassing for contemporary games how well some of these old games do hold up. The graphics don't, and the point-and-click thing is a dead-end, but I think it's pretty damning that they surpass most recent games in every other area.

I know what you mean - I've been playing Betrayal of Krondor a lot as of late, and despite the clunky interface, there's a feeling of quality and character lent to it by the sprites being pictures of actors and all the equipment art being hand-drawn.

Right on.
It seems to me like the high water mark in most genres was acheived 10 years ago in terms of gameplay/mechanics.

Jagged Alliance 2 for Squad based TB combat
Alpha Centauri for XXXX
Panzer General 2 for TB strategy
Thief/SS/Deus Ex Warren Spector's FPS Trifecta
Fallout for RPGs
Diablo for dungeon hacks

They're all ten years old, and they haven't been surpassed, worse yet, I don't see them even being used as a foundation for future innovation which is fucking sad.

Those were game that smashed the cookie cutter molds and opened new ground, and instead of trying to raise the bar and do something unique, most developers (Todd Howard) just use the crutch of phony gimmicky innovashuns in lieu of actual game design.


Fuck the gaming industry, they need to have another crash like what wiped the prolific old breed off like Microprose and SSI.


Time to thin the fucking herd my friends.

anyone mentioned Neuromancer yet?

Good call, have been playing this for a bit recently.
Reminds you that the whole genre owes as much to Nueromancer as anything. William Gibson should probably get royalties from Shadowrun.

shit there was something very similar based on Bladerunner that was a point and click adventure which was pretty good....I remember you started in your apartment which reminded me of the 5th element a lot. Frustrating to get pretty far and run out of time, but it was enjoyable, even if I did have to rely on a walkthrough for a couple of parts.

edit - I tried a google search but couldn't find the name - I'm 100% abandonia.com has it and they're all safe downloads so you can search there if you want.

edit edit - Rise of the Dragon

Yeah, I

These games aren't bad (haven't exactly aged well) but they have some decent atmosphere./writing and can generally be plowed through in a few hours.

I guess I'm just kind of flabergasted that the best games of this genre were all point and click adventures from 15 years ago that are all really derivative.