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SaGa Frontier is an interesting SaGa series entry; it has all the usual gameplay mechanics on display but it chose a different direction for the story.

You start by choosing one of the eight main characters, each with their own unique story to experience (except Fuse, his involves experiencing other's stories from an outside perspective.)

You'll be visiting the same places and doing some of the same side quests as you do each character's story. This might become grating to some but I found it to be rather enjoyable as there are a few different recruitable character between each story. Once you've built up most of the recruits, the last few stories become a breeze thanks to NG+.

SaGa Frontier can be quite confusing at first as it tends to not give you much direction at all and this can be especially true depending on the character you choose. For example after Blue's opening cutscene you're dumped in the world and all you have is a general goal, you're left to explore and figure it out for yourself. If you're feeling a bit alienated by the game, your best bet is generally to try another character.

Another thing to be mindful of are the different races, Human, Monster, Mystic and Mec. Human is the most common and easy to use race, whereas the other races fight/work differently, which can be really fun once you know what you're doing but overwhelming when you're first getting into the game (so it might be best to avoid Asellus, Riki or T260G on your first playthrough). Monsters, for example, get their moveset by absorbing an enemy they've just defeated in battle, this can also cause them to transform and increase/decrease stats.

Personally I found a lot of enjoyment in SaGa Frontier and I believe the individual stories played a big part in that. Some were much better than others, but all around it was a great experience. I played through Romancing SaGa 3 prior to this and absolutely loved that, I wasn't expecting SaGa Frontier to reach as high as Romancing SaGa 3, but for me SaGa Frontier managed to top it. This game isn't going to be for everyone though as it does get repetitive at times.

So if you're looking for one cohesive and epic story, Romancing SaGa 3 is probably more for you but if you like the sound of multiple bite sized stories that you can consume at your own leisure, then definitely give SaGa Frontier a try. SaGa Frontier manages to give the player a taste of what the SaGa series is all about.

Zombie Freaks is an RGM title, which may be a turn off to some, but it's done well.

I'm currently at the half way mark, and the variety of enemies, environments and weapons, has been great. Wolves, rats, an array of different zombies and soldiers. As for weapons, you start with a knife and soon pick up a pistol. From there you will find a shotgun, uzi, revolver and an AK (although I haven't found that just yet). The art here is brilliant, right down to the textures, the detail is great.

The music fits nicely and is rather catchy, with an '80s synthwave like soundtrack, you can't go wrong. There are also some cheesy one liners that add a nice touch and thankfully, they're not over done.

The only real down side are the engine limitations. Depending on your system you may have a lot of difficulty with the mouse aim. There is a fix for this, but sadly it has not worked for me. But hey, this is only a minor issue as there are keyboard alternatives and the price is ridiculously low.

So if you're a fan of Wolf 3D type FPS titles, give this one a go!

This review might be a bit biased as I am a huge Chasm: The Rift fan, and Perilous Warp fills that void that Chasm left. If you are a fan of Chasm, I highly recommend this game!

The game clocked in at around 5 hours for me. My first playthrough was on hard, and between exploring/secret hunting and dying to encounters, there was plenty to keep me satisfied. On lower difficulties and cutting out exploration, the play time would be significantly lower, probably around the 2 hour mark.

The Chasm references are littered throughout the game, with classic weapons making appearances and a few original ones. But PW also takes inspiration from other titles like Doom 3 and Half-Life in regards to atmosphere, and Quake 2 in its movement mechanics, in particular strafe jumping.

The game does have its flaws, like very minor bugs, which the team is working hard to rectify. The more glaring issues are found in gunplay and enemies. Enemies use projectile based weapons but act more like hitscanners, as you are unable to dodge their attacks, especially the aliens wielding dual laser rifles.

The reaper weapon has rather odd behaviour, inconsistent dismemberment and gibbing enemies when the projectile misses completely. The shotgun feels like it misses more than it hits the mark, but the alt-fire feels great! The grenade launcher alt-fire acts as a rocket launcher which makes the standard fire redundant as the grenades don't travel far and aren't very bouncy.

The highlights by far, are the machinegun (minigun) and railgun. The railgun feels great and headshots will turn enemies into a pile of gibblets. The machinegun is reminiscent of the venom from RTCW, with the alt-fire unleashing bullets at a faster fire rate (which is very helpful on hard). The only downside to the machinegun is the weird windup, but it is certainly not a major issue.

There are plenty of secrets to keep you busy, and even one leading to an OP Chasm throwback weapon, which is really well hidden and has eluded me to this point.

Level design is great! There are some really nice open areas but taking inspiration from Doom 3, there are a lot of corridors, not a bad thing IMO. There is some verticality, but not a lot.

Also, try not to go in expecting a fast paced shooter, this is more on par with Doom 3.

Overall, Perilous Warp is a love letter to FPS titles of the '90s and early '00s. If you're a fan of old school shooters or Chasm, there are plenty of things to love and I highly recommend PW! The devs are very dedicated and really want to create a game that people enjoy, which is evident in the way they listen to feedback and do their best to get the game on track.

Multiplayer is planned down the line, as well as an SDK, which are two more reasons to pick this up and support some great indie devs!

Fast Paced Action

Hellbound's tag line is "A '90s FPS 30 Years Later", and as much as the visuals may not be '90s, the movement and gut punching guns say otherwise, especially the shotgun! The shotgun just... it sounds and feels so satisfying to use.

You play as Hellgore, and you've been resurrected by the humans as a weapon against the demons of hell. You are fed bits of the story on the loading screens, but it's nothing out of the ordinary for a '90s shooter. You're dropped straight into the first level and it doesn't take long for the action to start.

The music in Hellbound is great and really pumps, it goes perfectly with the pace and action of the game. Sadly though, it can get a bit repetitive after a while as the tracks are a little short.

Level design is another strong point for Hellbound, which is no surprise considering Davox of Ion Fury fame worked on these. The only downside with the levels is that they are sadly in short supply, but there is an endless mode for those that are interested.

Movement in Hellbound is really fast and fluid, making for a lot of fun combat. Strafe jumping is here and works nicely.

Weapons are limited to club, rifle, shotgun, minigun and rocket launcher. The shotgun however, is a triple barrel and the alt-fire rips through anything, it just feels so good to blow things away.

I suppose the question stands, is it worth the price? And in my opinion, yes it is. The campaign might be short, but there is always the endless mode. And with how satisfying the gunplay is, there is a lot of fun to be had with Hellbound.

I'm hoping for another episode or two down the road, with a few more weapons added to the roster, because these guys really nailed the gameplay and it definitely deserves more loving!

WRATH, a game being developed on the DarkPlaces engine. When people see this, they immediately jump to Quake, which is understandable, but the only thing they really have in common is the engine and some of the aesthetic.

Firstly, WRATH doesn't use strafe jump movement, it uses a different mechanic which a lot of Quake die hards are not happy about. But people need to realise, it shares the same engine, it was never meant to be a spiritual successor and the movement mechanics are bloody fun! Jumping around and dashing with the blade is a really unique approach to movement.

So far the full arsenal hasn't been released and a lot of tweaks are being made, but what we have is solid.

The levels are actually quite large, ranging from 45 minutes to an hour in length approximately, and with 15 levels in total it's going to be a decent sized campaign. So far the first hub world and it's levels are very reminiscent of Soul Reaver, an aesthetic that was common during the late '90s and early '00s, and it's nice to see it being used again here.

They've gone with an atmospheric soundtrack for WRATH and it's composed by... Andrew Hulshult! That's right, the one and only. He's quickly making a name for himself among these boomer shooters, and for a good reason.

So if you're a fan of the first Quake, and strafe jumping never phased you or you just love boomer shooters, this is definitely one you should jump on!

RAGE X Quake Engine

I'd overlooked this title in the past, thinking nothing of it. Just another '90s FPS, nothing special. Until recently when I saw someone talking about it, and how it was their favourite game. I decided to give it a proper look.

What I found was something that appeared to be RAGE if it were made in the '90s. Being a huge fan of RAGE, I decided to just go ahead and grab it. I ignored the warnings of waiting for a discount and the game not running on Windows 10.

I downloaded a widescreen patch which you can also use to adjust the FOV. Just don't go over 1920x1080 resolution, the widescreen patch is limited in maximum resolution. Also, you may need to tweak the FOV a bit, I settled with 0.15.

Here's a link to the patch: https://kunnollakeittoa.info/asm/#redline

Extract the files from the widescreen patch to the Redline directory and run RedlineConfig.exe to set it up. After that, just run the game from the redlinePatcher.exe. Unfortunately, you won't be able to run it through Steam this way.

The graphics aren't amazing for the time, but they certainly aren't the worst you will find. The game is however rather buggy, with issues popping up from time to time. Thankfully, levels are relatively short and you can easily restart, but I only ran in to two major issues where I had to restart a level.

When you do hear music, it doesn't last for long but it is very upbeat and heavy hitting, which is nice.

Voice acting can sound a bit cheesy at times, but that was something I was happy to overlook.

Gameplay overall is fun, but it can be rather punishing at times and then piss easy a few minutes later. It varies a fair bit, and sadly there is no difficulty selection.

The story is pretty basic, set in a post-apocalyptic future where gangs rule the wasteland. Your character wants to join one of these gangs, and an opportunity to do so finally arises for him.

I can't really say anything about multiplayer as I can't manage to get it working ATM. It does look like it'd be a lot of fun though with the ability to fly around with the melee weapon.

In the end, this offers more of that RAGE flair which RAGE 2 failed to deliver. It is a rather unpolished experience but if you're a fan of RAGE, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what was achieved here, back in 1999.

Initially bought this on GOG for $27 AUD and I still think it was worth every cent. I have since gifted it to a friend and bought it for myself on Steam.

This is up there with Ion Fury, Dusk, Amid Evil and Wrath, but it goes back further. Project Warlock more closely represents the Wolfenstein 3D era of FPS games.

The game includes weapon, spell and stat upgrades, as well as special abilities. Each weapon has two possible upgrades but you can only choose one per play through. Also, the abilities chosen can effect game play. All of these possibilities, in my opinion, make the game worthy of replaying. You could even focus on magic over weapons, if you prefer.

Overall, Project Warlock is a really solid throwback to old school titles like Blake Stone and Wolfenstein 3D. It has some cool graphical options to play around with, it's a decent length, and most importantly, it's a great game!

This pack contains some of the best FPS games to be released on the Wolfenstein 3D engine. With both Blake Stone games, Rise of the Triad and it's add on Extreme Rise of the Triad, you can't go wrong.

Highly recommended for fans of old school FPS!

After hearing many bad things about this remake, I was very hesitant. But after finally playing Dark War for the first time in late December, and enjoying the hell out of it, I decided it was time and I'm very glad I made that leap.

ROTT 2013 is a flawed but fun experience. If I hadn't played and loved the original so much, I probably wouldn't have had the patience to sit through the hiccups like getting stuck in geometry and the massive amounts of lag, especially when firing the shotgun.

The soundtrack has been remade with Andrew Hulshult at the helm, and damn does he rock the ♥♥♥♥ out of these tracks. They sound so damn good!

You can tell this release was a labour of love, and this lead to many other great things. In particular Dave Oshry with the New Bloods and Frederik Schreiber with 3DR and Slipgate.

So if you're a fan of ROTT and have a pretty high end comp (kinda necessary considering it's quite taxing on your resources), I highly recommend, but it definitely isn't for everyone.

I was hesitant when purchasing this, mainly because I'd never played Hexen, so I was a bit unsure of what to expect. What I got was an atmospheric shooter that feels like it's straight from the '90s.

It brings back fond memories of playing Quake on my mates computer back in 97.

The weapon line up is great, and I never tire of pinning an enemy to the wall with the 6th weapon (can't remember its name) or blowing up enemies with planets.

As for the episodes, each one has a different environment, and some of them can be really breath taking. The first level of episode 1 is a great example, and it only gets better.

Once again, New Bloods deliver!