Archive for June, 2009

End Of Dragons Demo

By
Zombie_Plan
Published: June 29, 2009Posted in: Demos, ModsTags: , , , , , ,
End Of Dragons Demo

A while ago I hastily “reviewed” the mod Return Of Dragons while suffering from a headache of biblical proportions. I will be returning to that review to rewrite it but for now the demo for the prequel, End Of Dragons, has come out.

The game starts off with the Moon beasts being attacked by a group of Dark Knights, slaughtering everyone in their path. Unfortunately, everyone else is dead and you’re the last of your kind. The objective is to escape and find a place to rest and hibernate; pretty straightforward.

dark-knight-frightOne of the dangerous Dark Knights…wait what?

The game plays much like the previous instalment; you start off in a forest, weaving your way around killing…the same creatures as before. Your weapons are for the most part the same (your “projectile” weapons doesn’t shoot projectiles still), but the melee weapon is now a sword.
The first level is fairly simple, wander around, kill the enemies, and then  take the oddly futuristic and out of place looking elevator to the next level. On the second level, I find myself up against the Toxians from the Doctor Who game…what the hell!

The maps feature repetitive patterns and can be confusing at first, but after a little bit finding the way through becomes easy. Many of the corridors are identical and that does make things difficult at times, and the only way to get through is through trial and error.

End of Dragons is essentially a mod of it’s predecessor, a map mod of Return of Dragons with some sprite changes.

iD Software bought by Zenimax

By
Zombie_Plan
Published: June 27, 2009Posted in: NewsTags: , , , , , , , ,

idsoftware_logo It seems iD Software, the legendary company behind the original Wolfenstein games, has come under the ownership of Zenimax. Zenimax, who also owns Bethesda Softworks (who were responsible for Fallout 3), announced the acquisition of the company a couple of days ago.

You can read more about this here.

Is it lacking something?

By
Zombie_Plan
Published: June 26, 2009Posted in: MiscellaneousTags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Is it lacking something?

There are many exquisite mods, and as more get made, they seem to get better and better. However, there are a lot of games that seem to lack a little something. While they don’t always detract from the game, if they were fixed, the game would be that much better.

  • Bug fixes – Wolf4SDL was made with most bug fixes, like Darkone’s sprite fix, already implemented, so most sophisticated mods these days don’t need to worry about it. But many authors are still using the original DOS engine for it’s ease of use, and the problem is many don’t bother implementing the fixes. I’m not sure if this is because of lack of knowledge or lack of caring, but playing a game without the enemies floating just makes the experience that much more real.
  • Directional Sprites – I get really annoyed when I see “fence” sprites or similar, that move as the player changes their angle. A perfect example of which is DooM: Death Doesn’t Wait, where you enter a room to see the “walls” at a right angle to what they should be, making a truly ugly effect. Despite this, a lot of games neglect to use the code modification to fix it.
  • Misplaced Sprites – On the topic of sprites, It’s a real mood killer when you’re in some post apocalyptic  landscape fighting mutants or aliens, only to find a completely random sprite which doesn’t belong in the scene. This is usually a fault in the lack of
  • beta testing. – When someone releases a game with many changes to the code, but doesn’t get tested to the full capacity. The game gets downloaded, people play it, and it crashes on them, or weapons are unusable. There are so many things that can go wrong without decent running through of the games.

Do you have any gripes against things that people miss out when making their games, things you know would make the game better for so little effort? Let me know in the comments.

Anticipation

By
Zombie_Plan
Published: June 22, 2009Posted in: MiscellaneousTags: , , , , , ,
Anticipation

There are numerous Wolfenstein mods that have been announced that are visually amazing as far as the game can go, but still aren’t out yet. The waiting does nothing but build anticipation and hype at how great the game will be when it comes out. There are so many of these that I thought rather than the traditional review post, this week I’d list some of the games that I just can’t wait to come out.

  • Return To Destiny – Now, I’m one of the *very* few from the school of thought that End Of Destiny, while a superb game with a lot going for it, was very hyped up all the same, and I didn’t really get into it at the time. That said, another sequel in AReyeP’s series has been strongly suggested on their news page, so one can only hope that it goes through. Given all the innovations that have happened over the past couple of years with SDL and such, chances are the game will be the pinnacle of the series.
  • SonderKommando Revolt – The mod is not only being made by DoomJedi with mapping and coding from community members Dean, Ronwolf and Tricob (all talented in their own right), but the game looks stunning according to the latest screenshots on the DHW forums. The game has been in development for quite awhile, so the sooner it’s out, the sooner we can play it and start eagerly awaiting the two planned sequels.
  • Spear Of Destiny Reloaded – Codetech84 and Megabyte have wowed us in the past with games like the Haunted House Demo (which is to be reviewed), Wolfenstein Reloaded and Klooni. If this game is even a tiny bit as decent as those, we’ve got a great game on our hands. As usual, the screenshots only serve to make our mouths water.
  • WolfDX – We’ve played the demo, and if you haven’t, you really should (There is a download in the Wolf3D Dome). It is a really addictive game, so the full version should be even better.
  • Robotic Justice – Orb of Dilaaria was and still is one of the best games to come out of the Wolfenstein engine. Playing the game was so different that it was almost like the game couldn’t of possibly been built using the same engine. But it was and that just made it even more amazing. Adam Biser has declared that Robotic Justice, which will be based off of the Orb Of Dilaaria engine, is the last mod he really wants to make; though when he makes it, we can’t say. But if it uses the same engine, we know that it will be of Orb’s quality, or better.
  • Lair of the Mantis – Nothing has made me drool more than seeing this announced today. The mod is made by thejosh, creator of the exceptional Trench Warfare game, and god it’s amazing. The game looks literally nothing like Wolfenstein and boasts so many features that ACTUALLY work, and aren’t just “planned and never going to come”. Sniping from long distances (with working zoom), ambient characters (like birds flying through the sky), and what looks like pick pocketing enemies all feature in the preview video, which in itself just excites me further. If there’s one mod I cannot wait for, this is probably it.

This is just a small few games, but they all look promising. What Wolf3D games are you waiting for?

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