Recent reviews by Tovarisch AleKK

To think, almost 300 hours was wasted on this game...

Killing Floor was one of the most infuriating and unrewarding games i've ever played. It is bugged, unfair, repetitive, poorly balanced, and just waits for a right moment to ruin any fun you might've had. And the worst thing about it, is that it lets you have your fun for a while, until it randomly decides you've had enough, and it all goes downhill from there

Starting with graphics and perfomance. This game was spectacularly unoptimised, which is especially strange considering it's running on 2004 engine. I can only smirk seeing it in "Top Games for Weak PCs" lists, because my PC was far from modern (~2009 rig, in fact), but i had to set graphics options to minimum just to get 30 FPS. Image looks cartoony and poorly detailed, no fancy shaders, it's basically 2003-looking game, which makes me wonder what's there to hinder performance so hard. For the record, more modern and visually-impressive games like Portal 2 and UT3 ran perfectly on this same PC. It is also pretty unstable. Server crashes, sometimes game crashes, AI bugs, Zeds stuck in walls, sometimes textures break

Gameplay is unfair and repetitive, players had to climb learning curve not to master it, but just to start playing. Nothing in the game will tell you you'll need to utilize a very specific tactics to kill Fleshpounds, so noobs have no choice but to die over-and-over until they decide to look-up for tutorials, which is how it was with me. Even then, this game is hardcore, and not in a good sense. Literally everything can ruin your match, even little Crawler who managed to get into your camping spot unnoticed. Minor distraction leads to bigger Zeds breaking your line-of-defence, chaos ensues, "Your Squad Was Wiped Out"

Balance here is rather strange, if not poor. Some weapons just don't justify their price tag or weight. Personally, i never played with AK-47, because it was too weak for its price, better just save some for FAL. Ironically, the best weapons are behind paywall. This game isn't shy of using artificial difficulty, applying damage resistance to specific Zeds, making some perks useless against them. Furthermore the difficulty balance is extremely precise, meaning that everyone in your squad has to be at least decent player, or "Your Squad Was Wiped Out" is inevitable. Considering very limited 6-player slots, it makes it very hard to find a good squad. Good squad won't help you much, though, as there are still unexpected situations, like aforementioned Crawlers, or Zeds spawning in most inconvenient places possible. As said earlier, this game just waits the right moment to ruin your fun.

On top of that, it is very repetative. I don't think i've seen game less replayable game than that. Don't lie to yourself, every round undergoes the same scenario: squad runs for that only good choke point on the map, buys the same good weapons, and hopes nothing unxepected will happen, like noobs asking for dosh or Fleshpounds suddenly breaking line of defence. DLC weapons are the only ones that can spice-up gameplay a little, other than that it's the same loadout for every perk, sometimes changing depending on map you're playing. Players had to invest tens of hours just grinding experience for perks that may be not that useful in the end. Commando and Berserker require a very specific play-style, Medic and Demolitionist are hard to level-up playing solo, and Support require hours of welding to get to level 6, while Sharpshooter is considered the "pro-perk" and is usually picked first, and FireBug annihilates through hordes of Zeds, killing even Patriarch in seconds

This game constantly deceive you, giving an impression of fun game, only to ruin it with harsh reality of boring gameplay and poor optimisation. It deceives you so good, it took me almost 300 hours to realise it. There are some good sides though, like all those "dosh jokes" and "insult players", but this aspect became old really fast. It also had some really sick soundtrack, which alas, isn't very memorable, as all the tracks are pretty much the same genre, making them hardly distinguishable. Other than than, it really is one broken and unoptimised piece of software. Even then, i can't help but call it "special". It was so bad, in fact, that it changed my perception of video games, probably for the best, thankfully. I can't stay on the same game for long anymore, and i watch YouTube videos with scepticism now, as it made me realise that watching games on YT really isn't the same as playing it yourself, and YT videos were pretty much the thing that got me interested in the first place. Sadly, it was another well-put deception. At least, i got it for free...

Not exactly a review, just an opinion, a way to "cement" my impressions and experience

It all started when this game became free-for-a-day on its 20th anniversary. I always wanted to play this cult-classic, so getting it was a no-brainer. Turned out, Unreal Gold wasn't much of a "game" for me, but rather an "experience". It was one of the greatest videogame experiences i've had: visuals and design, gameplay and engine capabilities - this game got pretty close to be called perfect, but still not without its downsides

First of all, this game has some really breathtaking visuals and atmosphere. Na Pali is one of the most beautiful worlds i've seen in videogames, which says a lot for a 1998 game. 20 years later, Na Pali still look good as ever. Carefully crafted design of enemies, weaponry, and environment make this game very stylish and distinctive, and completed with unique atmosphere and ambience, it makes Unreal remarkably believable and memorable. You won't forget these landscapes anytime soon. Not much in the terms of story-telling though, but it gives us the sense of purpose and direction, and diaries of deceased Na Pali visitors add a bit to its atmosphere

Soundtrack, without a doubt, is one of the greatest i've heard in videogames. Being written by demoscene veterans, there's just no tracks that sounded "bad" or "annoying", every track is unique and pleasant to listen, making it extremely memorable. Being very atmospheric, Unreal soundtrack greatly complements to the visuals and design, while visuals complement to the soundtrack, making them both even more memorable

Unreal Engine was one of the most capable engines of its time, and games like Unreal Tournament and Deus Ex would only prove it. Not many engines in 90's could do stuff like mirrors or portals, not to mention enemies' advanced AI (that got a lot of praise in 1998), which made combat engaging and dynamic. Unreal Engine was also easy to mod, and everyone could try to make levels as good as original ones, if not better. Sadly, UnrealEd was rather quirky and laggy, which became an obstacle in the way of some modders, but didn't stop many others from trying their hand at making mappacks and mutators (which are still made to this day)

It may sound funny, but what i didn't like about this game was its combat aspect. There is not much enemy variety compared to other FPS of this time, and those that present mainly use projectile-based attacks (be it rockets, spikes, or energy balls). This game could use some better, more diverse enemies, as fighting 10 variants of the same Skaarj enemy we first fight in the mines may become repetative. At least its AI was keeping it from being annoying. Puzzles and secrets were nice though, rewarding players for being attentive, and never sticking-out like neon billboards

Another downside of Unreal Gold was its expansion pack: Return to Na Pali. It was noticeably weaker than original Unreal, and compared to it, its strong sides were weakened in RtNP and minuses were emphasized. For example, new guns aren't as interesting and useful as original Unreal guns, open spaces are more blank and lifeless, and new enemies are cheap and unoriginal. It retained believable atmosphere of Unreal, but level-design became simpler and less detailed. Though, combat was somewhat more engaging than in Unreal. High-tier enemies were more common, which made RtNP combat more interesting and dynamic. Other thing to note, that RtNP is more plot-driven that Unreal, with added voice-acting and plot progression. Intermission screens were a nice addition too, but sometimes not working properly

Unreal Gold also had a multiplayer, which could've become very popular, considering the variety of weaponry and game modes, and botmatches with pretty smart bots to play offline. However, multiplayer lacked balance and polish, and problematic net-code was an obstacle for online matches. These problems would be addressed in "Unreal: Tournament Edition" addon, which later became stand-alone arena FPS: Unreal Tournament

Even with some of its flaws, Unreal will always be one of the greatest games i've played, because of its unforgettable atmosphere and soundtrack. Epic Games have managed to create not only a game, but whole franchise that won't cease to amaze people for decades to come

Not exactly a review, just an opinion, a way to "cement" my impressions and experience

First of all, i want to emphasize that this is a free game, it wasn't a commercial product, and you can only get so much from a fan-made game. With that out of the way, i pretty much liked it. I can kinda see why many people didn't like it, it sure had some problems, but i don't see it as an excuse to call this game "bad" or "worthless". Remember, it is a free game
What i liked about this game, is its atmosphere and design, be it level design, sound, or visual. Thick and immersive atmosphere of depression and despair; music, ambience, design, everything is done right to set the perfect mood. I didn't expected it to scare me, but surprisingly it did, and it's not about those jump-scares (though, it really relies a bit too much on them, but at least it's not FNAF), it was about that atmosphere of depression. Story-telling and plot were also nice, but the main plot-twist became obvious in the middle of a game, and sometimes it tries into Silent Hill a bit too much
My complaints about this game are about technical side and gameplay. Melee combat is awkward and counter-intuitive, ADS doesn't work right (the worst i've seen, in fact), enemies don't make sounds when moving (making them more irritating than scary). Sometimes game starts getting hard on ranged combat, forcing us to shoot enemies instead of running away from them (like in one of nightmare sequences with Faceless-es). Backtracking was kinda irritating too, but not too much. That being said, i like that Cry of Fear looks and feels almost like Source games, but it is still good ol' GoldSrc under the hood, pretty impressive overall. Visual effects, models and ambient sounds were good, weapons' animations and sounds felt powerful and impactful; though, character models and animations were a bit rough, and voice-acting wasn't very professional (though not terrible, and Simon's "Why? WHY?!" line still amuses me)
I didn't completed the game all the way, i got through main campaign and tried to beat Doctor's side-campaign... Let's just say that it emphasizes every problem CoF has, without compensating it with positive sides. In fact, relying on combat really ruins the horror atmosphere, and this game would only profit without all these collectibles and difficult challenges, as playing this game for too long and too hard may worn-out its welcome. By the way, i got the best ending on my first run, much to my surprise
It may have been weak if it was a commercial product, but it was a fan-made game, made by fans for fans, and in that regard it was really impressive project, despite its (sometimes pretty obvious) problems. Can't say about genuine horror-lovers, but Half-Life fans would be glad that this engine is still alive and kicking