Currently Playing: Old Shooter Games

The image comprises of four different banners. [Top Left Banner] From the left, a large griffon, Minotaur and a werewolf are lunging to attack a man desperately shooting at them. To the right of the man is the text LEGENDARY. [Top Right] The background shows a burning building. Someone in a futuristic suit with a yellow glowing visor looks off to the right. It’s raining, and the text on the left of him reads Timeshift. [Bottom Left] On the left is the text Star Wars Dark Forces, surrounded by a white rectangle. On the right are three stormtroopers. The right and left are being shot, while the middle one is shooting. [Bottom Left] Left is a man who’s face obscured by darkness holds a futuristic gun glowing orange from an orb in the centre of a ring on it. The right of the image is completely black with the white text reading Singularity.

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As of late, I’ve been playing some old shooter games. Some I never had the chance to play before, while others I’m giving another play through on. For shooter games, I don’t enjoy as many of the new ones anymore, and I couldn’t really say why. But when I go back to older games, I still find them just as enjoyable as I did when I first played them.

I’d love to see some games be made that play like Dark Watch, The Suffering, or even Ghost Hunter. I don’t overly play multiplayer as usually the ones I enjoy end up losing support from the devs. for example, Garden Warfare and Exoprimal. Or maybe my taste in multiplayer is just terrible! Anyway this list is for anyone who is looking for an old cheap single-player game. Here are some of the games I’ve currently played!

Condemned: Criminal Origins

In a dilapidated building is a large person wearing an apron. it's dark besides a small lantern. In the top left is the health bar in the shape of a tube. — What you doing back there?

First on my list was Condemned: Criminal Origins, a survival-horror game where we play as Ethan Thomas. An agent who becomes falsely accused of the murder. Which leads him on a chase for the actual killer.

Now, the genuine appeal for me was hearing about some of the famous horror moment the game actually had, such as the mannequins and locker scenes. But besides that, I did find the combat enjoyable, if not repetitive. The story was interesting with the detective elements and the game looked to hold up even after all this time. If you wish to play it yourself, then click here.

TimeShift

A warp effect is on the screen to show the player he has shifted time. Two men are jumping down from a plane. they are wearing combat attire. — Wow, slow down and pause for a second. What do you two think you’re doing?

Man, if I could rewind time, I would. Funnily enough, you can in TimeShift. I came across this game while looking for old FPS with interesting small mechanics. And TimeShift was a common one to get mentioned on a lot of Reddit forums, I checked out. We get a suit that allows us to slow, pause, and rewind time as we fight through various levels. All in an attempt to fix a timeline from the main villain.

I was a little disappointed with the big bad never really making an appearance but did enjoy slowing down time and gunning down grunt men. TimeShift did have problems booting up on newer hardware, so I suggest using Steams discussion section to help sort it. You can find the game by clicking here.

Singularity

A dark sewer with a monster walking away to the left. A bright orange crystal is shown little ahead with it shooting a thread to two places. Our left hand is visible with the TMD bulbs glowing faintly. — This shot reminds me a little of Bioshock.

Following the same vein as TimeShift, I played Singularity again. Mainly, I’ll admit, for the time altering stuff. Although you don’t really get to shift time in the game, you can age/de-age objects and people. We play a soldier named Renko as he jumps between two timelines, all while wielding the TMD.

I loved the gameplay and how it uses the aging as a weapon. Gunplay is great and still holds up with a decent selection of guns to choose from. Fighting different enemies depending on which time period you afe in helps the game from becoming stagnant. However the story was a little boring for me honestly. But with gameplay like that, who needs a great story? Wanna go back in time, even for a little, and play it again? Then click here.

Legendary

A large head appearing in the distance with many rows of teeth. A little to the right is a building in a gothic style. — Oh what now!

Now, Legendary I’d say for me is a little of a hidden gem. And the reason is I never see many games do ancient mythology based creatures set appearing in the modern day. And various mythologies as well, not just one. While in Legendary, we get Werewolves, Nari, Fire Drakes, and Golems (Which are based on the Jewish defender).

The gameplay itself isn’t too bad as well. I’ll admit it’s not the best, but I wouldn’t say it was terrible either. The main issue was some of the difficulty spikes when I went up against the Minotaurs. They just felt like bullet sponges. All in all, Legendary isn’t a terrible game and so why not check it out for cheap by clicking here?

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

A hard to see grotesque face floating in the abyss. My character is holding a high tech alien like weapon in their hands. — I don’t even know what the hell that is.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, usually pops up when I go looking for anything Lovecraftian game related. And from what I played, I can partially see why. The atmosphere is excellent, its story draws you in, the gameplay is a little dated in some areas. Puzzle offered a fun challenge, and some of the enemy designs look cool. Even if it ends up being the same few models.

One thing I’m glad the game does is actually let you see the Old One Dagon in the game. I know usually in the Lovecraftian mythos, the creatures drive a man insane when looked at. But I really feel the player should get to see them. I highly suggest getting the unofficial patch, as Call of Cthulhu does have a tonne of bugs. One on the ship level very nearly stopped my whole play through. Link is here for anyone interested still.

STAR WARS: Dark Forces Remaster

My lower left hud shows multiple green bars that represent my shield. While the right counts my ammo and batter life. A droid is flying near me ready to attack and a storm trooper is approaching. — That Storm Trooper is “Far Far Away”.

Now, STAR WARS: Dark Forces is a remaster, but that’s just for the better resolution/texture updates. I might now have been born when classic games like Dark Forces, Quake, and Doom. However, as time goes on, I’ve found myself enjoying these style of games more than modern shooters. Mostly because they just seem simpler to me. From the maps, textures and layouts to the guns, it just feels simple.

Dark Forces hits that sweet spot for me. Fourteen missions to blast enemies through and a fun secrets to find in each level. Click here to head to the Steam page.

So what’s next?

I’m gonna be playing the BloodRayne games soon as I missed the chance to play them growing up. I’ve heard some good things about them and I still need to jump into the Legacy of Kain series. But following the vampire theme. I’ll finally get around to playing Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines too. I’ve really been wanting to play an undead in a more roleplaying setting. And I don’t mean like Divintiy Original Sin or any top down style of game. The last two games on the agenda are Quake 4 and the cult classic, Blood.

How about you? What’s next on your play list? Let me know in the comments!

About Author

Kyle McGrath

I’ve enjoyed video games for as long as I remember and I don’t think there isn’t a game I wouldn’t play. For reviews, I try my best to make them simple and easy to understand. With so many games released daily, I attempt to play them all.

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