Obscure shooters thread

[MrFlibble]

On 8/29/2023 at 8:45 PM, magicsofa said:

Quiver, recently went back and played through the whole thing since it's freeware

I've never heard of the full game being officially released as freeware. Could you elaborate please?

 

13 hours ago, mrthejoshmon said:

in fact you could probably convince me this is Pie in The Sky

No, Angst runs on a different, and arguably more sophisticated engine called ACKNEX (later renamed to 3D GameStudio). ACKNEX itself evolved from an earlier, open source "3D" engine called ACK3D, which powers several pretty obscure games, including H.U.R.L. a.k.a. Slob Zone 3D (which is actually kinda good I think). Anyway, Angst is so bad that the ACKNEX dev team actually bashed it in their internal publication.

 

A while ago I actively tried to collect as much info about that engine as possible, and posted my findings in a VOGONS thread, so I won't repeat them here.

 

Interesting fact, it looks like Gore was originally intended to be built on the ACKNEX engine, although I don't know what they ended up with.

 

As for Pie in the Sky, I dabbled in that a bit too (here's a lengthy thread by someone who tried to catch 'em all). From my personal experience, a very well designed game is Chemical Warfare, it really pushes the engine to its limits and produces some rather realistic environments that look consistent.

[taufan99]

54 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

Interesting fact, it looks like Gore was originally intended to be built on the ACKNEX engine, although I don't know what they ended up with.

The Wikipedia page states that it uses the AMP Game Engine.

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

ACKNEX

Kind of a disgusting-sounding name, if you ask me. :S

 

Maybe it is just me, but it makes me think of acne...

[MrFlibble]

It was supposed to mean ACK Next Generation or simply ACK Next IIRC. In turn, ACK 3D stands for Animation Construction Kit 3D.

 

Also, since ACKNEX was a German development, the authors likely had a different idea of what's euphonic and perhaps this sounded cool to them.

[Rudolph]

Most likely. That reminds me of how I used to pronounce Deus Ex *Deux sexes* ("Two sexes") and how I have to put the emphasis on the *de* in *jeu de rôle* ("role-playing game") to avoid making it sound like *jeu drôle* ("funny game"). :P

 

And of course there is Ninja Gaiden:

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Rudolph

[Tetzlaff]

On 8/29/2023 at 3:00 PM, Azuris said:

Did you actually get it to run on modern Hardware/OS or did you just throw it onto an Machine with ~Win 98?

 

No, I played it 10 years ago on my old PC back then, probably Windows XP.

[SealSpace]

7 hours ago, MrFlibble said:

I've never heard of the full game being officially released as freeware. Could you elaborate please?

 

No, Angst runs on a different, and arguably more sophisticated engine called ACKNEX (later renamed to 3D GameStudio). ACKNEX itself evolved from an earlier, open source "3D" engine called ACK3D, which powers several pretty obscure games, including H.U.R.L. a.k.a. Slob Zone 3D (which is actually kinda good I think). Anyway, Angst is so bad that the ACKNEX dev team actually bashed it in their internal publication.

 

A while ago I actively tried to collect as much info about that engine as possible, and posted my findings in a VOGONS thread, so I won't repeat them here.

 

Interesting fact, it looks like Gore was originally intended to be built on the ACKNEX engine, although I don't know what they ended up with.

 

As for Pie in the Sky, I dabbled in that a bit too (here's a lengthy thread by someone who tried to catch 'em all). From my personal experience, a very well designed game is Chemical Warfare, it really pushes the engine to its limits and produces some rather realistic environments that look consistent.

Ah H.U.R.L. a seemingly cute colorful inoffensive game that's actually the worst Wolf3d-adjacent FPS game in my opinion.

 

Either unironically the worst or "so worst it's kinda interesting". 

[Rudolph]

17 minutes ago, SealSpace said:

H.U.R.L.

I somehow failed to notice that one. XD

[magicsofa]

7 hours ago, MrFlibble said:

I've never heard of the full game being officially released as freeware. Could you elaborate please?

 

(EDIT: Re: Quiver)

Ah, I guess it was not officially released... since it was the guy's only release I'm sure it will just float in the abandoned space forever.

Edited August 31, 2023 by magicsofa

[Dynamo]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:29 PM, Tetzlaff said:

Yes, Skout, probably one of the most obscure FPS I encountered, mostly unknown even here in Germany. I am actaully the person who uploaded all the screenshots on Mobygames!

That's amazing! I had never heard of this one before. Would you say it's worth putting up with the jank to play it? Or is it something best left as a curiosity?

[riktoi]

Tunguska Meteorite: Second Attempt (or in the original language, Тунгусский Метеорит: Вторая Попытка) is a very strange, extremely janky fps game that was supposedly planned for release in 2004, but never received a retail release. As the name suggests, it is inspired by the Tunguska event, which was a real event in Siberia, Russia in 1908 where a massive explosion occured. The explosion is believed to have been a meteorite exploding in the air, thus no impact crater exists.

 

The game itself is some kind of conspiracy/alien thing. I've not tried it myself, but have watched a short video on it. Screenshot:

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

https://archive.org/details/tungusskiy-meteorit

Edited August 31, 2023 by riktoi
Wording

[MrFlibble]

By the way. From what I can tell, there are a lot of obscure FPS games, many created with various construction kits like 3D GameStudio, FPS Creator and so on. Some were even sold commercially or as shareware. Has anyone ever tried to document the actually good ones, if they exist at all? In my previous post I mentioned the topic about Pie in the Sky's 3D Game Creation System (3DGCS -- which is the official name of the toolkit, not Pie in the Sky engine), which also links to a few sites, some with game ratings and downloads. But I'm unaware of anything similar for other FPS makers out there.

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

FPS Creator

Any French speakers here remember Mega Elite Recon Dubai Explosion? :P

 

Over a decade ago or so, a Belgian prankster managed to trick a fairly high-profile video game reviewing website into listing a deliberately bad FPS Creator game under a fake name ("Battle For Freedom") using fake screenshots and a made-up Romanian game studio. The prank was short-lived and the website wisely did not make a fuss about it, but the game itself was quite hilarious in a surreal/psychedelic kind of way.

 

Those were the days...

Edited August 31, 2023 by Rudolph

[Tetzlaff]

On 8/31/2023 at 8:24 PM, Dynamo said:

Would you say it's worth putting up with the jank to play it? Or is it something best left as a curiosity?

 

Only if you are really curious, or for historical research :) I remember Skout often was a bit of a chore to play with all the bugs and janky movement. But like I said, it has some nice scenarios and feels very late 1990s. Personally I love the FPS games from that era.

[Dynamo]

1 hour ago, Tetzlaff said:

 

Only if you are really curious, or for historical research :) I remember Skout often was a bit of a chore to play with all the bugs and janky movement. But like I said, it has some nice scenarios and feels very late 1990s. Personally I love the FPS games from that era.

Have you ever played Pyl(Dust)? A Polish game vaguely reminiscent of Quake, you might get a kick out of that one!

[Sonikkumania]

Has FEARS for Amiga been mentioned already? 

[taufan99]

On 9/6/2023 at 4:48 AM, Dynamo said:

Have you ever played Pyl(Dust)? A Polish game vaguely reminiscent of Quake, you might get a kick out of that one!

I'm convinced Pył plays far more like Half-Life to an extent than Quake.

 

Also, this just in, I found another 1995 Russian FPS game.

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by taufan99

[thestarrover]

SUBSTATION (1995) ATARI ST

 

 

[Sonikkumania]

Your mission is to prevent animal rights activists from breaking into your fur farm.

[Artman2004]

AlienX, a web game from 2001.

 

[Sonikkumania]

@Artman2004 I remember playing that thinking how cool it looks like with FPS rate of a flintlock, lol. How times change.

[Panzermann11]

9 hours ago, Sonikkumania said:

Your mission is to prevent animal rights activists from breaking into your fur farm.

Dat Doom shotgun SFX.

[Tetzlaff]

21 hours ago, Artman2004 said:

AlienX, a web game from 2001.

 

 

Watching the video leaves me confused: You pick up multiple blue keycards, every other room is containing another one? Are the levels full of blue doors, or do you need to pick up like 5 keycards before you can open a blue door?

[Hellektronic]

Dark Arena for Gameboy Advance

Back Track for PC and GBA

INCISION for PC

Hellbound for PC

Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death for PC

Last Rites for PC

The infamous Kiss: Psycho Circus: Nightmare Child for PC

That's about as obscure as I care to get, Pie in the Sky and Amiga fps games aren't worth the trouble.

[URROVA]

On 11/2/2023 at 1:26 PM, Artman2004 said:

AlienX, a web game from 2001.

 

Came to this thread to post that exact same game lol. I played that game when browsing for shockwave games in flashpoint.

[Tetzlaff]

21 minutes ago, Hellektronic said:

The infamous Kiss: Psycho Circus: Nightmare Child for PC
 

 

 

Why infamous? Kiss Psycho Circus is a really fun FPS with unique setting and weapons. One of the last oldschool FPS in a time where most other games tried to imitate Half-Life.

[Hellektronic]

Just now, Tetzlaff said:

Why infamous? Kiss Psycho Circus is a really fun FPS with unique setting and weapons. One of the last oldschool FPS in a time where most other games tried to imitate Half-Life.

Because the theme is pretty laughable for a FPS game, playing as a KISS cover band that became like magicians sent to save the universe. Pretty sure there are better people for such a job, lol.

[Tetzlaff]

They become avatars for the four elements. I think it's a cool story, at least more creative than playing another generic soldier or mercenary.

[Artman2004]

TECNO: The Base, a 2008 game where you shoot robots, solve puzzles, use mechs, and other stuff.

 

[Hellektronic]

6 hours ago, Tetzlaff said:

They become avatars for the four elements. I think it's a cool story, at least more creative than playing another generic soldier or mercenary.

But... that'd be like if an Aerosmith cover band became avatars of the elements and saved the multiverse just because Todd Mcfarlane made it so. It's pretty ridiculous, lol. Not that it seems like a bad game, and I'm sure it's mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it's still pretty funny. I'd play it just to try it though.