Wolfenstein 3D |
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| This is the award-winning game
that started the first-person shooter craze. The player takes the role
of an Allied prisoner of war in an escape attempt from a Nazi stronghold.
While the graphics are simple by today's standards, the playability remains
excellent. A limited number of powerups means that an SS guard sneaking
up behind you can end the game before you know it, so watch your back!
Download
the shareware version (836K). |
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Galactix |
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Anyone who's
played arcade games in the 80s will appreciate this one. A variation
of the "single ship battling horders of aliens" theme, Galactix takes
the player on a tour of the solar system. The aliens come in several
nasty varieties, but the player can pick up missiles, bombs and more
powerful lasers to blast them to space dust. There's no save feature,
so if you get greedy going after power-ups in an asteroid field, you
could find yourself pulverized and forced to start over.
Download
the shareware version (655K). |
Doom
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| This game represented a true
quantum leap in immersive gaming. The environment is truly impressive.
Walls can be any height and any angle, light sourcing means you can fight
in shadows or darkness, barrels explode and radioactive goo kills you.
There are more weapons and powerups, and more purely evil monsters.
Plus the "battling minions of Hell" theme makes for a genuinely frightening
experience. Truly a must have.
Download the shareware version (2393K). |
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Close Combat |
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This is one
of the most realistic tactical combat games I've ever played.
A recreation of the WWII Battle of Normandy, you command the Germans
or Americans. Rifle squads, heavy machine guns, tanks and mortars
all take part in the battles over varying terrain. The soldiers
react according to a complex AI model in which morale is a crucial factor.
You can download a demo version of Close Combat and its two sequels from Microsoft's Official Close Combat Page. |
Quake |
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| Quake enhanced the Doom experience
in many ways. The enemies and environment had a more 3D appearance,
and your character can jump, crouch and swim. An atmosphere of total
evel remains in the extrdimesnional dominion you explore, and of course
groovy new weapons like a nailgun and grenade launcher give you more strategic
ways to blow the hellspawn to bits.
You can download the original
Quake from id
Software's official Quake site. |
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Not so much
a sequel as a new generation of first-person shooters, in Quake 2 you
once again become a space marine on a last-ditch mission to a planet
of cyborgs to halt their invasion of Earth. Besides superb graphics
and atmosphere (your headset crackles with your side's radio transmissions),
Quake 2 provides unique mission-style play. Rather than simply cleaning
out monsters and finding the exit, you may have to return to areas several
times to accomplish numerous tasks.
You can download
the first mission at the Official
Quake 2 Page. |
Duke Nukem 3D |
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After several
years of the popularity of 3D first-person shooter games, folks began
to raise objections to the level of violence they depicted. Seemingly
as a response to this criticism, along came a game that made humorous
efforts to be as incorrect as possible. Boasting a plot ripped from
countless Z-grade movies, Duke Nukem 3d featured the eponymous, narcissistic
hero single-handedly bent on foiling an alien plot to enslave Earth's
women. An aresenal of mega-death weapons aids Duke in his quest, including
one that shrinks the baddies to spider size for stomping with his heavy
boots. During gameplay, the player is treated to Duke's commentary,
including many lines from the Evil
Dead trilogy.
You can still download the shareware version from many sites, including this one. |
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More to come! |
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