Which Single Player FPS

[deleted]

Okay I can't decide which one should I get. I can only get one before Christmas. I don't feel like getting the demo's due to my slow connection, as well as a time constraint.

Okay here are the criteria.
Heavily involving plot think Half-Life.
Jumping Puzzles are bad.
Good Engine that can run well on a K6-2 500, with TNT2 16 meg video card, and 128 MB of Ram.
Intelligent AI.
A healthy mix of action and thinking.

I've managed to narrow it down to three.

Deus Ex. - Heard nothing but good things about it.

No one Lives Forever. - Old Man Murray said it was better than Half-Life

American McGee's Alice. - Probably the bottom of the pile. But I heard it was good.

So if any one has played them I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

[only human]

and the winner is:
NOLF, and it is better than half life, funny as hell, 007 like at times, but if you choose to, most missions you can get through Quake-style, great great story... sweet graphics that run fast on my 900mhz, 256MB, GF2(32mb)
oh and Dues Ex is nice too

[Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS]

NOLF: Fun for the first 5 hours or so, then it becomes fairly repetitive. They spent a lot of time allowing players to 'Thief' their way through the game, but blasting everything usually involves less loading and saving and thus takes a quarter of the time. There are lots of great moments though. The system requirements are actually fairly high. I had difficulty running it well on a p2 450 with 128 ram and a voodoo 3.

Deus Ex: Pretty much a wonder in every category. Fantastic flexibility in puzzle solving, neat cyberpunk weaponry, and a very immersive world. With the recently released MP patch, there really isn't a single negative about the game I can think of. It's not as pretty as Alice or other recent Quake 3 engine games.

Alice: If you've got a powerhouse system, it's a lot more fun than if you don't. It's fairly 'Tomb Raider'ish, but in a well crafted and twisted world. Lots of jumping puzzles, but you have a 'jump cursor' that lets you know where you'll land. Pretty lackluster enemy design. Not a lot of real adrenaline pumping moments.

I personally recommend Giants. It's system requirements are pretty insane, but if you can get it to run, it's probably going to be game of the year. You should do what I did and get all 4! At the very least, each game has a demo available (except Giants), so caveat emptor dude!

Jeff

[deleted]

Hmm looks like Im going to have to dl the demo for no one lives forever to verify that it work smoothly. I actually liked thief except for its crappy engine.

Giants I'll have to read up on that one.

Deus Ex or NOLF. I guess I'll get the demos.

Thanks.

[St Leo]

Have you ever played an "old" game called Jedi Knight?

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St. Leo
http://www.sidgames.com/hosted/ziggurat/
http://www.sidgames.com/forums/

[Par4]

Oh damn I've gotta go find Jedi knight I've totally forgotten about how badass those force powers are in multiplayer, and everyone knows using the light saber is the real mans weapon, with force jump and force speed or run or whatever. But I remember there was this grenade launcher thing that was badass....

[Zkribbler]

Not to mention using the lightsaber to deflect enemy laserbolts!

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Don't blame me--I voted for Gore and Buchanan.

[Par4]

it's too bad force light saber throw sucks so much, darth used it to cut down the catwalk in RotJ, it should at least be able to cut anyone in half with 1 shot. I think LST is only in mysteries of the sith tho

[Eternal]

Deus Ex also has a "light saber". It takes up quite a bit of space in the inventory but it's pretty cool to use. With combat strength on, you can take most humans out with one swipe.

[Coflek]

Light sabre is great in Deus Ex!!!

[The Mad Monk]

Have you tried System Shock 2?

Not only does it have an involved plot, it will scare the tar out you (not in the surprise-shock vein either--more in the creeping horror vein).

[Paul Hanson]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

[Alinestra Covelia]

quote: Originally posted by St Leo on 12-16-2000 02:42 AM Have you ever played an "old" game called Jedi Knight?

Yes, I have, and I can't believe how unfaithful it is to the series in retrospect. The biggest problem was the bosses. For a start, they all used lightsabers, and so the designers couldn't come up with a good way of preventing you from just shooting them. So they did the unforgivably lazy act of just saying "Well, guns just don't hurt 'em - use lightsabers instead."

Secondly, if you ever have been in a swordfight against somebody, you know that things you do NOT do include:
1. jumping around like a kangaroo
2. ducking and kneeling to parry blows
3. running around in a circle, rushing in to strike, and then run away. Rinse and repeat.

Yet this is the only way to fight and win in Jedi Knight. In real life, swordfights happen at close quarters, with many subtle strikes by both sides against different quadrants of the body, and many feints and blows and parries. This much I have learned from nine years of foil and epée fencing. Yet the very clumsy mechanics of JK means that in actual fact, swordfights come out a bit like jousting matches, with the player running away to make a run-by and then running away to repeat.

One Dark Jedi, Boc, even used the utterly contemptible Quake multiplayer tactic of constantly jumping and thereby avoiding attacks. If you're after pure gameplay, then I suppose you might argue this is acceptable (I don't, but you might). If however the game has any claim to adhere to reality or a franchise, as this game does, then this sort of complacent programming is unworthy. Those elegant Jedi don't do this in the Star Wars movies. Those gore-encrusted fraggers DO do this in Quake. Go figure.

Another problem with the bosses - they used Dark side powers, AND Light side powers. You, however, cannot. Not only is this mechanically speaking unfair to the player, it is also completely bankrupt when compared to the context of the Star Wars universe. On the subject of Dark Side powers, in multiplayer, they were all more or less useless. There's nothing that a DS power does that you couldn't do more quickly and effectively with a weapon (since they only cause damage... usually in a fairly showy and inefficient way), whereas LS powers are considerably more useful.

If you play as a Dark Jedi against a Light Jedi who has Force Absorb (one of the most overpowered force moves in the game) then you quite simply cannot use any force powers against him, except perhaps Force Throw.

Force Throw only works in certain areas, where the designers have decided to leave debris lying around. Much more interesting would have been the ability to create debris by, say, hacking at a wall or floor with your lightsaber. As it is, the multiplayer powers are heavily weighted towards the Light Side, so it's obvious that the game testers either missed this or just plain and simply didn't care.

The single player mode is pleasant enough and distracts you from the flaws in the game (except those idiot bosses). But all in all, I think it's quite an overrated game, and the likelihood of people who are not hardcore SW fans noticing this or even caring is minimal.

But at least they didn't get away with it in my household...

[AustralianJeremy]

Well, clearly not. Sounds like you hardly played it at all!

I'd be the first to agree that JK isn't the greatest light sabre simulation one can imagine, but remember it's pretty old. For 1997 it did a damn fine job of simulating the Star Wars universe and being a Jedi Knight. If the sword mechanics aren't much like real sword fighting, then that's unfortunate, but it's still a pretty good attempt. And an excellent game to play. It deserved all the success it got, IMHO.

[JC Denton]

I don't even know ...both games are so good
I would suggest Deus Ex if u have a lot of free time cuz it's a hell of a long game, it's hard and it takes a lot of time to figure out how to get to the end of the mission (u know like bypassing guards, patrolling bots and cameras)
And the engine is not as fast as the NOLF's one but that's probably mainly because most of the time you will find yourself in the middle of big cities
NOLF's engine is much more colorful (as opposed to Deus Ex's apocalyptic future) but it's set in a completely different world (more of a 60's-spy-movie style) and it's kinda easier to play
I felt like it's a mix of Deus Ex and a little bit Quake III
And by the way - Deus Ex has some RPG elements so if you want to consider that it's a nice bonus
[This message has been edited by JC Denton (edited December 27, 2000).]