http://store.steampowered.com/app/358190/Blake_Stone_Aliens_of_Gold/
https://www.gog.com/game/blake_stone_aliens_of_gold
While I was waiting for the expansion, this is one of the games that I’ve been playing.
This is a old game published by Apogee (nowadays know as 3D Realms), and it uses the same engine as Wolfenstein 3D. I would say that this game is quite obscure, especially because when it was released, Doom was released one week later with a new updated engine.
It’s a pretty straightfoward Wolfenstein clone at first glance, you have one ammo that counts for all weapons, their power is more about their fire rate, and the levels are only corridors and mazes. Although, there’s some additions and differences apart from being a sci-fi version of James Bond shooting goofy monsters and some guys instead of shooting nazis:
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Instead of a knife, your starting weapon is a weak gun (although, it can one-shot the weaker guys sometimes) that don’t consume ammo, but have a recharge rate and does not alert other enemies on the map. Not much, but better than a knife I should say myself.
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You can return to previously beaten levels, and they are left in the same way you left them. With the enemies you killed dead, and only the items/enemies you didn’t picked/killed still there.
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Some of the scientists that wander around can be NPC informants instead of enemies. They give you generic tips and even ammo and food tokens (used to recover health on vending machines) if you talk to them.
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There’s a map, one thing that Wolfenstein lacked.
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There’s a grenade launcher type of weapon, 'nuff said.
Pros:
- All the pros Wolfenstein 3D had, plus the good additions.
Cons:
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It still uses some outdated concepts. Like a life system even though you can save anywhere, and a score system.
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Informants can get in your way sometimes. Even though (as far as I’m aware) the only consequence of killing them is a detraction to your score, that’s still a flaw, especially if the consequence was something more harsh like a bad ending. Also, trying to identify friend from foe scientists can be frustrating sometimes.
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High Energy Plasma Aliens are a pain. They are rare, they die easily and you can dodge their projectiles, but the deal a lot of damage and they are more common in some levels with small rooms that have indestructible generators that spawn them INFINITELY.
In conclusion, it’s a good game despite it’s flaws. Recomended for the retrogamers out there looking for a good FPS to play.