Dealing with backlog: Two old shooters

Last month I decided to slowly start working on my backlog again. First up was the original Far Cry. I really liked Far Cry 3 and I loved Far Cry Primal, so I was hoping I would like the original too. The reviews on Steam were pretty divided between "This game has aged so badly omg don't buy it" and "I love this game! I played it when it was new and omg the memories ♥♥♥" and I wasn't sure which "faction" I'd end up in. Would I hate it or love it?

I played the game for a little over one hour before I gave up and placed myself in "This game has aged so badly omg don't buy it". I appreciate that the new Far Cry titles respect their heritage and I can see a lot of similarities between the new games and the original, however it really has aged badly. The first thing I noticed was the voice-acting. Every line was delivered completely flat and whoever voiced Jack Carver tried to make him sound like a very macho man. Think G.I Joe meets the Terminator. The second thing I noticed was that the "armour" I get is just a vest that can take about two hits and then it's gone. Character health is about 5 hits until dead. The third thing I noticed was that the sneak mechanics are so broken that I wonder why they even implemented them into the game. You know in the newer Far Cry if the crosshair tells you that the enemies are starting to notice you - you hide in the bushes or behind a large rock until the crosshair goes down? Doesn't work in the original. If the enemies spot you, you're spotted - no use hiding. You can't sneak up to enemies and silently take them out by choking them because Jack Carver seems about as skilled at sneaking as a great big bear, so the enemies will see you before you even get close enough to poke them. All the enemies carry AKs so your petty armour means absolutely nothing - I might as well not have had it. Also the enemies can shoot through trees (without harming the tree) while I cannot.

I got as far as the stranded navy ship base. Which isn't very far at all. There I tried to pick off the enemies from the distance (with an AK because sniper rifles either hadn't shown up yet or they weren't in this game), but the game is so old that you can't see very far into the distance. Mostly I was aiming at whatever black dots I could see against the sky. I got through the first part on the inside of the ship pretty well, but then whenever I got to the outside I got swamped no matter what tactic I tried. First I tried sneaking around but the weapons don't have silencers so sneaking isn't very good - also the enemies are hawk-eyed. Then I tried "fuck it guns blazing" and ofc that didn't work out. Then I tried to lure them into a tight passageway so they'd have to go at me one at a time, but every time I had to reload my weapon they gunned me down (I assume Carver's head is visible above any and all cover so that the enemies can shoot him either way). I tried learning from my deaths where the shots had come from and take out the enemies one by one that way, but there was always one more somewhere who hadn't shot at me last time who took me out this time as if they were neverending or just immortal and kept getting up again after I gunned them down.

Also there was no map whatsoever so I had to guess where I was going. There also didn't seem to be any levelling or experience gained so no way to improve upon the player character.

So I gave up.

~*~

The next old shooter was Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi from 2003. I bought it because vampires. However I couldn't complete it, mainly I think because it was too roguelike for me (without actually being a roguelike). The castle you play in is randomised every time you start a new game. That's fine. But the game drops you in there without any hint on what to do and how to do things. It's like here's a game go play it. So I did what I usually do. Explored the area. I got a nice sword and then I started picking up all the health packs in the courtyard thinking they were saved in my inventory because the game didn't say otherwise. Then discovered that they weren't a realised I had probably messed up already less than 15 minutes in. Got a quest from a half-dead priest. But there's no questlog and after running around the castle in as many directions as I could I had soon forgotten who I was supposed to bring to this half-dead guy so I could save him. Because the game throws like ten names at you in a moment without anything to really remember them by.

Then I realise that the sword only works on ghouls, not on vampires. I found a text about shadow vampires which said that only the crucifix could banish them so when I found a shadow vampire I held the cross up against it using it as I would a weapon. The shadow vampire recoiled from it but it still kept attacking and took half my health before it died from the cross. I came across a portal spewing ghouls but I couldn't figure out how to close it so I just ran past it. Then I found this old lady in a room with a coffin. I talk to her (though first I considered shooting her because she looked like a vampire and the game made no indication that she wasn't) and she asks me to bring her back to the courtyard where she will give me a revolver. Shiny! I need a better gun that this centuries old one-bullet-at-a-time thing. When I agree to help her the coffin lid flies open and I see a vampire lying in it staring at me. I equip a stake and try to stake him, but no matter how I do it it doesn't work. Vampire gets up and starts attacking me and I try to stab him with the stake. Doesn't work. I hit him with my sword until he stops moving and then try to stake him again. Doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?!??! Then the vampire glitches through a wall and disappears. I bring the old lady with me to the courtyard (so very happy that enemies don't respawn) and she gives me a revolver. But the only way still open to me is the wing I just came from. So I had to go back in there. I knew where there were enemies but at this point I had like 25/100 health and I knew I had used up all the health packs in that wing leading to the enemies. I virtually had no chance to survive any longer. I didn't want to start over. So I quit the game and gave up. One thing I specifically didn't like was the weapons wheel which was very clunky and not at all a practical way to change weapons mid-fight

The main thing that got me and made me make mistakes over and over was the game's complete lack of information. Which is what makes it sort of kind of roguelike in my book, but maybe it really just makes it old.