Lets talk or play... Breathless

[motorollin]

Yep, I loved Breathless too. I'm going to flaut your rules about comparing with Doom though. Yes Breathless was a very different game: techno-action rather than horror, so had a totally different atmosphere. But I never thought it would run on my 040 A1200 after trying Doom and finding it unplayable and ugly.

Nonetheless I took a chance and bought the floppy version of Breathless in a sale, and I was totally blown away. Great graphics, amazing huge levels, smooth movement in full screen, and proper 3D with looking!!! Breathless was one of the few games I played all the way through as I was totally gripped by it.

As I mentioned in the AGA thread, the only think that disappointed me about Breathless was that all the enemies were robots. Robots destroying other robots doesn't quite have the same atmosphere as humans killing aliens/demons/other humans I wonder if anybody could mod Breathless to change the enemy graphics?

Sorry for the Doom comparison, but I think it was necessary in demonstrating the technical achievement of Breathless.

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moto

[motorollin]

well, okay I wanted to avoid the "wah wah doom killed the amiga" garbage. So you are okay mate.

I think that Breathless quite clearly proved that the Amiga was capable of its own Doom. So I don't think Doom killed the Amiga at all.

And I agree, the graphics are gorgeous. Very crisp and sharp, which is an area where AB3D and Gloom definately had room to improve, great as those are.

I completely agree, the graphics in Gloom are terrible. Though it was fairly fun to play for a little while, due to its speed. Breathless wasn't as fast IIRC, but it didn't need to be; I remember it being more a creeping around game rather than a running-around-making-crowds-of-skinheads-explode game

The music is amazing too. The game really reminds of the Terminator movies.

IIRC I played without music. I'll have to dig out my copy of Breathless and reinstall it on my A1200

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moto

[motorollin]

The thing with Gloom is.. its basically a 2D shooter like Chaos Engine, but in 3D. Its fun, but its a straight up blaster (with lots of guts).

Agreed. It's basically a different type of game, and the resemblance in 3D effect is purely cosmetic

And yeah, you're right. You can dash in Breathless but you really need to take it slow, get the drop on the enemies a few at a time, and avoid getting cornered.
I love that they'll come after you too, if you bail. No mercy from the robot overlords

Yeah! Robots have no fear of death

[motorollin]

We could use a few SA-style Let's play-threads. I was thinking about making one about Genetic Species.

Unfortunately I never got Genetic Species to run at a reasonable speed/quality, even on an 060+RTG, which was a shame as I'd read amazing things about the graphics in that game.

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moto

[motorollin]

When I had it installed on my old system, it didn't run too bad. Was playable in any event, but since I couldn't get sound to work, I ended up deleting it.

Ahh well, I'll have enough to keep me entertained with Breathless today

[motorollin]

It runs like a charm under UAE. :p

Blasphemy!!! :lol:

[motorollin]

Well, if I'm to do a Let's play-thread, I want video clips and screenshots!

There are some nice videos on YouTube

[motorollin]

Im going to be a party pooper here and say that I wasnt particularly keen on Breathless. The graphics where ok, but there was very little color variation. It was basically grey and yellow.

Fair point. As for the gameplay, I don't remember Breathless being sterile as you say, but perhaps that's the Rose tinted specs talking. I'll have another go at it today and see what I think of it now.

[motorollin]

Well, I did say SA-style Let's play, didn't I?

Link for the ignorant masses

Oh right... I've never heard of that site before, which I guess qualifies me as a member of the ignorant masses

[motorollin]

PS: Genetic Species not running quick enough on 060 with RTS, I find that hard to believe, it run well on my amiga with just aga and 040.

I was lying!

[motorollin]

Well I've just tried Breathless on my 030 A1200 and unfortunately it wasn't particularly smooth

[motorollin]

Lying again, are you?

Clearly

Also, the definition of "smooth" has changed quite considerably the last 15 years.

True, but I think my memories of Breathless were from when I had an 060, so the game performed much better even in full screen with 1x1 pixels.

[motorollin]

Does the game have a 2x1 rendering mode - that would halve the complex calculations part of the ray casting...

It does, but then it won't be as pretty

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moto

[motorollin]

Set the window size to one or two steps below the max, and it should run pretty good on an 030. At least it does for me

If I recall correctly I played it on a blizz mk4 50mhz '030 and to look at it, it ran pretty well 1x1 in a step or 2 down from full screen, but really needed 2x1 for more accurate controls (the game seems to put gfx updates before input if I recall correctly).

You're both right - a couple of sizes below full screen is enough to get pretty smooth movement. The biggest problem is that controls are not really smooth enough, making it very difficult to aim. This makes it a bit annoying when you're trying to turn to fire at an enemy, and you can only shoot either side of it. I'll give it a try on 2x1 and see what effect that has on the controls.

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moto

[motorollin]

@runequester
Yup, it's a tough game alright I really wish mouse looking was implemented properly. Mouse look + WASD rocks

@Cammy
"Lets play" is a reasonable topic title IMO. Even if that "meme" annoys you, I think it's a bit unreasonable not to write it as the title of a thread suggesting that readers play a game...

Incidentally, I find the use of the word "meme" to refer to transitory Internet fads more annoying than these "memes" themselves

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moto