Lets talk or play... Breathless

[koshman]

runequester, I like the idea of more people playing and sharing their thoughts etc. I'll start tonight and share my thoughts with you I never really got into Breathless before, because it really seems like all the other me too FPSs on Amiga - a decent engine and shallow gameplay, everything gray gray gray, no weapon displayed etc. Graphically it wasn't bad though quite slow, all in all it resembled Wolf3D more than ****. I'll give it another chance
 
OTOH I love AB3D, that's a truly great game.

[koshman]

So I played through the first 5 levels of Breathless yesterday. Almost finished the 6th level, but then it crashed... Not a bad game I must say, the actual experience is not that far off from the game-that-we-shall-not-mention. The graphics is not bad and it has more variety than I thought (besides the opening stage). I'm playing on 060 in 1x2 full screen and with mouse control it seems fluent to me (1x1 was playable, but mouse was a little jerky).
I found the game quite difficult in the beginning, but I once I got the rhythm it was actually quite simple to blast through the levels - mouse control and strafing help a lot.
The gripes - I want to see my weapon, it does a lot for the atmosphere. The level desing isn't great - a lot of huge empty rooms that don't make sense, but that's normal for a 1st gen FPS. I'd like more variety in enemies, sfx differing in volume (when I activate a switch the opening wall sounds like it's right behind my back even though it's on the other end of the map).
 
Overall it's not bad for what it is.
 
Still it's hard for me to understand why would anyone want to play 3D games on Amiga (especially AGA) and why would anyone want to play 1st generation FPS regardless of platform today (maybe with the expection of.... DOOM...). This is a genre that has really evolved and improved a lot.

[koshman]

I'll play some more next week (I'm leaving town for the New Year celebration tonight...). How many levels does the game have?
Also you mentioned something about getting access codes only every fifth level, but when I played I got them after every single level, what did you mean by that?
 
Btw, I'm desparately looking forward to Indivision MK2 shipping, because currently I'm using composite out -> VGA box and LCD and the output is pretty bad. A proper scan doubler will make using my A1200 much more enjoyable...
 
EDIT: you mentioned Blood, that was a great game. I also enjoy some older FPS games (not 1st gen though) like Outlaws, Dark Forces/Jedi Knight and Terminator:Future Shock - that one was awesome and brought us mouselook!

[koshman]

OK, I guess it must be the patched version - it's a WHDload version I downloaded somewhere.
 
I'm thinking whether I should wait for the Indivision or buy some other SD now. WB in 1024x768 would be nice, but I have other RTG equipped Amigas so it's not necessary, plus I'm afraid how it will work with my Lisa chip...
Btw, does you SD work on an LCD? That's a requirement for me + custom refresh rate (or at least fixed at 60Hz...).

[koshman]

@ Runequester:

Thanks for the link, I saw this device before, but didn't know how it performed in practice. It's good to know that you're happy with it. I like that it's external and universal, also the price isn't bad when compared with most Amiga scandoublers.

As for Genetic Species, it's probably one of the best looking FPSs on Amiga IMO. I only played a few levels and found the environments somewhat repetitive, but it' really amazing how fast it is considering how great it looks. I would like to see the engine render some outdoor levels, don't know if there are some, I will have to play it more.
I really like Nemac IV - it looks amazing, very sharp like it is higher res or something. I also find it enjoyable, it's highly underrated IMO.

@ Moto:

I know what you mean:-) I like playing mp3s and video on my Amigas just to see how far can I push them:-) But I prefer advanced demos to demonstrate Amiga's graphical capabilities as those have always been its strong point. I find it amusing that on my 060 the best running FPS as in fastest, most fluent, is Doom. Serkously. The most technically advanced then would be Quake - playable with RTG and OCed 060.

[koshman]

I played some more yesterday. One thing I like is the static backdrop image in outdoor sections - it's a small thing, but it really helps immersion. On the other hand - some of the levels are making me crazy - like the maze in lvl 8 where you are vulnerable and attacked from all 4 sides by those generic soldiers and apes (don't look like robots to me ) - it's little unfair, but adds challenge, true