What I Played in 2001

This is a new series related to my previous attempts at transcribing my diary sessions to this blog format. I did a couple of those starting with The Beginning of the Millennium (2000-2001) and then the two single posts about Outcast played in 2001 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare played in 2011.

Since it’s a lot of work transcribing the diary sessions, I’ve decided to make this series instead with just a sentence or two for each game, along with a small gallery of six screenshots and the rating bar from my page with all the PC Games I’ve played. The screenshots will be my own unless stated otherwise.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Fallen

True to the original TV series and good use of Quake III engine. Nice wrecked star ship level. Played all three characters. Completed in 6 sessions. Screenshot from MobyGames.

Metal Gear Solid

Fascinating isometric stealth game with the infamous radar. Repeatedly frustrating. Long and wonderful cut scenes. Completed in 4 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Giants: Citizen Kabuto

Cool “Hawaiian” game with lots of action and RTS elements I had a hard time coping with. I cheated a lot where RTS was involved. Completed in 7 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Oni

Tekken meets Half-Life. Great battle animations, but too simplistic texturing and buildings. Tough too; I cheated. Completed in 4 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of The Templars

Great point-and-click 2D adventure with brilliant graphics. Likable protagonists and more accessible than their previous games. Completed in 5 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Half-Life: Blue Shift

Too short and a little frustrating at times. Also, the [original] Half-Life 3D engine began to show its age. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

Long adventure game in a 3D engine. Hard geometric puzzles in the most complicated in-game computer I had seen to date in 2001. Completed in 8 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

The Ward

Sci-fi adventure with a very serious tone. No voice-overs, but still atmospheric. Hard timer puzzles. Annoying blackjack sequence. Completed in 7 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Deus Ex

Exceptional FPS with unmatched freedom and riveting RPG elements. It was so good that I replayed it again in 2003 and I usually never do that. Completed in 10 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Grim Fandango

Long and spectacular. Just as excellent the story line, puzzles and characters were, just as lousy was the interface. Completed in 7 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Max Payne

Third person shooter with revolutionary photorealistic high resolution graphics and “bullet-time” action. Officious enemies, though. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Blade Runner

Very non-linear adventure game with many randomized elements. Wonderful full motion video and a brilliant story that worked. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Dark Forces II

Old 3D engine with excellent jump puzzles. The first five bosses were too easy, then the sixth was far too difficult. Nice full motion video cutscenes. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Soldier of Fortune

Long FPS with 26 hit zones on enemies. Great scripted sequences, but imbalanced and with pretty lousy textures. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Anachronox

Extremely long (took me 32 hours). Wonderfully detailed and populated worlds. Bugged, but too good to let it bother me. Great humor. Completed in 10 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Aliens versus Predator

Did all standard missions of Marine, Predator, then Alien. Genuinely scary, but very frustrating. Marine and Predator were pretty difficult. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Thief: The Dark Project

First person sneaker. Great puzzles and dark atmosphere. Level 9, “Return to Cathedral”, felt frustratingly overloaded. Completed in 5 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Frederik Pohl’s Gateway

Completed with 1551 out of 1600 points (didn’t get Becker home). Mixed text-and-picture. Excellent logical puzzles. Completed in 6 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

System Shock

Warren Spector’s groundbreaking immersive scary cyberpunk classic. Scarred by restrictive controls and an old 3D engine. Completed in 7 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Unreal

Groundbreaking in 1998 with its 16/32-bit 3D engine and synthesized module music. Very well-written enemy AI. Completed in 5 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Fable (Adventure)

Good graphics and voice-overs. Puzzles were often easy but the inventory grew too big. The ending was completely lame. Completed in 5 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Red Faction

Half-Life meets Total Recall. The mercenaries and bosses were hard. The rail driver that shot through walls was a wonderful toy. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Reah: Face The Unknown

Pretty, sort of The 7th Guest meets Rama, with good ambient music. A few puzzles were too ambiguous – one even needed Rain Man. Completed in 5 sessions.

Unreal: Return to Na Pali

Half the size and not as difficult but also not as atmospheric as the original either. Shame about the marines in level 8. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

In Cold Blood

Fantastic graphics and strong plot. Cumbersome controls. Gave me a big scare at one point. The Ward meets Metal Gear Solid – only better. Completed in 4 sessions.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter

Mindless slaughtering galore, but great fun. Impressive 3D engine. Enormous fields made room for 50+ enemies. Completed in one session. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Morpheus

A lot like The 7th Guest only on a deserted ship in the arctic. Nice with relaxed observation-type puzzles. Not too long. Completed in 4 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Mysteries of the Sith

Puzzles much more depending on force powers than in its predecessor. Same 3D engine. The sword was much too idle, though. Completed in one session. Screenshots from MobyGames.

The Curse of Monkey Island

Possibly the last mouse-controlled adventure game from LucasArts. Great cartoon-style graphics and hilarious dialogue. Completed in 4 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Thief II: The Metal Age

Better and more balanced levels than in the first game while most of the cutscenes were less impressive – especially the ending. Completed in 7 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Mean Streets

The first Tex Murphy game. Old and mouse-less, “RealSound” in internal speaker, and barely 256 color VGA. Okay – but tedious hover car trips. Completed in 3 sessions.

The Wheel of Time

Pretty textures and Unreal architecture, but most enemies were much too hard to kill. I had to cheat in the last three levels. Completed in 4 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror

Wonderful animation and point-and-click. I found it funnier and more varied than the first one, albeit not terribly long. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

The Gene Machine

Cartoon-style adventure game with a wonderfully snobbish English gentleman and his manservant Mossop. Simplistic, but good humor. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Project Eden

Sci-fi Tomb Raider with a squad of four. Complex and very satisfying puzzles. Combat system a bit weak. Completed in 6 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Exciting in spite of its oldskool graphics. Lively characters and a good plot. A few of the puzzles didn’t click with my mind. Completed in 5 sessions.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

An amalgamation of many other FPS. Marvelous Quake III engine graphics. Replayed mission 7 in 2004 without cheating. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery

Less puzzles but a little too much full motion video. Grace’s actor was great, but Gabriel was miscast. Intriguing werewolf plot. Completed in 5 sessions.

Omikron: The Nomad Soul

70% third person adventure and 30% FPS/beat’em up. Engrossing adventure part, but the dire action bits could have used an overhaul. Completed in 6 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

The Mystery of the Druids

Fine static graphics with point-and-click mouse interface, but some trial-and-error. Dialog trees often did not expire. Completed in 5 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Good original ideas like two realms, block flipping and impaling of vampires. Painful 3D camera and often tedious. Completed in 2 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Aliens versus Predator 2

Marine missions were okay, but especially the Predator and Alien missions were magnificent. Much better balanced than the first game in the series. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Riven: The Sequel to Myst

At the time unrivaled high resolution graphics and equally masterful sound effects. A little overwhelming with puzzles spread all over five islands. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.

Quake

A friend and I played many of its levels shortly after the release, but I first completed it properly in 2001. A classic FPS that finally ditched 2D sprites. Completed in 3 sessions. Screenshots from MobyGames.