Gunman Chronicles! I bought this game, got disgusted with it, threw out my copy, and then months later bought another one! This is how my mind works, cats.
Anyway, after giving it another go I found it to be a cheaply priced but still quite fun update of Half-Life. The first few levels are a bit slow going but the levels get better and better as you play.
In the final level you're running around a base filled with scientists and troops out to kill you and the base is falling down around you, flooding with water, and explosions and destruction are everywhere! It's a real adrenaline rush! A giant white worm monster is destroying the base and you have to escape. The scene where the worm smashes through a wall the size of the Hoover Dam will leave you breathless. There are other great levels were you encounter dinosaurs, drive tanks through alien deserts, modify weapons.
There's a hideously well done sequence where you come across a scientist squirming on the ground as he's being eaten alive by one of the creatures and he begs to be put out of his misery! And he says (and I replayed this part over and over), "I can feel it! Eating my heart! I want to diiie!" You couldn't kill the poor guy though. Bummer. The programmers shoulda fixed that. To this day I still feel bad I couldn't help the poor guy out. It is just a game. But you see how involved you can get in it, daddy-o.
Plus the game's opening cut scene and music are very well done. You'll replay it over and over just to re-experience the exhilaration of the sight of the Gunman spaceships zooming over a distant planet while the killer orchestral music booms in the background.
You can also defend yourself when you have no weapons. Unlike Half-Life. You can punch with both fists like a boxer and it's major cool, Jewel.
The game really needs a patch though since there are some bugs in it. But if you can get past that aspect of it and the sometimes crude graphics, you'll have a kickass time with Gunman Chronicles. Now how's about a sequel, Ezekiel?
