Recent reviews by TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord

Call of Duty: "Dragon's Lair": One giant scripted quicktime event that the player cannot deviate from in either path nor interaction. Only when you find yourself fighting for long enough to realise that "this seems to be an unending stream of respawning adversaries!?" will you start hunting for the magic trigger-event to make it stop so the script can proceed. Sometimes that trigger-event is something that may seem redundant or illogical to a player, yet that stream of enemies will continue until found and tripped.

"House of The Dead" is a challenging arcade on-rails "twitch" shooting gallery where the player is unlocking narrative as reward. That is permissible because that's how that game works, though not how one may assume this one does.

It's not like me to jump the gun after only a few hours play, but I'm really not enjoying this one bit; while being the kind of guy who is quite forgiving of failed FPS attempts by developers in an "I can see what they were attempting though it didn't quite work" way. However, this game is just "aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!" annoying. All the things that I see general FPS lovers criticise about modern CoD games are all present in this title! - where I thought I was going to avoid them by it being an earlier release. I thought "Ghosts" was bad and yet this is worse for me, though so many people rave about this one!

Addendum: I've now played the game through and, after playing a handful of CoD games I'm getting the feeling this is how they're supposed to be; heavily scripted and controlled interactive movies. So, if you agree with that evaluation and like CoD because that's what it serves, then this works and is a good example. Me? I expect a bit more freedom and less scripting in my shooters so, NO, I still didn't like it and my original review stands.
I will, however, add that the sound in surround is great in this game and there are even a few audio tricks used to add cinematic style in places. Level layout and atmosphere is good, although my hidden-walls and other restrictions criticism still stands. Oh! and the AI is a mixed bag. Most of the time allies and axis randomly ignore each other and will often be found stood in close proximity shooting at other AI. Out.

No saving option in "offline" mode.
Must begin from start of campaign every play.
No cross-session progression possible.
Do not buy if offline player.
Console "Gears of War"-styled turd.
Stick with the superior UT2004 or UT'99.

While this and Half-Life pushed their own bars - and earned respective FPS crowns - System Shock (1 & 2), Thief (1 & 2) and Deus Ex (sorry, 2!) took the FPARPG (is that even a gaming tag?) crown... and nothing since has ever truly bettered upon such foundation titles, from ~20 years previous to my typing here today.
Such is a sorry state of affairs!
It seems we've already had our ENTHUSIASTIC "golden era"; as did the arcades and 8bit home consoles before us.
As gorgeous as it was (and comparatively still is) it was still a lonely experience a-la a typical "blank slate" "id" FPS protagonist.

On the other hand, H-L had the ultimate sci-fi B-movie cluster-f'ck narrative.
If this was ever reinmagined, I would expect a Crysis(original)-styled affair.
HALO and Operation Flashpoint were another two FP games that did everything right back in the day.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy a modern reimagining of this with intelligent and persistent AI [they can follow you indefinitely]
I encourage any young players to check this out.
The weapon variety is great, as are the general enemies and bosses.
The adventure is a large one too.
I still consider this overlooked when compared to lesser titles of its era.
A CLASSIC FPS EVERY TRUE GAMER SHOULD EXPERIENCE.

I didn't like Choplifter. :-(

However...

I did like coin-op Rescue and ZX Spectrum Krakatoa

I like this. :-)

...and the simplified two-button control system is in favour of those with limited physical capability.

If you keep a couple of immediately accessible time-wasters on hand in your library for short gaming bursts, I can recommend this.

Note:
It's a long time since I've played through this.

Get this if you'd like a PC title similar to that of the PlayStation 2 exclusive KillZone [1].

Has a little more D00M (I and II) and Quake (I and II) action gunplay than claustrophobic (lighting-engine tech' demo) D00M³|BFG
[While I assume D00M (IV|reimagined) rectified this to give fans what they expect]

Note:
Back when I played this, it seemed there was a post-processing issue where normal/bumpmapping, specular highlights and other effects were missing, leaving only D00M³'s (resource-balancing) low-poly' models and blurry low-res' textures.
I don't know whether there are current workarounds, but the gameplay is still more fun than id's own Tech'4 titles.

This is now free for a while, so grab the opportunity and PLAY IT.
I don't regret having paid for this.
The experience is worth it, while the subtle aesthetic effects are fantastic, reminiscent of the attention to detail that French devs often display regarding production values [or used to, in the "old" days]
It's an atmospheric thought-provoking puzzle platformer as opposed to a hardcore twitch-or-die platformer.