this game is 25 years old and feels like it, but in a fun way

the perfect menu

honestly, I wasn’t too sure what I was supposed to do here. I didn’t look anything up about this game; including the control scheme. after messing with the controller settings on the steam deck a little bit, I finally chose, “carrinton institute”.

this was the wrong choice.

so, after loading into the carrington institute, you find yourself in a conference room or something. I didn’t take a screenshot of it, so here’s this guy instead. you first meet him right outside of the conference room. he introduces himself, but I forgot his name.

“blah blah blah”, he says, followed by, “come with me.”

so I follow him.

“blah blah blah”

— this guy, probably

brave of him to turn his back like that

“we have the technology”

— not an actual quote

eventually, we get to a tech lab, or at least I think it’s a tech lab. There’s this guy in it and he’s talking like a real nerd, and there are computers everywhere (there are two of them). plus, there’s a lady sitting at a desk doing some fancy computer work without ever touching it.

at some point in time, I lose track of the first guy and don’t see him anymore.

After a little bit of aimless wondering, I decided to open the start menu and noticed that it’s the same as the main menu and is held up or projected by a machine arm thing that comes up from the bottom left-hand corner.

This time, I choose “solo missions” and it turns out to be the right choice…or at least I think it was.

a cutscene plays and it’s awesome

we’re zipping and zooming around a gritty metropolis and it’s so awesome and cool in fact, that I don’t pay attention to what is being said, so I don’t quite know where I’m going or why I’m going there. luckily, my friend Quinn told me the game is similar to duex ex, so I assume that I’m going to a building where i’ll shoot people for being terrorists or something like that.

eventually, they dump me on top of a rooftop and a gun appears in my hands. nice, it looks like I’m going to be shooting people after all. I spend a bit of time on the rooftop walking around and trying to shoot the gun, but Unfortunately I never figure out how to shoot the gun and I’m pretty lost.

old games are like that: there’s no waypoint, compass, or clearly marked path that’s a striking color to help you along your way. sometimes, you really can get stuck just because you have no idea where to go. luckily for me, I eventually find some stairs that I follow down to a door that leads inside, and I see someone…

time to be a hero

i see a dude with a gun walking around and my gamer instincts tell me I shouldn’t let him see me, so I don’t and follow closely behind him instead. I don’t know how to aim or shoot, but I do know how to punch.

wham! BAM! with all the force of a great typhoon, and all the strength of a raging fire, I kill the man who I assume was a bad guy. He must have been if he was in this building walking around with a gun. I think I did the right thing; I mean…look at how peaceful he looks. oh! and he drops his gun which I can pick up. It’s like an uzi or something like that: a small automatic machine gun.

with a new gun in hand, it’s time i rescue the hostages (I am assuming there are hostages).

new gun, who this?

with the coolest gun I’ve ever seen equipped, I continue my with hero’s journey: shooting people because some voiceover told me to while I was in that helicopter.

I’m going to do that voice proud, because that’s what heroes do.

looks like a bad guy to me…

stealthy gameplay

unfortunately for every enemy npc, my idea of stealth is not having anyone alive to see me. thus begins my journey to get to where I’m supposed to go; which I now know is a secret area under the building. there’s supposed to be an elevator somewhere that will take me there, but first, i have to be stealthy.

i find the elevators without the use of waypoints or markers.

maybe i’m just that good, maybe it’s good level design.

i’m going the right way

i encounter more enemies, a lot more. i quickly run out of the submachine gun ammo and switch back to my pistol—which I don’t know how to aim or shoot. luckily, there is a pistol whip option.