First Person Shooter Archives

Old-School Magic Returns in Mirage 7, A Forgotten Crusade

Mirage 7 may follow a familiar action-adventure path, but its desert setting, survival-lite mechanics, and story-driven mystery give it enough character to stand apart. Its greatest strength so far is not reinvention, but how confidently it guides players through Nadira’s haunting journey.

Mirage 7 Game Poster Drakkar Dev

Within the heart of Mirage 7 lies a familiar game design framework. For this first-person adventure-shooter, the main difference is whether you are slinging rocks at targets or eating scorpions for dinner. Players switch between young Nadira, a desert dweller searching for her missing sister, and Jiji, the pet lizard who protects her while she sleeps. The concept itself is not especially new, but the game still has enough flavour to stand out, especially through its Arabian Nights-inspired setting and its blend of exploration, mystery, and survival.

After spending some time with the Steam version on PC, I was impressed with the story more than the actual gameplay. This game is familiar enough that the muscle memory developed by playing similar games like Tomb Raider quickly returns. The keyboard and mouse controls feel comfortable, and while I did not get a chance to test a controller, the game seems like it would lend itself well to that option too.

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With Ironstrike VR, What’s Your Favourite Weapon to Fight With?

The ability to really immerse players in a proper fantasy world of fighting hordes of invaders in Ironstrike VR can be fun.

Ironstrike VR certainly delivers a fun mediaeval combat experience as a four player co-op roguelike adventure on the Meta Quest. It’s about what groups can do as they face off against AI opponents in a simply rendered open world environment where the elements meet. While photo-realism isn’t the goal in the design of these realms, what’s presented so far hints at the possibilities should developer E McNeill want to re-skin this game in a dungeon crawl environment.

For now, it’s limited to some stunning dawn and dusk renders, and as for the swing and parry system, I feel more work is needed. One should be able to move the body instead of shaking a joystick to dodge blows. I found that standing still to smack down enemies is an issue. I should be able to move the body around, and on the Quest 2, some of it tracked. While the authentic combat experience isn’t always there, I love the concept, and was fighting my foes in waves. The number of opponents faced steadily grows as you progress through the game. At the time of writing, I’ve encountered as many as three at one time. There may be more, but I haven’t gotten there yet!

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When Racing Through the Worlds of Wizordum Gets Fast, Is There An End in Sight?

You gotta be fast and quick to respond in all the danger coming at you in Emberheart Games’s Wizordrum!

Emberheart Games

Gamers who love to post speed runs on Twitch will find Wizordum to be the type of perfect shoot ’em up style game to parley with. While I prefer a dungeon crawl at a slow pace, this fantasy shooter is designed to be played fast and furious! That’s how most adventure games should be played. Sometimes, players spend too much time being methodical or are pouring through the books to insure encounters follow the rules, and while that’s okay in a pen and paper game, that’s not how it works in real life!

The fact players have to be on the ball in this videogame, that means being able to solve puzzles on the fly! There’s also being like Indiana Jones and escaping a room with the treasure without missing the beat of those arrows shooting at him! In this game, players better have that itchy trigger finger and nimble reflexes when blasting through a dungeon!

When there were times I wished I could pause the game to quickly sketch out a dungeon map, I suspect that would slow the game down. Thankfully, there is one provided in the game to show where the secrets lay, but it’s not as detailed as one I would make.

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The Phantoms are Everywhere in Ghostware: Arena of the Dead, Early Access Impressions

A few weeks into playing Ghostware: Arena of the Dead shows there’s still bugs to iron out and features to be added, but once when the adventure elements are put in, this game looks promising!

Ghostware Arena of the Dead Artwork Only skilled gamers who love first person shooters and platform style games can get requisitioned to play Ghostware: Arena of the Dead. This retro style game by Daev Team and published by HyperStrange has a great story to like, but if you can’t make it past the trainer mode and the first challenge, then this game is frustrating. That’s because where you respawn after dying again matters!

Here, you’re playing a videogame character and like in the movie TRON, where you’re transported to a dead world in the digital matrix. Here, you meet The Wizard and are forced to fight in old style games–like Capture the Flag and Deathmatch–to find the truth to what’s going on. Although I didn’t make it far in the early access release, I’ll keep trying again. Not many games will hook you into its concept, but here, I’m itching to get to the slower parts where what’s offered is marketed as an adventure game.

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With Spiders, Kill It With Fire VR Satisfies That Primal Urge

Perhaps it’s best not to listen to The Who’s “Boris the Spider” while playing Casey Donnellan Games’ Kill It With Fire VR.

Kill It With Fire VR TItle Card The only thing I like to see changed with Casey Donnellan Games and tinyBuild‘s Kill It With Fire VR is that it should’ve been customised to include proper room scale tracking. On the Meta Quest 2, it’s included, but is very limited. The PSVR version handles it differently. The option to move around the limited space by either pushing the navigation stick or pointing to where you want to go isn’t perfect, but it at least gets people standing–the best way to play this game. The game deals with the rest. Using the controller to move might induce motion sickness. But if you can handle the nausea, the thrill of the hunt is on!

The older version is still fun to play, but to have that virtual world sensation delivers a unique experience. It’s like when I’m hunting them for real; whenever I spot a spider, I chase after these critters with a slip of cardboard and a cup to catch for release outside. I’m not that cruel in real life. Although, the more of them you can flatten in-game, the more satisfying the experience is. And the virtual apartment you live in opens up! But the game doesn’t end there. It’ll take you outdoors too and into other environments.

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Reigniting Gunscape for a New Generation

As for keeping Gunscape in the library, I feel a large enough fanbase has to exist before it gets too quickly sunsetted.

Blowfish Studios

Gunscape is a retro first-person shooter and Minecraft builder which could use a lot more polish to play on the go. It plays better on a proper computer screen because constructing maps is easier with a mouse and keyboard than what’s pre-defined on the Nintendo Switch. As a result, the controls don’t feel as intuitive when building, but perfect when fighting.

Otherwise, if you’re playing in another person’s sandbox with their construct, there’s a bit of fun to be had, assuming they added a story to go along with the map. The default scenario isn’t all that compelling, and I struggled to wonder why I’m roaming through this zombie laden lab at all.

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