With more than two legs is cool. 

heh, i guess i should keep more up to date with rage :P 

Free download at Fileplanet.
It's a class-based multiplayer shooter with a few different game modes and around 20 varied maps. The problem is that the game looks and feels pretty much exactly like Daikatana - crude models, poor animation, average sounds. And the maps, while they do have a good number of different themes (Kingpin-like backyards, gothic cathedrals, Wild West towns, space stations etc.), mostly lack visual quality. Some are too bright or drown in colored lighting, others have ugly textures or plain brushwork, some are quite cramped.
Not recommended - there are *way* better free MP shooters available. 

Grimm Episode 2:
http://www.gametap.com/grimm/episode_02.html 

OOOOH IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!!!! 

yeah, the half of the game that wasn't cut out anyway ;) 

I still get to play as a Squigherder and a Stunty Engineer. That's mostly what I care about. 

Holy cow... ZDoom::ZPack::map_e3m7 is great.
Lots of exploration and dark intricate environs like you find on the best Q maps.
http://www.realm667.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=445 

 

Try here:
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=15332

All the wikis point to the 667 link. It must have just f-ing died, but it's pretty fitting actually. ZDoom is so dynamic, you have to get the latest version week to week just to play anything. 

I just got into reading the site and didn't download the mod, don't know if I'll have time, tbh.

I'll try and get round to it. 

a nicely working System Shock abandonware pack for modern Windows: http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,211.0.html
Finally I can play it :)

and http://www.gametap.com/grimm/episode_03.html 

I did play through the whole thing. Combat was fun, but generally the levels were average, and the final spider boss shitty, imho, (i gave in and cheated). There's also three amusing concept levels (e1m0, e2m0, e3m0) i didn't finish. 

been a while since I've liked a game with crap maps but the intense gameplay in this has definitely got me looking past the very poor level design.

The graphics engine itself is ok though (but as usual with monolith engines it runs like shit compared to other comparable engines), the attempt at 'horror' laughable, the enemies not very varied, but boy is it fun!

I thought it would get repetitive sooner or later but it didnt, pretty much every fight is heart pounding thanks to a combination of good weapons, good AI and plentiful ammo and health. 

Excellent monsters and inventive gamplay, cool weapons. Good to see a game focused so much on gameplay! Also the ending - weird 70's horror movie ending, I liked. 

F.E.A.R excellent
F.E.A.R Extraction Point excellent too

F.E.A.R Mission Perseus sucks, really sucks

horror scenes: not really
story absolutely the same
graphics, worse than original, textures that are not even bump-mapped, washed out, very high minimum light level, too high default gamma,
unfair KI, too hard gameplay 

http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/sandvich.htm

I lol'ed 

Interesting you picked up the same 70's horror vibe I did from F.E.A.R as it was actually one of the things I really liked about it. I thought the first few minutes of gameplay had it in spades as well.

It's funny because although the lead designer claims to have been influenced by J-horror like the ring, I think that he was subconsciously chanelling a lot of late 60s / early 70s horror stuff for the backstory and overall mood of the game. 

is definitely noticeable, and for me in a very distracting and offputting kind of way because it is done a bit cheesily.

The very first level did it ok but the rest of the time it looked like a cheap gimmick. 

http://www.gametap.com/grimm/episode_04.html 

Even if you don't like WoW, Blizzard's cinematics are always worth watching :)

http://www.wow-europe.com/wrath/intro.xml 

So why did they channel their own office and the empty lot behind their own office for the level design and overall look of the game? 

It was the best fit for the story, gameplay, and engine. I can't see anything more fantastical working very well. I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with doing a somewhat realistic setting in a game if it's done well and in F.E.A.R's case I think it was.

Also there was a lot more breakup in the game than people give it credit for. In addition to the much complained about office building crawl, there was a pretty nice tech section, some run down tenements, some good industrial stuff, and even a nice dock area.

I'd say it's pretty tough to make a game that has a wealth of interesting places without relying on some hokey Daikatana bullshit like you're a time traveller or something. 

the level design was atrocious, theres no two ways about it. It was hands down some of the worst I've seen.

It's one thing to have a realistic setting, another to have used what felt like te diablo2 level generator to randomly spice together pre fabricated rooms and corridors.

But the game itself is good. 

But the game itself is good

How can you say that the game was good but the level design was the worst you've ever seen? Isn't level design ideally the place where the game's bits and pieces come together as a cohesive whole? If you thought the A.I. for example, was good, wouldn't that mean that the level design facilitated it? If you thought the horror stuff was good, wouldn't the sequences have been scripted and paced by the designers?

The "bad level design" knock against F.E.A.R has always bothered me because the game reviewed really well across the board, sold very well, and people generally seem to really like it, so I don't understand where the criticism fits into that.

It's got a lot of right angles and generic industrial stuff going on, but I would say none of it is "bad" in the sense that the game overall was not boring and is generally considered to be quite immersive. Don't confuse realistic design (offices and warehouses *are* boring places by design) with bad design.