Blake Stone was a good game that was released too close to a great game.
User Rating: 7.3 | Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold PC
A lot of people have heard of Wolfenstein 3-D, but not a lot of people have heard of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, a futuristic first-person shooter by Apogee Software that uses the Wolfenstein engine. Blake Stone is basically Wolfenstein in space. There are the same eight-foot-high corridors and rooms with orthogonal walls and tile-based structure. Blake Stone adds features like floor and ceiling textures, light diminishing, and interactive objects (Wolfenstein's inhabitants were either static sprites or guards), but overall it is pretty much the same as Wolfenstein. This similarity was Blake Stone's undoing, as the game was released only two months before Doom. When Doom came along, Blake Stone was instantly obsolete. Blake Stone plays like Wolfenstein, which is not bad because Wolfenstein was pretty fun. The weapons, except for the auto-charge pistol (a very weak pistol with a very slow rate of fire that never runs out of ammo) and the plasma discharge unit (a sort of grenade launcher that does obscene amounts of damage), are basically analogues of Wolfenstein's--the slow-fire protector is a pistol, the rapid assault weapon a machinegun, and the dual neutron disruptor is like Wolfenstein's super-fast chaingun. The dual neutron disruptor is the most useful weapon in the game, as it doesn't have a limited range like the PDU and the game has enough ammo lying around to destroy a small country, more than compensating for the DND's wasteful use of ammo. Interesting note: The plasma discharge unit sometimes "malfunctions" on certain levels (the game will refuse to fire and say the weapon is malfunctioning) because the PDU shot is considered an actor and the game is limited to 149 actors on the level at a time. You'll have to kill some enemies with your hitscan guns to get the actor count low enough to fire the PDU. The story is simple enough and a parody of the old evil-scientist cliche: You're Blake Stone, the game's titular British spy (think James Bond crossed with B.J. Blazkowicz) who was sent by British intelligence to investigate Dr. Pyrus Goldfire, an eccentric doctor who is experimenting with genetics. You discover that Goldfire is amassing an army of mutants and aliens to take over the world. Of course, since you're a spy, Goldfire doesn't like you very much and wants to kill you. So basically you run through the level collecting keys and slaughtering people. The game's enemies range from human guards that are similar to Wolfenstein's (Sector Patrol = brown guard, Bio-Tech = officer, STAR Sentinel = SS guard, STAR Trooper = SS guard that doesn't die as easily), as well as a variety of aliens, robots, and mutants that shoot you, beat you, throw fireballs at you, etc. Perhaps the most memorable enemy is the disgusting green Pod Alien, which is this fat blobbish monster that comes out of an egg-like thing and makes nasty groaning noises. Dr. Goldfire himself may send in a holographic doppelganger to attack you. Goldfire is tough, taking many hits to kill and firing constantly with deadly accuracy. You never really fight Goldfire in the flesh--that happens in Blake Stone's sequel Planet Strike. Overall, Blake Stone is quite easy and its 66 levels can be beaten in an afternoon. None of the game's four difficulty levels provide a serious challenge. The clumsy controls are your worst enemy. You can't strafe and turn at the same time, so circle-strafing is impossible. Blake Stone's graphics were only a moderate step up from Wolfenstein, and completely overshadowed by Doom, which featured mutliple light levels, non-orthogonal walls, proper heights perspective, skies, etc. Blake Stone, released only two months before Doom (the press beta was already out by then), was doomed from the beginning. The graphics, while technically limited, are well done and convey the lighthearted air perfectly. The sounds are decent, with good-quality voice acting for the human enemies (particularly good are Goldfire's lines: "Ha ha ha ha, you'll never get me!"), and a variety of creepy noises for the monsters. The weapon sounds, however, were poorly chosen. The weird sci-fi noises seem totally out of place with guns that look and act like bullet-based weapons. The FM synth music was done by the ubiquitous Bobby Prince, and like all sountracks by him, it is good and very catchy. The overall mood of it is a lot lighter than the grim tunes of Wolfenstein, which fits Blake Stone's upbeat, almost comical sci-fi setting. Overall, Blake Stone is a good pick for fans of old shooters that already own Wolfenstein and Doom, as well as bargain hunters. For everyone else, there are much better games out there in the FPS category. What's Hot: Well-drawn sprites and textures, good music, generally fun gameplay What's Not: Technologically behind the curve even when it debuted Also Try: Wolfenstein 3-D/Spear of Destiny, Doom/Doom II, Quake II
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