I agree with just about everything you said, dr_st.
I played this game many years ago, and the controls seem to be still branded into my brain, so for this playthrough it wasn’t an issue. But I can see why it would take some getting used to.
The game does seem to get better, with the sewers (episode 3 in the HH version) being the strongest in my opinion.
On a few points I have a slightly different perspective:
There are very few mandatory secrets for the whole game, and as mentioned they are almost all telegraphed, either with an info disk or by the fact that the texture is a different colour, so it wasn’t much of an issue for me.
I got the impression that the game wanted you to use the special weapons primarily, with the flamethrower as a backup. At least in the HH version where you have to pay for fuel.
I actually found myself using the grenades fairly often. They’re especially useful for slimes.
Except when in a low tunnel, I never found I had trouble hitting things with them. The missiles on the other hand never seem to target what I want them to, and given the respawning enemies I never found a good use for the omega.
I still have no idea how to use the mini-nuke effectively.
I definitely agree with you on the hidden enemies though! Absolutely maddening…
And those killer orbs are just OP
I thought the music was a bit hit-and-miss to be honest. The office block music in particular was just weird.
Overall I think there was a lot of potential here. With a few minor gameplay tweaks and better level design, it could have been a standout classic. Instead it just feels passable but forgettable.
