Pre-impressions

[butterburp]

#11309

Just want to get this started. I’m not familiar with this game, but I just watched a playthrough for a few minutes and it’s interesting. Looks like we’ll be fighting mostly robots. The setting (at least what I saw so far) is a futuristic wasteland. For any Everquest fans out there, it reminds me a lot of The Grey and Mons Letalis, right down to the tunnel between them.

Simultaneously, I also was listening to the same-initialed jazz funk song ‘TFS’ by Herbie Hancock. Not sure about the T but the FS probably does stand for Future Shock, since that is the album’s name. It went pretty well with the game and I imagine it’ll be part of my listening soundtrack when I play. And now, back to ZZT!

[Mike]

#11372

are there any mods or any recommended ways to play this or is DosBox good enough? I’ve never actually played one before but remember it getting lots of praise at the time?

[TigerQuoll]

#11376

There is a patch that seems to be pretty recommended to bring the game up to version 1.3.
Also there’s a “graphics patch”, but I have no idea what it does.

I found it weirdly hard to find a vanilla CD-ROM DOS version of this game. It seems to be truly abandonware, and not available on GOG or any of the usual channels, but all the “other” sites either host demo versions or versions bundled with dosbox.

When I finally dug up a vanilla version deep in a directory tree on archive.org, I actually thought I’d found some beta version.
I’ve only played the first level so far, and the engine is pretty good and advanced for the time – better 3D than the Build Engine.
But a lot of the presentation seems a bit rudimentary. Most notably, when you die there’s no special animation or death sound or anything – the game just stops and puts up a messagebox that says “you have failed, soldier!” or something like that!
Also the enemy ai, at first blush, seems to be VERY basic.

But the movement is smooth (even if you get stuck against objects sometimes), the controls are incredibly modern, and the gameplay generally feels satisfying.

I think I’ll have fund with this next month, even if it has some rough spots.

[watchful]

#11388

I have a retail CD which I can rip, if there’s interest. Perhaps I can upload it to Archive.org or something.

EDIT: Here is a rip of my copy. It’s the v1.3 release despite what the readme says.

According to the PCGamingWiki page one needs SkyNet to play Future Shock in SVGA, though the mouse-wheel patch works with FS alone too.

[Eulisker]

#11392

I am very much looking forward to playing this game. The whole range of Bethesda Terminator games passed me by back in the day. They always looked intriguing in the magazines though.
This looks to be the best entry point for the series but I’ll try the earlier games too out of curiosity.

[thecashman]

#11395

Thank you, watchful for providing a rip! This seems to be one of the games that is harder to find a full version of. I am looking forward to this game, and even though I wish I would have found and joined back at Albion, I am thrilled to be apart of this club!

[TigerQuoll]

#11403

Awesome, thanks watchful!

[Evil Taco]

#11486

I’m highly unlikely to fire up the game myself, but I’m _extremely_ interested in hearing the episode! I remember reading about the Terminator FPS’ – starting from the 1990 DOS game – along side DOOMs, Dukes and Quakes of the day, and it was always a fascinating “parallel evolution” that I have an impression haven’t _quite_ been as appreciated as they deserved. But you who will actually play this (or have already played them) can be the judges of that, and I’m looking forward to the podcast episode!

[TigerQuoll]

#11493

I think you’re onto something, evil taco, with the “parallel evolution” thing.

I’ve been wrestling with my thoughts about the level design and enemies and other mechanics, and I now think the way to look at it is this: it’s what a mid-90s FPS would look like if Wolf3D and Doom and all their clones never happened.

Future Shock feels like it evolved directly out of top-down and isometric shooters like Syndicate, Crusader No Remorse, Cannon Fodder, Alien Breed, with maybe even some cues from flight sims. And I don’t just mean in the vehicle sections. (Although it is interesting how much the HK section anticipated Descent…)

It just has a very different approach to progression and level design than other FPS games of the time.

[Eulisker]

#11494

Descent did release almost a year before this.

I always thought of Doom having evolved from 2d games the same way though. Just more the smash tvs or robotrons of the world. Not the somewhat slower games you mentioned 🙂

The second mission with the jeep still proves to be a roadblock for me. (Pun intended)
I hope I can find the time to er through it.

[TigerQuoll]

#11495

Sorry, didn’t mean Descent – I was thinking of Terminal Velocity! Although I realise now it was released in the same year as Future Shock.

To me Wolf3D and Doom and their descendants feel like they share a lot of DNA with console platform shooters like Bionic Commando, Contra and Mega Man – makes sense. Id always wanted to bring console-type games to the PC.

But maybe I’m getting too hung up on the top-down vs platformer distinction. It’s probably more accurate to say that Id’s shooters have a more arcadey/console feel, while Future Shock owes more to games on home computers like the PC, Amiga and Atari.

[watchful]

#11534

For those getting stuck:

– Use fixed cycles or physics and soft-lock bugs may occur

– Easy difficulty is enough for me

– Save often, rotating slots

– Go slow in vehicles, pick off enemies at a distance where possible

[TigerQuoll]

#11542

I’ll second the saving and vehicle tips.

I’m generally a “one save game” kind of guy, but after a few broken save files and glitched doors softlocking me, I’ve taken to filling the save menu in this one.

[Evil Taco]

#11547

Hahh, yeah, it’s a shock to go back to multiple save games mentality, usually after a lesson like a soft lock …

[Chamillitary]

#11573

This should be an interesting episode, I just heard about this game a few weeks ago. I didn’t know this existed and if I did I must have forgotten about it. I definitely cant wait for this episode and I would like to try this game as well.