![]() ![]() Its games were beyond brilliant, and required that players use care and forethought - and actually act smart, as opposed to the Doom style blast-fests that were all the rage in these dark times. Looking Glass, sadly, was a victim of the times. They also made some bad-kermit flight sims of both the helicopter and plane persuasion. Looking Glass brought to bear classics like the legendary Thief series, Ultima Underworld, and of course, System Shock. Every single game this company put out was a complete gem, with superior graphics at launch, engaging, well-written stories (that blow every piece of crap we have thrown our way these days into smoldering craters), absolutely unheard-of-at-the-time physics, and immersion which, at the time, was the stuff of legends. Looking Glass took the kind of steps no one - NO ONE - had the balls to do before - or since. While every other company was making FPSes that directly borrowed from what was popular at the time (Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, etc). One company that did not survive these days of high-risk was a company called Looking Glass Studios. This wasn't all BAD, either when John Romero failed to make us his nice person, his company was DOA in short order (though horrifyingly, it clawed and screamed for ages while it slowly died). Especially notable were examples like Microprose, which was bought by Hasbro, who then intentionally nosedived the whole company. ![]() A small developer who failed at a launch could quickly find themselves economically ruined, and this happened to a ton of companies back in the 90s. Interplay put out Descent and Fallout - among others. Microprose, a legend among legends, put out epic simulators (such as Gunship), and the much-praised X-Com series. A lot of companies that simply no longer exist were fawking giants back in the day. A lot of games by rock-solid companies came out - and in these days, scoring a major, unequaled hit wasn't enough to save you from financial disaster.īefore publishers began to absorb risk (and dumbed-down every fawking game they could get their hands on), smaller companies and low-level developers existed to completely kick the kermit of the entire PC gaming market as we knew it. The PC gaming industry is a fickle and often relentlessly cruel mistress, and while it's just as bad now as it was back in the day, it was more glaring back in the 90s. You hire Jaimas' cat to write quality code, and there he is looking at Kitty porn. ![]() I am doing this because it is the just thing to do. It is one part lament, one part rage, and one part nostalgia, all mixed together in an intricate whole.Īs a side note, I am going to absolutely ream Bioshock in this review, despite enjoying said game. Gentle reader, this review has been a long time in the making. ![]()
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