Deep Shadows Thread - "I'm just picking mushrooms and berries here!" - Games

(any form of criticism is encouraged to help improve the thread. thread will ALWAYS be WIP) Love Deus Ex, Morrowind, STALKER, and Mass Effect? Deep Shadows' titles are pretty much a hodgepodge of those. Don't be a stranger, post to help keep this thread alive. [B]Overview- [/B] Q: Who are Deep Shadows? A: Deep Shadows is a Ukrainian game development company, formed by former GSC Game World developers. Before they broke off from GSC, the developers helped to make GSC's first title: Codename Outbreak (also known as 'Venom' in CIS countries) back in 2001. After Codename: Outbreak was released, the developers broke off and formed their own company - Deep Shadows. GSC Game World would go on to create their famous STALKER games and RTS games, such as American Conquest, Alexander, and Cossacks. Q: So, wait, if they broke off of GSC, are their games similar to STALKER? A: Yes. Their three most famous titles: Boiling Point: Road to Hell (otherwise known as Xenus: Boiling Point), Xenus 2: White Gold, and Precursors are all open-world FPS games with RPG elements, so they are quite akin to STALKER to a degree. [B]Games-[/B] [I]Boiling Point: Road to Hell [/I]Gameplay: "The game is set in a Realian valley, an undivided 25x25km (625 km2) map. There are no in-game loading screens or level transitions. The geography of the valley itself is tropical jungle. There are two primary cities: Puerto Sombra in the west, which is in the hands of the local government, and Pueblo Faro in the east, which is held by communist insurgents. Scattered throughout the rest of the valley are various bases, plantations, villages, and estates. Due to the large size of the game world there are several modes of transportation available: cars, trucks, tanks, planes, helicopters, and boats. Gameplay is a hybrid of FPS and RPG mechanics. Character advancement is skill-based, with specific skills either being enhanced through practice, or atrophied via disuse. The list of skills is limited, and is constructed of weapon proficiencies and physical ability. However, killing everything in sight is not the goal of the game. Saul Myers' goal is to find his daughter, so he will need to talk to many people to gather the necessary information to unravel the mystery of her disappearance. Much of this information can only be purchased with the Realian currency, and the primary means of generating income is by completing missions for the game's various factions. There are no predefined enemies in the game except for hostile animals such as snakes and jaguars in the wilderness. There are many NPCs, with almost all of them being neutral at the start. There are six factions in the game: the Realian government, the communist guerrillas, the mafia, local Indian tribes, unaffiliated bandits, and an American CIA presence. Civilians are also considered a faction for the purposes of calculating Myers' "reputation", which is variable and dynamic. Completing missions for a faction's rivals will lower Myers' reputation with them, and hostile factions will shoot on sight. There are, however, methods of repairing Myer's reputation." - Wikipedia Images: Box art: [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/Boiling_Point_-_Road_to_Hell_Coverart.png[/IMG] Gameplay images: [IMG]http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/599/599205/1_1111801270.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/558/558208/boiling-point-road-to-hell-20041019103737688_640w.jpg[/IMG] - [I]Xenus 2: White Gold: [/I]Gameplay: "While not having a direct connection to the Boiling Point: Road to Hell storyline, it retains similarities to the atmosphere and gameplay mechanics, and the mixture of RPG elements and FPS combat. Players will enjoy a free-roaming world, with vast open areas, diverse weapons and a multitude of land, air and water vehicles. Hand to hand combat was also implemented. The character development system has been extensively altered and improved upon to provide more flexibility than previous versions. One of the major overhauls being the new perk system. Such features will diversify the ways in which the players can customize and improve their character, and give them more freedom to personalize the game experience to their own desires." - Wikipedia Images: CIS release box art: [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Xenus_II_White_Gold_Russian_cover.jpg[/IMG] Gameplay images: [IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HwFQHHWMGzQ/TRo0OdJLb2I/AAAAAAAAACs/xDoJfFs76X0/s640/SCREEN31.JPG[/IMG][IMG]http://www.blogcdn.com/news.bigdownload.com/media/2010/12/1853227mediumdec25.jpg[/IMG] - [I]Precursors [/I]Gameplay: The gameplay is very much the same as Xenus/Boiling Point and Xenus 2, except with some Mass Effect and Freelancer thrown in for good measure. Here is a basic overview from, you guessed it, Wikipedia: "The player will be able to talk and fight in FPS/RPG hybrid style while doing a multitude of missions on six different planets or moons and even the interior of spaceships and space stations. He will have many different vehicles to use in engagements on the ground ranging from simple buggies and flyers to hover tanks and mechanical robots. After getting a spaceship he will also be able to engage in space trade and combat with other factions in between the planetary missions. The players spaceship can be upgraded throughout the game and it can dock with space stations and with other spaceships so that the player can switch between them." Images: Box art: [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Precursors_cover.jpg[/IMG] Gameplay images: [IMG]http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/708/708297/the-precursors-20060512092154352-000.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.games-down.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Precursors-log-2.jpg[/IMG] [URL="http://www.facepunch.com/"] [/URL]

Ah, yes. I remember Boiling Point. I really couldn't get into it. I should reinstall.

[QUOTE=Malos;28621686]Ah, yes. I remember Boiling Point. I really couldn't get into it. I should reinstall.[/QUOTE] Should I also see if I can dig up any mods for Boiling Point? That game had a small amount of mods.

Boiling Point was so fucking awful but I keep hearing how there's a miracle patch that fixed everything wrong with it. I need to get around to trying it out again.

[QUOTE=The_Marine;28623434]Boiling Point was so fucking awful but I keep hearing how there's a miracle patch that fixed everything wrong with it. I need to get around to trying it out again.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.fileplanet.com/155950/150000/fileinfo/Boiling-Point:-Road-to-Hell-Patch-v2.0-%5BEuropean%5D[/url] Just apply this.

Ah, cool. I'll definitely keep that patch in mind when I reinstall. Too many other things to play at the moment.