Flames of Freedom: Blub, Blub, Blub

Its been a while. The siren song of Blake Stone has been more appealing than the rather more unrelenting nature of Flames of Freedom. The less said about Galactic Empire the better. Blake Stone is actually the tenth game since then, a good sign for my continued progress. Not to mention I haven't truly made any progress in 3 months. Right, enough whining about that.

I left off in a submarine, in the midst of fighting some zeppelins and a boat. Well, I say that, but its not much of a fight when you can't hit inside the water. By the same token, I can't hit them, so the me and my enemies are stuck in a stalemate. So I steal a zeppelin, from a boat. Figure it out yourself. I didn't realize how much of a joy it was to fly one. I make short work of the nearby squadron. There's another squadron of boats nearby, I might as well solve two problems at once.

As I fight the boats it very quickly becomes apparent that there's another problem, the blimp can't hit anything on the ground. Which leads me me hijacking a boat. A minute or two of combat later, and a boat change, and the unit is destroyed. That's lame...Of course, there's nothing else here, at least on the surface. It occurs to me to actually pay attention to the stated locations of the objectives. That puts the base, and probably the radar station, on the little crescent on the northern part of the island.. That leaves the enemy, if I were expecting a realistic placement of the "Famous Flying Subs" I would put it near there, but I'm prepared to be disappointed.

I return to the sub I left behind. This is a bit tricky as somehow a small group of hovercraft are on the attack and the sub sunk to the bottom. Interesting situation, but whatever. Soon enough I'm slowly autorouting my way across the island. Fun fact, if you enter the map screen, your autoroute is removed. Hope that wasn't vitally important or anything.

Outlook Island is a little chunk of rock off the coast of the north eastern point of the island. I assume, it could very well be the whole part of the island. Its guarded by submarines and speedboats, which works to my advantage, I wanted another one anyway. After eliminating the commander of the submarines, who looks quite comical, I began to look for the radar station, since it should be nearer to me than the base.

The radar station proves to be a bit tricky to get to. Its on the ground, which means taking out the speedboats, and that means no sub. Fortunately, its no problem sneaking onto one from the water. Speedboats are fast, and on the water that's not necessarily a good thing, but I manage to roll with it enough to take out a few speedboats. I try to take out the radar, ending up beaching my craft. No matter, I have grenades. Now, the base. Oh, and as I get back on a speedboat, you'd never guess who I manage to take out. The commander of the speedboat squadron.

My crossing to the base is rather nightmarish. There's a landbridge, for the monorail there. Which means there's not enough water to cross my sub through. On the other side, I am besieged by minisubs, which are too quick to control and are questionable in their homing capabilities. Then I find out there's something called a crawler, crawls on the sea, I missed it in the manual. The minisub, when engaged with combat with a regular sub, misses more often than not.

But after a loss of the minisub and a lucky acquisition of a regular one, the underwater base is destroyed. Now, where are the famous flying subs? Well, I asked that question too soon.

Quickly the flying subs attack, and boy, are they a pain to fight. My only ability to retaliate against them is in another vehicle, they're too fast when I'm just swimming. Even so, I am forced to hit them from far away, otherwise they'll take out my sub in one hit, and with enough injuries I have no choice but to bypass it in a scummy way. See, whenever you activate a menu, the enemies disappear, so I just rested, underwater, for a few hours until most of my injuries were gone.

And for what? Its not even the right flying submarine squadron. I go to the north, clearing out the seafloor as I go, nothing. I go to the south...as I transition between areas, something interesting happens. Interesting.
My sub is destroyed, beached. Its a quarter mile into the shore. Several enemy boats are trapped inside. I have no idea what screwed things up, but no matter. I quickly get back in the water and find myself a boat. The sea doesn't have him. A lot of boats, but no flying subs. Well, they're flying subs, they have to be somewhere, might as well be somewhere on land.

Upon returning to land, I quickly end up in the sights of a tank brigade. They seem to have homing capabilities, and I don't. But I manage to take out the commander and all is well. Comandeering every other vehicle sure helps. Now, the only question is, where are those damn flying subs?

This Session: 2 hours

Total Time: 11 hours

Blake Stone: Personnel Training and Briefing

E2M3:
Another new music track. Not bad, a little minimalistic. And what is with that title? Shouldn't this have been on Earth? No matter. A simple hallway outside the elevator. But part of the wall are barriers, untoggleable ones. This is clever...if this wasn't supposedly a training level. Visible behind the barriers are the red key and a PDU. The player finds the PDU with a secret, I assume, and the one-way doors take the player through the red card area.

The first inner area dissuades my notion. The whole training bit honestly seems find, I'm sure the one-way doors are some weird off bit. The side rooms here are big, open and full of guards. I'm sure Goldfire will pop up somewhere around here.

Oh, good, the entire level is just opened up. Hang on, I think I can enter the PDU area from here. It has a few guards, nothing of trouble. Now I have the ultimate weapon. Surprisingly the big hallway doesn't turn out to be a clusterbomb, most of the guards are on silent. So I go back and check some of the areas for secrets.

I find one, a series of rooms with doors. The usual mixture of human guards and riflemen, or Star Sentinels, as I forget to mention. One nearly gets me, but fortunately there was a vending machine that's full of stock for once. Which is very nice. It breaks into a hallway.

The hallway contains a series of rooms, in each, a single guard, either a sentinel or a trooper. One of them seems to be a hostage situation, containing two scientists, informants this time. This is honestly very curious because this is the first time a "real" secret has popped up like this and its basically nothing. The two scientists are the only informants here, so now I don't need to worry about holding back.

The second I advance from where I was at the big hallway, a swarm of guards and sentinels descend upon me like locusts. It becomes a weird groove thing. I advance, kill a bunch, nothing for a while, then boom. It gets even weirder at the end, where there's another scientist, an informant. What. I killed one accidentally and was at 50%. Both were informants. Don't tell me I killed them both and now there's another one? Well, anyway, at this point I can finish the level, the end of the corridor leads back to the exit. So let's see what I missed.

In the center, there's a room that has three doors exiting it. Well, it seems like one. Its two, one ammo room and one biohazard room. There's nothing of any value beyond that. Anyway...

To the west, a hallway that's a cross between an ambush area and a biohazard storage. I don't think any amount of enhancement is going to improve that area. Next door is, after the trademark twisted corridor, a pod room. I find a secret, and would you guess its another big hallway with rooms inside? Its mostly just health items, the guards inside are weaker.

Continuing to work my way east, another open room, a treasury with a mutant, then another biohazard room, sentinel. Sure are a lot of those. Another treasury, two werewolves and an informant. Thanks friend. Another treasure room, one mutant, then what I guess is a medical bay, with a guard. At some point I end up accidentally killing an informant, and I haven't the faintest idea how. Oh, well, a reload later and everything is peachy.

This Session: 1 hour

Total Time: 15 hours

Blake Stone: General Storage and Operations

E2M2:
Hey, a new music track. You know where that would have been nice? E2M1. Its actually nice for once. Starting area, four doors, four ways to die horrible. At least there's two vending machines, so I'll at least die after burning through all my ammo and shaking around a gun like a fool.

I take the eastern path. Two more doors, so I pick the continuous theme. Inside, treasure, out in the open, albeit guarded by a guard. This looks like a good place to hide some secrets, I think as I look for some. Lo and behold, Wolfenstein 3D treasure. Man, Jim and Mike sure get iD's used leftovers a lot, don't they?

It gets better. I find another secret, one containing two doors. So I think this is an ambush for another half of the map. I open the doors, and they have guards, ready to attack. Luckily, I am victorious once again. That's about it for this half of the room, what about the other half? The first secret is some weird room with a single gold bar and a pool of blood. Then the next secret has two Star Troopers. They're not a lot of fun without PDUs. I don't know if I ever killed them without PDUs before.

Back on the normal path, I'm guessing narrow twisting hallways are going to be a staple of this episode, I slowly advance. Cautiously, I must add, since I am very low on ammo. One room goes by, curiously empty, then a room full of 4 scientists. You know, they're saying the same thing they said last level. Some experiments have broken free. I've been to two levels, there hasn't been anything I'd call "broken free". This is a lot of ominous bull for a high quality, but still by the numbers FPS.

Oh, good, its an American werewolf in space. I have no ammo after the first one. I manage to kill one with the self-charging pistol, but get killed because a third one is behind me. I didn't realize this level would be such an endurance run.

I run back, and try a different path, a cafeteria. This one is full of enemies, but at least ones that drop ammo. Now I have 2% ammo, but at least I cleared another room. There's a doorway here, one I hoped would lead to another big room, maybe with ammo. But its another hall. With regular guards. I find out a nice thing here, guards can get stunlocked by the self-charging weapon. Even a room filled with treasure, right out in the open.

Another computer room, some scientists. A helpful little tip that should have been said in the first episode. A little twisting around in a hallway later and I'm in a room with half-ammo. My choice of doors from here reveals another room with a small amount of enemies. Interestingly, there are switchless electrical barriers in the middle of the room.

If I were giving names to these entries instead of just using the floor names, I'd call this one, "Scientists say Stupid Stuff I Solved". Befitting two messages on this floor telling me something anyone who played the first episode could have already figured out. This is getting into the standard way a Wolf-clone seems to work for me, I either have ammo or health. Now, I have ammo, but not much health. Well, I don't know where any health is at the moment, but I'm mostly full up. A secret solved my ammo problems though.

The next room. Man, the next room. Half a dozen scientists, electrical barriers, and turrets. Its set up so you can't see the turrets right away, but you can see scientists, and if you're really clever you might just shoot them instead of waiting for them to expose themselves. On the second attempt the barriers actually kick my ass, so I run away in desperate hope of finding a vending machine with something in it. An enemy scientist is actually wandering around as I walk back, which catches me off-guard.
Back again, I finish advancing, getting hurt by another scientist I didn't think was an enemy, they're getting clever. So there are two side areas here, each blocked by an electric barrier, with the switch in easy reach. Each area has a robot there, easy to take out one, but sandwiched is annoying. I'm down on health again, joy. The areas are rather boring, but they contain crates so I imagine that's the real reason. One has a door, which I naturally take. Its a treasure room.

This leaves me mostly the northern section, and a quick peak before getting killed reveals its a big room full of many enemies. So I decide to backtrack and maybe find some health. My first choice is the last door in the opening section. Which is full of vending machines, which quickly run out of food. Much be right after lunch. So, I go back to the northeast, this is actually a different section. Killing off the werewolves I backed off from earlier. There are around four doors here.
The southern and luckily my first choice, is full of ammo. There are three north, two are cells, with ammo, a werewolf and a couple of Xylan orbs. I didn't mention the sound these make, which while a little noisy and weird, are perfect for the noise a valuable treasure makes. That's the sort of thing you want your point items to give. Door number three leads to roughly the whole big northern section. It is locked off from the north western section.

 The northwestern section is a clusterbomb. It looks like a dozen guards, of varying severity, not a lot of ammo, but a surprising amount of health. Then there's these Dragon Ball Z looking fellows. They look like one of Frieza's grunts or something. Anyway this area is long, and there's a huge side-tunnel extending throughout the middle of the level. Explains the lack of secrets. I assume I'm going to bite the dust, but luckily the great score barrier gives me a million points and full health+ammo.

One area is...and I kid you not, a biohazard room with vending machines in it. I just know that whichever of the two leads designed this level was just cackling when he put it down. There's a switch too. Something tells me its going to be very important.

Grand hallway down the middle. Just some robots, its not that grand. Turning the corner, the exit card. Now...I've seen everything...and I'm still missing 2% of enemies and points. Turns out, one of the canisters in the biohazard cafe was openable and I just missed it. Oh, well. Onward.

This Session: 1.5 hours

Total Time: 14 hours

Blake Stone: Transport Arrival and Processing

E2M1:
New episode. I think this is the first time I've properly played this, beyond a few minutes. The level starts off right where the last episode ended, in a new location. Same music as E1M1. Its the first level of the commercial part of the game and its just the same as the shareware version. Two guards in the opening area. Its quite a sight seeing me miss, them miss, for about half a minute. I sure as heck wasn't getting closer to solve that.
The room doesn't really seem...like a new episode. The doors are different, sure, but otherwise this is very mundane. Four regular doors, the elevator, and the wrong end of a one-way door.

I take the north-western door and enter a storage room. A new form of crate exists here, among the newly made corpses of Goldfire's guards. They're scattered, along with regular crates. Most of which don't seem to open.

There's only one door forward, and as my luck finally improves, is full of scientists who aren't informants. Giving me a nice, relaxing chokepoint. With that kind of luck I even manage to take out a rifle guard. And it finally really looks like a new episode.

I then enter a giant hallway. More guards, and blessedly my luck with scientists continues. Ah...One room, is of some interest...toxic waste. Damaging floors...well, damaging scenery. And exploding barrels. Interesting. And making a relatively complete circle, a room full of scientists, one, an informant lucky enough to not jump out in front of me. Ah...Now, to fill out the rest of the level.

Is this part of the tour? I appear to have walked into a torture chamber...or execution chamber. Medikits, dead scientists, and ammo. Sure seems interesting. The connected room is either a holding cell, judging by the dead guy, or a vault, judging by the gold.

That only leaves me with a one-way door on this side of the map. A series of three interconnected rooms show up. Two big ones, with a few guards, and on the side, a hallway full of turrets. This isn't the problem it sounds like yet, as the PDU still eludes me. But because the hallway's doors open automatically, and there are a lot of turrets in there. Its tricky to get past it at first. I'm getting dangerously close to dying at this point. There's also a pair of secrets with divided by pillars, which is full of ammo even in the non-treasure filled half. At least I have the disruptor now.

Then the trend continues into a big hallway. Full of more turrets. I get gunned down. You know, I think the turrets can't shoot out if they don't have a clear shot, meaning ceiling fixtures block their attacks. I can't really confirm that, but it seems possible.

This level is quite fond of putting in tiny, twisting corridors. Seems to be a conscious choice, to give the illusion of cramped space. Not even that many secrets on this level. Strange. I must be missing something. More guards, slightly tense, but moreso because of the appearance of scientists. One-way door, meaning I've gotten pretty close to the end of the level.

As soon as I open the next door I hear the tell-tale shout of the alien guards, "You're dead". They're very annoying fellows. They're hitscanners and they don't really get stunned. The room has an electric barrier, behind it, a rifle guard. I have to keep my distance or he's guaranteed to kill me. As luck would have it, there was another one hiding. He gets me the first time I walk through. The exit key is hear and I'm deposited right back at the start. But there's one door I haven't touched yet.

This cafeteria is...understocked. Every food machine is one or two orders away from going out of order and I don't find it very amusing. Even the secrets suspiciously don't fill up my points bars. And I have been everywhere, why aren't all the enemies dead? Wanna know why? Because the exploding barrels are enemies. Don't ask me why that happens, but the toxic waste isn't an enemy. Doesn't matter. What matters is that if Blake Stone was a modern game there'd be a meme about him destroy barrels for no reason.

This Session: 1 hours

Total Time: 12.5 hours

Blake Stone: Space Trak Transport

E1M9:
The opening level's theme. How quaint. Exiting the elevator, the room is an arena full of turrets, and soon enough Goldfire. The floor's boss battle, and I'm sure every other boss battle, works by having Goldfire eat a full charge of PDU, drop a key, then the real boss is behind the locked door. As I say this, I get ambushed by a few robots hiding around, and get legitimately down to the auto-charge pistol.
I find it funny that despite most Wolf-clones not actually requiring secrets, most boss fights kind of do. The secrets hidden around every boss arena usually contain enough ammo to kill the boss and his cohorts if you somehow managed to run out on the previous floors. I suppose this is a side-effect of the pistol start ideal. Here, that can be a bit of a problem. Goldfire respawns, as he does, but respawning here he keeps having that full health.

So the spider-guardian. I think that's what he's called. He shoots six gobs of acid, that's really one attack. Given the giant barrier in the middle of the room, so long as one kills the regular alien guards before they attack, there's nothing much to it here. There's a secret inside the big barrier too, if you're that desperate.

There are two big arenas, and that's effectively the level. This is the episode complete. But wait, there's another level and half the map is missing. Unsurprisingly, like every other level, this is full of secrets. Here, its a bunch of huge arenas full of enemies. All that ammo here is going to be used effectively against someone other than Dr. Goldfire.

Well, I say huge arenas, but the second key opens a door to a huge corridor that takes up most of the map. Turrets too, so no spamming the PDU and hoping everything goes well. Its a seriously long corridor, like covering half the outside area.

At the end, a pair of round arenas, full of enemies and containing a single key each. How helpful. Which leads me to having to go back around after clearing them out, to the original area. The two locked arenas are more treasure rooms and contain the last enemies. After a few more secrets, I have 100%...everything. But that feels weird not doing the last floor, so one last time.

E1M10:
Secret Alien Chambers...there's going to be a plasma generator here. Two scientists, one informant, one not. Ah, peaceful resolutions to conflicts, how rare they are. Then, checking the walls for secrets, I am thrust into a series of secrets full of treasure. I swear I was at five million last level.

The normal way of continuing the level...which is funny since none of this is necessary...contains the usual mix of aliens and turrets. Which now contains drones I guess. I wonder how the latter episodes are going to mix it up. This is fun now, but could get tedious if overplayed.

At the northwestern section of the map I find a diamond shaped secret room. These are always fascinating. This one is light on enemies, at first. Curiously, its two linked together, neither having any treasure. The second, naturally, features a plasma generator. They kill me I reload and pick a different area. At this point I more or less run out of ammo, running on mere fumes. Thanks for that, boys. It'd be worse if I actually fought the plasma things, there's barely any ammo there.

Continuing into the last section, which is a crate-themed area. Turrets and monster cans. Interesting combo. Very tricky at the moment, due to the aforementioned lack of ammo. I manage to stop a pod monster with the self-charging weapon, but get gunned down by Goldfire walking back to a source of health. Might as well harvest some ammo from an earlier floor. The reason why I haven't done that is...well, I haven't felt the need.
Now the plasma generators. As I mentioned previously, you shoot one, another one spawns. At earlier difficulties, this is delayed, but not at expert. To cap matters off, there's a secret within this one RIGHT NEXT to the generators. And naturally, once inside, I realize my folly. The ammo and health were inside here. And there's another one in the previous diamond. These are vital secrets too, they have a single gold bar inside them.

The end is just a simple congratulation screen. Goldfire is ramping up his production of mutants...and...we have to go destroy them. This is just the plot of Wolfenstein without the nazis. Nevermind, join me and my 7.2 million point score in the next mission.

This Session: 2 hours

Total Time: 11.5 hours