Blake Stone: Planet Strike

Old-school first-person shooter where you fight your way through futuristic complexes filled with mutants, robots, and secret experiments ✅Map system with zoom and secret detection ✅I liked the soundtrack ❌The graphics are awful, but that's no surprise considering the game is from 1994 ❌Repetitive gameplay and monotonous levels ❌Low enemy variety ❌Bosses should be more challenging, but that doesn't seem to be the case with this game ❌The price should be lower ❌❌ Verdict: [b] Terrible [/b], [strike] Bad [/strike], [strike] Mediocre [/strike], [strike] Decent [/strike], [strike] Good [/strike] , [strike] Very Good [/strike] (Rating scale for short games, retro indie simulator games and similar) [quote]If you'd like to see more of my reviews, you can find them on my curator page:[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45994324/admin/reviews_manage/]CuratorKingViking[/url] and on my group: [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CuratorKingViking]GroupKingViking[/url] If you have any questions about my reviews, feel free to ask.I'm happy to answer them. All reviews are my own!!Best regards, King Viking Bezimienny, Polish Game Reviewer. [/quote]

Blake Stone: Planet Strike, developed by JAM Productions and published by Apogee Entertainment, is one of those early first-person shooters that quietly refined a formula just as the genre was on the brink of rapid evolution. Released in 1994, it builds directly on the foundation of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, continuing the pursuit of the rogue scientist Dr. Goldfire. While the narrative itself is straightforward—essentially a mission to stop another catastrophic experiment—it serves its purpose as a framework for what the game truly focuses on: tightly constructed levels, methodical exploration, and steady, no-frills action. Mechanically, the game is unmistakably rooted in the Wolfenstein 3D-style engine, with its grid-based movement, flat level geometry, and fast-paced shooting. However, Planet Strike makes small but meaningful adjustments to that formula. Instead of relying purely on key-hunting to progress, players are tasked with locating and destroying specific objectives within each level, such as security devices that unlock further areas. This change subtly shifts the pacing, encouraging more deliberate exploration rather than simply rushing from one locked door to the …

More [b]Blake Stone[/b], including the bad timing of the original release (a couple of weeks after [b]Doom II[/b]). A most appreciated change from the first game is having an automap always active in the HUD, with batteries that serve to rather zoom, a function that doesn't seem useful (the scale of the map is fine as it is, and zooming it is less convenient) until you realize the 4X zoom even reveals secret passages. It removes a lot of challenge, but are you sure you will never use it, especially if you are aiming for 100% completion? Aside from that, just like the first, the asking price is so low that it doesn't hurt to try it. And of course, the BStone source port works with this game too.

it appears that level eight is impossible to complete and the cheats to allow you to go next level does not work. Supposed to be a detonator somewhere?

I wouldn't recommend this unless you're specifically into games from this era.

Yet another chapter in an already colorful and vibrant post Wolfenstein world full of challenge, puzzles, and hardships, I may not have played this nearly as much as Blake Stone Aliens of Gold, but I did put my best effort forward, and wow, does it deliver, improved weapons, explosive charge packs, even more interesting enemies, and still, i cannot beat this on its hardest difficulty, not just yet I suppose, I will try and try again until I do!