Bandango
01-21-2010, 08:23 AM
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2088
A hockey rink in a ruined city, down the block from a mutant zoo. A train ride out of a bio-weapons lab overrun by monstrous lichen. A functional missile silo and submarines and bizarre temples that tower over a poisonous landscape dotted by giant mushrooms. I didn’t expect any of this from Harmony when I first booted it up. Your character wakes in a mundane building that houses corridors straight out of any old school FPS, maybe Duke 3D or Marathon or Rise of the Triad. Once outside those halls, though, and a level or two into the game, it's clear that Harmony is more than just familiar corridors. It is a look back into the history of a beloved genre that innovation has rendered unrecognizable from its original form. It's a reconstruction that benefits from the patient love only a hobbyist can give to a work; according to Tigsource (http://www.tigsource.com/), it took creator Thomas van der Velden 8 years to complete the game. I think it was worth it.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2082
Harmony is everything you’d expect from a AAA first person shooter… if it were 1995. There are 11 sprawling levels full of bad guys to kill, secrets to reveal and keys to find (purple, yellow and lime— a departure from the usual primaries). Each level is increasingly more over-the-top than the last, with impressive use of scale, open spaces, and expressive architecture. The enemies are particularly memorable, handcrafted out of clay and well animated. The same can’t be said for the weapons, which, besides the grenade/rocket launcher, are wholly typical—nothing more than functional. And while the music is palatable, I found myself turning it down and listening to podcasts or my own tunes instead.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2084
Everything looks crisp and clean, and a wide variety of aspect ratios and screen resolutions are supported. Harmony is very pretty for what it is. The controls are map-able, mouse look is supported, and if you enable crouching and jumping, you won’t feel restricted in your movement. I don’t think the levels are designed for this freedom, but I prefer it, even if I did accidentally bypass certain areas (I think?) or jump myself over a few ledges-of-no-return.
If you have any place in your heart for the first person shooters of yore, download Harmony immediately. It’s fun, it’s free, and it’s a chance to play a new old shooter. Give it a shot, at least for nostalgia’s sake.
Harmony is:
-a resurrection of the old school fps.
-full of well designed levels.
-pretty hard. I played it on very easy.
Download it here:
http://rabotik.nl/harmony.htm
A hockey rink in a ruined city, down the block from a mutant zoo. A train ride out of a bio-weapons lab overrun by monstrous lichen. A functional missile silo and submarines and bizarre temples that tower over a poisonous landscape dotted by giant mushrooms. I didn’t expect any of this from Harmony when I first booted it up. Your character wakes in a mundane building that houses corridors straight out of any old school FPS, maybe Duke 3D or Marathon or Rise of the Triad. Once outside those halls, though, and a level or two into the game, it's clear that Harmony is more than just familiar corridors. It is a look back into the history of a beloved genre that innovation has rendered unrecognizable from its original form. It's a reconstruction that benefits from the patient love only a hobbyist can give to a work; according to Tigsource (http://www.tigsource.com/), it took creator Thomas van der Velden 8 years to complete the game. I think it was worth it.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2082
Harmony is everything you’d expect from a AAA first person shooter… if it were 1995. There are 11 sprawling levels full of bad guys to kill, secrets to reveal and keys to find (purple, yellow and lime— a departure from the usual primaries). Each level is increasingly more over-the-top than the last, with impressive use of scale, open spaces, and expressive architecture. The enemies are particularly memorable, handcrafted out of clay and well animated. The same can’t be said for the weapons, which, besides the grenade/rocket launcher, are wholly typical—nothing more than functional. And while the music is palatable, I found myself turning it down and listening to podcasts or my own tunes instead.
http://www.flexamail.com/GetImage.ashx?id=2084
Everything looks crisp and clean, and a wide variety of aspect ratios and screen resolutions are supported. Harmony is very pretty for what it is. The controls are map-able, mouse look is supported, and if you enable crouching and jumping, you won’t feel restricted in your movement. I don’t think the levels are designed for this freedom, but I prefer it, even if I did accidentally bypass certain areas (I think?) or jump myself over a few ledges-of-no-return.
If you have any place in your heart for the first person shooters of yore, download Harmony immediately. It’s fun, it’s free, and it’s a chance to play a new old shooter. Give it a shot, at least for nostalgia’s sake.
Harmony is:
-a resurrection of the old school fps.
-full of well designed levels.
-pretty hard. I played it on very easy.
Download it here:
http://rabotik.nl/harmony.htm