It had been several months since I have played any game of the FPS genre and as I have said several times it is not my favorite genre of games, however, I have played several over the years and I have had a lot of fun playing them. A few weeks ago I discovered a game of this genre which caught my attention, as in appearance is very similar to Doom, but set in Egypt, so I set out to play it and in the end it turned out to be pretty good, for such an old game and clearly takes much inspiration from the classic Doom.
Powerslave or also known as "Exhumed" tells us the classic story in which we must save the world. The events of this game take place in the city of "Karnak", which has been invaded by beings from another world. Due to this great threat, a group of elite agents of the armed forces has been sent to the city to deal with these beings. Upon arriving at the city, which is located in Egypt, the elite group of the armed forces is attacked, leaving only one of these agents alive. Which we will have to embody and we must help him to eliminate this alien threat and inform our superiors of what is happening. Simple story, but full of action from beginning to end.
Graphically it is a pretty outstanding game, there are several versions of this game. From MegaDrive to even a version for Playstation 1. I played the PS1 version and has a fairly outstanding graphic quality, especially since in this game we are in an environment that emulates ancient Egypt, with all its characteristic and classic elements, that just by seeing them we have an idea of the place where we are.
The design of enemies is very original, being these mostly demons of grotesque and intimidating appearance, while others, present designs a little more "simple", but equally well designed. The movement of our character is fluid and fast, being a very important aspect in a first-person shooter game like this one.
The whole atmosphere of this game is very successful and although many think that as this game is located only in Egypt, there would not be much variety of scenarios, but it is quite the opposite, as we will find many dungeons which enter and fight against the enemies that are in them, although the color that predominates in this game are yellow, brown and gold colors, logically. In addition to that we will find the classic "Egyptian" decorations that manage to set very well most of the places where we go. Another important aspect of this game is the way we destroy the enemies, as it is quite graphic, gore and bloody.
The music is great and plays a very fundamental role when it comes to setting the scenes, since many of these melodies add the factor of mystery, gloom and danger in various situations that we will go through in this adventure. In general terms, the music of this game fits perfectly with each of the scenarios and situations, from music with fast rhythms that serve for the moments of greatest action or those moments of "tranquility" before the chaos between beings of the underworld and gunfire. The sound effects are also perfectly adequate, the effects of each weapon are optimal and give a good gaming experience.
Powerslave or also known as "Exhumed" is a fairly conventional first person shooter, in this game, simple control, but in some cases a little "robust", so to speak, although more than robust, you could say a little "old-fashioned", if we compare them with current games of the same genre, although it would not be a fair comparison, however, it is a 100% enjoyable game today. This is a game where our main objective is to go through a series of scenarios and shoot to destroy every enemy that crosses our path, for this we will have an adequate arsenal of weapons to achieve this goal. There is a pretty decent variety of weapons, which will be very useful.
But more than a game that only focuses on first-person shooters, Powerslave also has some other elements of other video game genres, such as "platforms", since we are facing a game that will also be very vertical in some sections. Sections in which we must move nimbly in order to reach a specific objective or enemy. In addition to this, Powerslave has certain elements of "backtracking" or better known as "Metroidvania", since we are urged to return to places that we previously went through, but not having the right skill to perform the necessary action (open a door or have a special ability to access a specific place), thus creating a system also exploration which is appropriate and necessary for a game of this style.
All in all Powerslave/Exhumed is a very entertaining game, a quite unique FPS, but that takes several elements from other games of the same genre, to create something quite original and with its own charisma, to be considered as one of the best of its time, despite how little known it is.
