This forgotten Polish shooter tried to do things that Western FPS games couldn’t

Target is an FPS game released in 1997, developed by De Lyric Games studio. The project was supervised by Miroslaw Demek, a renowned veteran of the Polish development industry, whose portfolio includes the Earth and Two Worlds series, and who has been running his own independent studio – Home Net Games – since 2013.

Goal He gives us a specific vision of Poland in 1997, where different criminal groups fought for power after the collapse of the Soviet Union. During the game, we took on the role of a mercenary and landed in the middle of this conflict, carrying out orders for suspicious people, most of them from across the eastern border.

The mainstay of the game was the campaign, where there were 10 large-scale missions waiting to be completed. Although each of them had their own conspiracy background, in reality it was just an excuse to eliminate hordes of opponents. On the battlefield, we can use a wide range of weapons, including a crowbar, pistol, shotgun or shotgun, as well as more sophisticated killing weapons, such as a flamethrower or rocket launcher. It is worth noting that Regardless of the difficulty level chosen, the described production can greatly irritate players.

GoalSource: Ermakgerd Longplace / YouTube

Interestingly, the game allowed us to jump on a motorcycle, but given the driving model that a tank simulator would be proud of, let’s cover this element of the game with a veil of silence. More than graphics and sound Card It is also not worth going into too many details. The game used 2D sprites and looked surprisingly comparable to competitive Duke Nukem 3D, despite debuting less than a month before Unreal and just over half a year before the first part of the Half-Life series.

What made Target special?

Although it is based on the above description Goal It looks like a regular shooting game from the second half of the 90s, The work of Mirosław Dymek and his company can boast elements that cannot be found in most other products of this type.

RPG elements

Long before the first Deus Ex game hit store shelves, Goal I tried to combine the shooter genre with solutions straight from RPGs. Although it was not the first attempt of this type in the history of the industry, the RPG elements in an FPS were still a new and interesting solution at the time.

Right at the beginning Goal It asks us to choose a character class (A sniper rifle, a saboteur and a commando are at our disposal) and Distribution of points between four statistics: Health, strength, knowledge and accuracy. Interestingly, as the creators emphasized, the latter affected the abilities of the heroes (or heroine) during the mission, determining, among other things, what weapons they could use. Moreover Executing tasks requires small conversations with customersAfter each mission, we returned to the statistics screen, where we allocated additional points.

Split screen

The second distinctive element Card Compared to most other FPS games of the time, it was possible to play on split screen. Granted, achieving victories while controlling the character using only the keyboard was nearly impossible, and the game’s balance issues were severe and annoying, but the targeted split-screen mode can still be a lot of fun.

Workplace

The ultimate highlight item Card Compared to most other shooters or even video games in general, there was room for action. Goal He was taking us to Poland, to Polish streets, to Polish backyards, to Polish underground labyrinths extending under Polish cities… Well, the latter is the fruit of the creators’ imagination. however, The Polish nature of this game was felt almost everywhere. It’s also important that the game is fully localized, so everyone speaks (and swears) in Polish.

Goal – How to play in 2023?

Unfortunately, Card You won’t be able to find it on GOG.com, or even on Steam. At the moment of writing these words, only one copy of this production can be found online, although the hefty price actually discourages purchase.

Target – Similar Games

Goal The trend of creating video games set in post-communist countries did not begin. But when searching for similar games, you can pay attention to the Franco series or the HROT game She reached the podium in May steam It received “overwhelmingly positive” reviews..

adviceSource: Spytihněv / Steam