Powerslave offers a couple of nice twists. Similar to another underdog – Strife – some areas aren't accessible unless you push objects around, either revealing new doorways or providing a stepping stone to jump over a wall. Because there are several places where you have to perform some accurate leaps, the inclusion of a third-person perspective can be a big help in calculating your trajectories. In addition to real-world weapons such as an M-60 machine gun, hand grenades, and a flamethrower, you can also use a slew of magical items that do everything from making you invincible to replenishing your life meter. These magical items add depth to gameplay because you have to decide what to use and when to use it, not to mention collecting enough "magical essence" to enable you to unleash powerful spells similar to Shadowcaster. The training mode allows you to get used to the interface and various commands without worrying about enemies.

Powerslave also boasts excellent graphics that far surpass your average Quake clones. The enemies are nicely textured and shaded, and pixellation is minimal. The level with the giant Sphinx in particular almost evokes the same breaktaking "wow" effect of the last level in the first Tomb Raider game.

Despite all its strengths, Powerslave has a few glaring errors that prevent it from being a Quake contender. Probably the most annoying is the game's terrible save-game feature, which reveals its console origins. Instead of being able to save a game at any point during play, you have to give a new game a name and then save it at certain points within each level; your progress is automatically saved at the end of a level. What this means is that if you quit and load a saved game, you're forced to start at the beginning of a level regardless of how far you progressed in that level the last time you played. Two other unforgivable omissions are the complete lack of joystick or gamepad support, and the missing "always run" button that is common feature in most first-person shooters. Strafing is also painfully slow, and the weapons (numbering only seven) are all quite mundane.

All in all, though, Powerslave's solid level design, interesing plot, and modest puzzle elements makes it a refreshing break from numerous Quake clones. If you hate first-person shooters in general, there's nothing here that will make you change your mind. For fans of the genre, though, Powerslave is highly recommended.

If you want a lot of retro and non-retro FPS reviews in a condensed video format, check out Gggman's channel! The first link below takes you to a review for Powerslave EX, a functioning PC port of the PlayStation version. The homepage for its developer is given in the second link. Finally, turns out Nightdive Studios might well be reviving it soon! Contact us if you know of further developments.