In one of tonight's multiple chaotic dreams, I was struggling with a very buggy computer game. However, the game itself was pleasant, and, as I woke up, I wondered what memories inspired it, and what actual games resemble it. After careful freudian analysis, I narrowed down the sources as (besides me wanting to fuck my mum, I mean) :

- Syndicate
- Cannon foddder
- Theater of death (its rip-off)
- Hotline miami
- GunFu Deadlands
- Licence to kill

In that dream, the altitude view and setting were close to cannon fodder and the gameplay and intensity were close to hotline and gunfu, even though you could switch weapons with the keyboard (short range spray versus long range precision, etc). It wasn't team-based, you played only one character. And, apart from the bugs on save/load (fire key not responding, enemies reactions not triggered, healthbar decreasing as if being shot), it really felt familiar.

So, I wonder if there is another experienced source I borrowed elements from, and forgot about, or if there are some unknown existing games that already combine these elements into a gameplay closer to that dream.

Do you know of other games in that genre ? Top-down shooters very much about tactical approaches (select good angle, moment and weapon to surprise the enemies) ?

Shadow Company (1999)

I'd also say Faces of War / Men of War / Soldiers: Heroes of WWW2 series, but they are more like tactical RTS games. But they all have direct control / fire options.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who occasionally dreams computer games ;-)