Nerves of Steel

The Good
Unlike Wolf3d which had maze-like levels Nerves of Steel actually had a nice variety to them. The graphics although simplistic are passable considering the age of the engine. The sound effects on the guns also sound particularly menacing. The engine scrolls rather smoothly which is nice but the timing is a bit off on Dosbox. (still need to figure out the right settings) This game is worth a look if you like old shooters or are a collector.

Boxed versions of this game are also quite rate.

The Bad
Not enough frames of animation for the enemies. It appears they only created the bare minimum needed. The sound effect for the enemies with chain-guns is also pretty poor, it sounds more like stomping. The rocket launcher weapons could use some tweaking it flies too fast in my opinion. The hit detection for both enemies and the player character is at times twitchy.

The last map of the first episode I have never finished. Eventually you warp into a room that loops endlessly into other identical rooms? Maybe I missed something after killing the boss?

The Bottom Line
Not nearly as bad as others claim. The game is a playable example of the early FPS genre. Originally I first played NOS after playing Wolf3d and Doom sometime in the early 90's. The game engine itself technologically speaking is respectively between both Wolf3d and Doom. Since I only had the shareware versions of both iD's classic shooters Nerves of Steel felt like a bargain. The music is cool but the single looping continuous track eventually plays on your "NERVES" a bit... The sound effects are actually satisfying. The guns sounds seem exaggerated which is a blast when gunning down a room full of enemies. Some reviews also game this game has no working doors which is not true. A few areas in the game have opening and closing doors. The games "readme" actually details the different types of doors. The game is noted as having Network play but it appears to be undocumented in the manual? One day I like to try this through dosbox. If Merit Software tweaked this game a bit more and it might have been a contender. However I can only imagine how hard it was coding a first person game in DOS!

If you really want to play the worst FPS ever made try something else like ANGST or Extreme Paintbrawl. Nerves of Steel does not deserve such a title.