 |
It took the gaming world by storm. It won Game of the Year three years
running (a title soon to be equalled by EA's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault).
It still is one of the most popular games around, despite its age. It's
the gaming revolution that is Unreal Tournament.
While it wasn't the first FPS, it redesigned the way we thought about
them. Doom and Quake had all seen a share of popularity and rightly so.
However, none of them had given the single-player the same adrenalin rush
as they had in multiplayer. Console versions of these classics were bound
to fail as massive deathmatches were only possible with multitaps (and
let's face it, who's completed Quake 2 for the PS1. On Hard mode?).
Epic realised why Doom and Quake had left their players gagging for more,
but also realised and gave a thought to all those players either lacking
a strong internet connection, and all those lacking the sheer skill to
take on other excellent players in a deathmatch. Therefore bot support
arose. Unreal 1 didn't have it (it was much like the Quakes and Dooms
we'd seen before), and Half-Life wasn't out yet. UT gave it all. Bot support,
and a game that was just like playing against human players. To this date,
I've never seen a better AI in a game. Fully customisable from the skin
and model they use down to their favourite weapon and their personality
(from Avoidant and Cautious all the way up to Agressive and Berserk),
and all the way through their desire to camp and how likely they are to
camp. If you set every bot up different, you really do feel like you're
playing against a group of humans, as every little tweak makes them that
bit different. That bit more individual.
The weapons, too, brought the house down with their ingenuity, cunning
design and strategy. Not to mention the frag-ability. A sniper rifle (now
synonymous with FPS games) that can take heads clean off, a weapon that
fires razor discs to the same effect, a rocket launcher that fires 5 off
at once, the insanely powerful Redeemer and even the basic Enforcer, which
can be enhanced by picking up another to double the fun. Additionally,
every weapon from the melee sort (point-blank range) all the way up to
the Redeemer have a secondary firing mode.
Each weapon, unlike many games, enables the user the the chance to score
a kill, no matter what the opponent has. A person who's just spawned with
an Enforcer pistol could easily, with a few good shots, take down a Flak
Cannoneer. There is no overriding superiority, except the Redeemer, which
is rare anyway.
The levels, too, are another great point about UT. They're all very varied,
limited only by the creator's imagination. Some have a strong atmosphere,
if lighting is well-made, and if the textures used are effective. Plus,
there are many distinct gamemodes, from the heated Deathmatch and CTF,
through to Domination (where you have to control specific points to gain
points) and Assault (an objective-based mission). All encourage a different
style of play, and additional modifications and add-ons enable many others
as well as the standard.
Which brings me neatly on to modding. Although a long-winded process for
the modder(s), mapper(s) and skinner(s), Unreal Tournament is probably
the most moddable game ever, the podium only shared by Half-Life (except
most mods for HL were made by the developers, while Epic only supports
the modders). The UnrealScript used in it can be accessed and altered
via the Unreal Editor (included with the game), and enables you to alter
every aspect of the game, and more besides. All it would require is some
programming knowledge and a lot of time on your hands. I'll be reviewing
a lot of these mods very soon (I've downloaded 5 discs worth of mods,
over 1.5 gigabytes, for UT, and I love every single one in its own right,
as well as the original game). The GOTY edition of UT, although now not
available in shops, gives the player a taste of a few of the mods. However,
the bonus packs it includes are all downloadable from the UT websites
(and they ain't that big).
Still put off? Well here's something for you: There's not a PC on Earth
that wouldn't support it. It's age allows it to run on just about any
OS (win95 onwards), it requires no video card whatsoever (it has its own
built-in software rendering device, but a graphics card does make it look
a LOT nicer, believe me). There's no reason whatsoever to not buy it...
My advice would be to get this game if you don't already own it. If you're
an FPS fan and you want variety and a damn good match versus bots (whatever
your reason may be), you'll find it all here. If you want to, you could
always mod it to make it more like another FPS you like (I've seen mods
where you can get in vehicles, so you could always make a Renegade mod).
Buy it ASAP. You can always find it in a bargain bin, but even if not,
it's worth every penny.
Rating: 10/10
|
 |
