Unreal Tournament
Introduction
Damn Epic and Mark Rein.
Damn them for creating a game so good and addictive that I have destroyed
my mouse. Unreal Tournament has gone gold and thus it's time for a preview
again. One problem is, I have to use all keyboard commands to write it. Damn
them.
When the original Unreal
was released, everyone applauded it's phenomenal graphics that took the Quake
2 engine, and bitch slapped it. The graphics even by today's standards are
fantastic. But Unreal had more then just graphics going for it. Unreal's
story, while nowhere near that of Jedi Knights, was a compelling mix of triumph
and tragedy that made me want to play single play mode. Add to that support
for 3D sound, excellent scripted sequences (I still cringe as the lights
go off), and some kicks ass weapons, Unreal had it all. Well, almost all.
The first release of
Unreal didn't have very good multiplayer support (read piss poor). This lack
of good Internet gaming lead to Quake 2 being crowned king of multiplayer
FPS games. As well all know, Unreal's multiplayer support was later fixed
with some pretty hefty patches. However, it should have been playable out
of the box. This is the problem that Epic setout to fix with Unreal Tournament.
Multiplayer R Us
In today's FPS categories,
you either have multiplayer support, or your game rots on the shelves. Games
like Quake 3 are only about multiplayer and deathmatching. Epic, and Mark
Rein, knew this when they set out to develop Unreal Tournament.
Unreal Tournament has
been designed from the ground up to be a multiplayer game. There is no mission
mode. Instead you fight bots of increasing skill, while honing your own skills
to do some fragging online. To some people like me, this is a bit of detriment
to any game (I am a huge fan of Jedi Knights). However, with 90% of people
playing games online, a good deathmatch game is hard to ignore.
The Interface
Unreal Tournament is
by far and away the easiest game to get online with I have ever used. All
of the game controls are built to look like a hybrid of the Macintosh GUI
(with Windows TAB features thrown in for good measure). You navigate the
game controls exactly as you would an OS.
The main menu bar at the
top has six categories: Game, Multiplayer, Options, Stats, Tools, and Help.
When you click on a category, a drop down menu appears (like if you were
to click on the File menu in your browser). Once you select a category within
the drop down menu, a new window will open that has tabs (similar to the
Display Properties menu in Windows) with various options to chose from. Clicking
on a tab brings it forward just like in a real OS. The most annoying part
of the interface is the fact that it is actually easier to use then Windows!
Multiplayer Options
The Unreal Tournament
Server Browser window, under the Multiplayer menu, is where you will be spending
most your time, once you have finished setting up the game. This window contains
everything you need to find a game to play in online. It even has recent
news (usually used to tell when a patch is available) and chat tabs. When
you click on the Servers Tab, it brings up a list of all the active servers
currently online. By looking at this one window, you can discern the ping
to the server, who is playing, how many people are playing, what everyone's
ping is, and all of the current server settings including the Map. This reminds
me a lot of the Game Spy system.
Options Menu
The Options menu is probably
where you will spend the least time, but is the most important. You will
have to set up everything from your characters appearance, to your video
driver through this menu.
The Preferences window,
in the options menu, is where I have spent most of my time. This is where
you will select your video, audio, game, input, network, controls, and HUD
settings. In addition, it also allows you to tweak certain parts of the games
GUI (Graphical User Interface)
A couple of features really
stand out from the competition. The Min Desired Frame Rate is a multiplayer
users delight. Instead of having to constantly go back and forth to tweak
your systems setting to get the best combination of frame rate and graphical
detail, the MDFR option does it for you. You simply enter the minimum frame
rate that you want while playing the game and your done. The game will
automatically lower and raise the detail levels to match the minimum frame
rate. However, the MDFR can't change your resolution during play. So if you
think you can set your resolution to 1024x768 and get 30fps when all you
have is an ATI Rage Pro 8MB P.O.S video card, think again.
The Game Itself
Unreal Tournament, despite
being squarely aimed at multiplayer experience, does have single player options.
Instead of missions, or wondering around in order to find some key you should
have had in the first place, you instead compete against computer controlled
Bots in a death match style competition. As your skill improves, the computer
will increase the difficulty. Eventually, the AI becomes harder to beat the
Goku at Super Saiyan Type 4. This however, gets boring fast.
The real meat of this
game is the multiplayer modes. Of coarse there is a death match mode. That
goes without saying. Team play is also present, and something I enjoy more
then death match. Other modes include Assault, Team Deathmatch, domination,
and capture the flag. All are well done with levels to match.
Almost all of the weapons
from Unreal have made the cut and are in Unreal Tournament. Some notable
exceptions were the Green Goo Gun and sniper rifle. Whether or not this was
from the game simply being early or the fact that they weren't all that popular
is yet to be known. In addition, a few new guns have come into play. All
weapons have two modes of fire, including one weapon that shoots a Star Trek
like phaser at the enemy. Also to all you rocket jockeys out there (ooh big
gun…I be da winner with dis), there is a rocket launcher. However, it
is easily countered so don't think that it will be the end all of weapons.
Graphics
The first thing you will
notice is that, even on a "lowly" Voodoo 2, and in 16 bit color, the graphics,
while not a quantum leap over Unreal are awesome. Dynamic lighting is everywhere
(check out some the pictures). The water effect is amazing, and characters
are highly detailed. What amazed me the most however, is the detail prevalent
in the arenas. Take a look at some of the high quality picture shots (be
warned, they are all 100K or more) and you will not be disappointed. The
Egyptian style texture details are fantastic, even on lower end hardware.
Rather then go on and on about the graphics, just click on a few pictures
to get the idea. They were taken at a resolution of 800x600 and then compressed
into JPEG format (down from 2MBs). The color depth was set at 16bit, so expect
32bit cards to look even better.
Sound
The music, where there
is some, is good albeit forgettable. Most of the time though, you will be
to busy playing to really notice it.
As for the sound effects,
prepare to be amazed. Supporting both 4-speaker surround (A3D and EAX), as
well as full Dolby Prologic, UT does not disappoint.
While I didn't get a chance
to play the game in A3D or EAX (the new review machine is being built as
we speak), I did get the chance to hear it in Dolby. Man, what a difference
a couple of speakers can make. Missiles come flying over your shoulder.
Explosions surround you. People scream in agony. This is what gaming should
be. If you have a Dolby receiver system, by all means use it.
Conclusion
Overall, Unreal Tournament
feels very solid. The weapons are very well balanced, there is a myriad of
options, and the graphics…well…they are just unreal (bad pun intended).
Hopefully, only good things will happen between now and it's release. Let's
hope that there are no sudden surprises.
If I were to rate this
game right now, I would give it a 9 out of 10, with one of those points coming
from the ability to play dead. It would be a definite contender for the Vortex
"This Game Kicks Ass" award. However, since the game isn't complete yet,
I can do that. Look for a full review as soon as the final version
ships…and as soon as I get a new mouse.
-Jedi
