Unreal

For the 3 people on the planet who don't know Unreal is a first person shooter that has been in development for several years and was being heralded as a Quake 2 killer. It claimed to have better graphics, more interactive environments and characters and better AI. Now that it has been released, did it live up to the hype? Hell yes.

GRAPHICS: In the current age of 3-d acceleration, graphics a huge part of game design and it seems that a new engine comes out of the woodwork daily. SO how does a game that has been in development for years stack up against the compoetion? Simple, it beats any game out there today(with the possible exception of Forsaken). The true graphic effects require a good 3-d accellerator,but those are fairly common nowdays so this is not a problem. Even if you lack an acellerator, Unreal's software mode supports most of the graphical effects if you have a good strong system. From the time you wake up in the prison ship, you will see how strong the game engine is. Everything is smooth and crisp, and the colored lighting in unbeleivable. But the full effect doesn't hit you until you get outside the ship. Then you will see a true game world: Birds in the air, fish in the water, rabbits on the ground, and one of the most stunning waterfalls that I have ever seen. As you travel, you can read the logs of the dead soldiers via the translator, an idea picked out of System Shock. When you encounter the first enemy, you will see that they are more fliud and life-life than anything from Quake2. As in any 3-d shooter, the weapons are very important, and Unreal has the best looking weapon effects that I have ever seen. Also each weapon has a unique and interesting secondary fire mode, which does add strategy to the game. The explosions are great, and the lighting effects are superb. The best thing is that users are modifying the weapons and creating new one daily, so the variety appears to be endless.

SOUND: I must admit I don't pay too much attention to sound in a game but Unreal's sound effects were simply stunning. The simple sounds of life in the world really make you think that you are actually there. An the auditory clues are very important in a bot or deathmatch. It really helps to know who is behind you and with what weapon!

CONTROL: For FPS I don't use a game pad, only a keyboard and mouse. The control here is flawless with the only exception being that the Alt key is normally used for strafing in Quake and Jedi Knight. Here it engages each weapons secondary fire mode. This can be a little confusing at first but it is no major problem.

GAMEPLAY: Well graphics and sound will not mean a thing if the gameplay sucks.Luckily Unreal delivers in spades in the gameplay department. The levels never get monotonous, and there are some easy puzzles thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. The best example is when you fight a huge Stone Titan. You can kill him with weapons if you are carefull, or you can lure him onto a bridge and blow it up, causing him to plummet into the lava below. Also the character interaction is superb, as the peacefull and oppressed Nalli race will help you by showing you secrets and ammo locations. The unique thing is sometimes they get caught and killed by the guards, so you never know what will happen. As far as the enemies go, they are some of the brightest I have seen. They will hunt in groups, track you, call for backup, and dodge and hide. And I swear that they will learn if you keep using set tactics like hiding in the shadows. The AI here is far better than anything in any other FPS. One of the only complaints I have with the single player game is that the enemies are very strong, and the weapons are weak against them. This does add strategy, but I found myself longing for a good BFG. Luckily the problem is being solved by users who have modified the weapons. Two fine examples are the exploding razorjack and the railgun. These greatly improves the odds.

The main problem with the game is the multiplayer aspect or the lack thereof. I have a good 56k modem, and the lag was unbearable. This problem though is being patched so you can look forward to some sweet deathmatch mayhem soon. This is good because there are several modes to the multiplayer game. The most unique is the darkmatch. Here you are in a level with no light. The only light comes from the players flashlight. You can turn this off and hunt players whao leave theirs on, or leave yours on to find secrets and ammo. Combined with the excellent sound, playing a level in the dark was very intense! Luckily, until the online aspect is fixed, you can compete against very very intelligent bots, from the man who created the reaper bots for Quake. These are very smart, and come very close to simulating a human oponent, apart from on the Tundra level. Write in if you want to know why.

And if for some ungodly reason you ever get bored, the Unreal level editor is included in the box. It is very easy to use, and I have no experience in programming. Just take a look at these sites to see what people can do

www.gameznet.com/unreal/ The site is called the Unreal Dojo and has all of the patches mods maps and skins that you will ever need.Its a tribute really to gamer innovation.

All in all this is the best FPS out there, at least until Half-Life, Thief, or Duke Nukem Forever come out.

Graphics 10/10

Sound 9/10

Control 9/10

Gameplay 10/10

Overall: 10/10 Mmmmm....razorjack....

-Madgraduate