Post by The Chupster on Jul 21, 2008 3:57:32 GMT -5
So today I was having a friend over, and realized that I didn't have any splitscreen shooters left at my house. The only shooter I really wanted at the moment- Battlefield: Bad Company- has no splitscreen, and I'd sort'a wanted Unreal Tournament, so I figured, what the fuck.
Graphically, Unreal Tournament III is SWEET. Unreal has definitely benefited from the tech that they used with Gears of War, because the graphics have that same style- the characters, particularly the group you play with in the singleplayer "campaign" mode, look like they could've been buds with Marcus Fenix, if their armor wasn't so much more colorful.
That isn't to say that it looks as good as Gears; it just looks great, but it isn't spectacular the way Gears is. But it looks better than most shooters out there. Get up close to just about anything and the texture and modeling work really shines; nothing about this game looks bad.
The framerate is similarly solid as hell. I've only seen a couple of hiccups, and those were in online games, which is more or less to be expected in a game that looks this good that supports up to 16 players + vehicles and shit.
Controls are tight, except for a weird little bug where I'll press left and occasionally- just every once in a while- my guy will start running to the left until I press a different direction. There's no aim assist here; you have to do the aiming, and if you miss, it's your own damn fault.
Vehicles control pretty much like the warthog from Halo- point the crosshair where you want to go and forward on the stick and you go. Click the left stick for flyers to go up, click the right stick for them to go down. There's an alternate in the options on that, but I haven't had a shot at that control scheme yet, so y'know- no idea how that goes.
Player models are plenty and varied. I've only played a few Unreal games, and never for very long, but I was sort of disappointed that the Necris (I think that's their name) weren't in the game; instead, you get some alien dog-looking bastards that the Necris use to invade planets or something- I dunno, the story is pretty retarded. The fact that they call the singleplayer mode "Campaign" is sort of misleading. What it really amounts to is a bunch of team vs. team bot matches of various sorts, which isn't a bad thing- the AI is rough but not cheap as shit, and the games are challenging for the most part, except for the straight deathmatches on Normal difficulty; you'll wipe the maps with everyone in those.
Some of the maps are massive, some not so much. On the smaller maps, you have access to a teleporter disk gun- you shoot the disk and hit alternate fire to teleport to it instantly. On the larger maps, you have a hoverboard at your disposal, which lets you travel at a good clip, but you can't fire while on it and if you get hit you go tumbling, which lets the enemy fuck your world up for you.
The match variants are pretty straightfoward. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are the regulars, as is Capture the Flag and Vehicle CTF. Duel is a straight 1-on-1 match, but the real killer here is Warfare.
In Warfare, each team has a large power node. Other nodes are scattered across the map, and they work as checkpoints- you capture the next node to have access to the node after that, where vehicles will spawn for your team only. The nodes can be destroyed, at which point they become neutral, but you can only destroy the last node in the link, which makes the previous node of your team's color vulnerable. Basically, it makes the game a tug of war, and you have to get a line of nodes to the opposing team's power node and blow it to hell to win.
Other nodes may spawn turrets, cause environmental changes (usually related to the node) or spawn special vehicles. In one map, there was a mine node, and holding it brought up a timer. When the timer counted down 60 seconds, whatever team possessed it received a Leviathan vehicle- which can only be described as a super-vehicle, bristling with room for 5, each with a powerful gun attached. The vehicle could also be stopped and a massive cannon deployed that pretty much destroys anything in its path of fire. And the bastard is hard to take down!
Speaking of vehicles, there's a BUTTLOAD of variety here. There are tanks, SUVs with cannons, buggies with gun emplacements, Halo Ghost-like hovercars, aerial vehicles, tentacled flyers and walkers, speeder bike-types- there's a vehicle for just about every taste. My only complaint is that the levels aren't all large enough to let you loose with them.
The game is rife with Unreal Tournament's typical 'twitch'-style gameplay, where you're constantly running and shooting, respawning and repeating, but it seems to have been slowed down a touch, which is a good thing in my book. The game has a lot more deliberate pacing, which works SO well on the strategic missions, especially any Warfare mission. It's still frenetic enough for heated, stressed-out deathmatches, but not so fast that capture the flag turns into a series of back-and-forth races.
My main complaint is that once you've played it, you've played it. There are 8 additional character models to unlock through the Campaign mode, and aside from that, that's it. The maps are nice but are all symmetrical, which granted gives everyone a fair playing field, but leaves them feeling a bit simple, no matter how nice they are. All of the weapons are available from the get-go, and while some of the heavy additions are nice (but rare)- there's an anti-vehicular missile launcher and what can only be described as a mobile one-shot nuclear cannon- it lacks variety, and there just isn't a lot to keep you going unless you just really, really like the game.
I enjoy it myself, but I can see myself getting tired of it. I've been playing it for roughly 3 hours, and I tossed on an online deathmatch and a game of Warfare just to mix things up, but I'd be lying if I said I would've still bought this if I hadn't needed a splitscreen shooter to play with my bud. It just doesn't give you a reason to go on past love the of game itself- which again, isn't a bad thing, but it limits the game's appeal to hardcore Unreal fans.
Then again, if you're someone who hates doing all of that damned work just to unlock shit that you feel like you should have from the beginning, Unreal's the way to go. It's gorgeous, it's fun, and Warfare mode alone is worth the price of admission. And the different fun, gory ways to die.
I'll break this bad puppy down:
Graphics: 8.5/10 - Not perfect, but a damned fine representative of the graphical arts.
Music: 6/10 - Pretty much just generic techno-ish trance beats. Nothing you'd want to buy unless comas appeal to you, but not bad for the subject matter.
Sound: 7.5/10 - Nothing great, nothing horrible. Appropriate but well-done. A lot of silence on the big levels though, until something big happens closer to you.
Gameplay: 9/10 - If it weren't for the vehicles and their crosshair-centric targetting (tanks should have the cannons independent, period) and that moving-to-the-left glitch, it'd be perfect- the game lets you do what you want, when you want, simply and easily.
Interface: 6/10 - Not broken, but hard to navigate in places. Campaign has a map that looks like you should be able to choose missions or go back to old missions, but you can't, and local multiplayer is difficult to find because it isn't in the multiplayer section.
Innovation: 8/10 - The game plays well and looks great doing it. Throwing a wealth of vehicle types and variations in the game makes this the sci-fi game to have for the vehicle lovers out there, which may not be new, but it's the one thing that's been around before but never been done to this point in this kind of game. VERY nice. And Warfare mode is just insanely frickin' cool.
Features: 9/10 - Unreal dumps a lot on your plate right off the bat, with traditional single-player, splitscreen co-op and versus, and online versions of all modes in the game. Getting to pick your multiplayer character from the dozens of models included is a treat, even if it isn't quite character customization, and the game even lets you offer up your console as a dedicated server if you feel up to it- as long as you don't mind being excluded from the game. Good stuff, and splitscreen always helps out. And DLC is coming. Eventually.
Extras: 4/10 - I'll admit, I like unlocking new content, but 8 characters and a Gears of War 2 video that everyone and their grandmother has seen by now? Weak, seriously weak, and it brings the replay value down.
Replay: 7.5/10 - Just going with a middle-of-the-good score here because if you love Unreal, you'll play this forever. If you don't, you'll get bored and move on to something else pretty quick.
Overall: 65.5/90 - Purchase if you're a fan of the franchise or you're just needing a new shooter; otherwise, stick with the big dogs.
Final Verdict: 72.8% - Exceptional effort
Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War do shooters better- overall. But for a game that mixes frenetic shooting, traditional shooter game types and a new twist on the "capture objective points" with Warfare mode, Unreal Tournament innovates and makes you wanna play just one more game. Good stuff- just not perfect.
Graphically, Unreal Tournament III is SWEET. Unreal has definitely benefited from the tech that they used with Gears of War, because the graphics have that same style- the characters, particularly the group you play with in the singleplayer "campaign" mode, look like they could've been buds with Marcus Fenix, if their armor wasn't so much more colorful.
That isn't to say that it looks as good as Gears; it just looks great, but it isn't spectacular the way Gears is. But it looks better than most shooters out there. Get up close to just about anything and the texture and modeling work really shines; nothing about this game looks bad.
The framerate is similarly solid as hell. I've only seen a couple of hiccups, and those were in online games, which is more or less to be expected in a game that looks this good that supports up to 16 players + vehicles and shit.
Controls are tight, except for a weird little bug where I'll press left and occasionally- just every once in a while- my guy will start running to the left until I press a different direction. There's no aim assist here; you have to do the aiming, and if you miss, it's your own damn fault.
Vehicles control pretty much like the warthog from Halo- point the crosshair where you want to go and forward on the stick and you go. Click the left stick for flyers to go up, click the right stick for them to go down. There's an alternate in the options on that, but I haven't had a shot at that control scheme yet, so y'know- no idea how that goes.
Player models are plenty and varied. I've only played a few Unreal games, and never for very long, but I was sort of disappointed that the Necris (I think that's their name) weren't in the game; instead, you get some alien dog-looking bastards that the Necris use to invade planets or something- I dunno, the story is pretty retarded. The fact that they call the singleplayer mode "Campaign" is sort of misleading. What it really amounts to is a bunch of team vs. team bot matches of various sorts, which isn't a bad thing- the AI is rough but not cheap as shit, and the games are challenging for the most part, except for the straight deathmatches on Normal difficulty; you'll wipe the maps with everyone in those.
Some of the maps are massive, some not so much. On the smaller maps, you have access to a teleporter disk gun- you shoot the disk and hit alternate fire to teleport to it instantly. On the larger maps, you have a hoverboard at your disposal, which lets you travel at a good clip, but you can't fire while on it and if you get hit you go tumbling, which lets the enemy fuck your world up for you.
The match variants are pretty straightfoward. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are the regulars, as is Capture the Flag and Vehicle CTF. Duel is a straight 1-on-1 match, but the real killer here is Warfare.
In Warfare, each team has a large power node. Other nodes are scattered across the map, and they work as checkpoints- you capture the next node to have access to the node after that, where vehicles will spawn for your team only. The nodes can be destroyed, at which point they become neutral, but you can only destroy the last node in the link, which makes the previous node of your team's color vulnerable. Basically, it makes the game a tug of war, and you have to get a line of nodes to the opposing team's power node and blow it to hell to win.
Other nodes may spawn turrets, cause environmental changes (usually related to the node) or spawn special vehicles. In one map, there was a mine node, and holding it brought up a timer. When the timer counted down 60 seconds, whatever team possessed it received a Leviathan vehicle- which can only be described as a super-vehicle, bristling with room for 5, each with a powerful gun attached. The vehicle could also be stopped and a massive cannon deployed that pretty much destroys anything in its path of fire. And the bastard is hard to take down!
Speaking of vehicles, there's a BUTTLOAD of variety here. There are tanks, SUVs with cannons, buggies with gun emplacements, Halo Ghost-like hovercars, aerial vehicles, tentacled flyers and walkers, speeder bike-types- there's a vehicle for just about every taste. My only complaint is that the levels aren't all large enough to let you loose with them.
The game is rife with Unreal Tournament's typical 'twitch'-style gameplay, where you're constantly running and shooting, respawning and repeating, but it seems to have been slowed down a touch, which is a good thing in my book. The game has a lot more deliberate pacing, which works SO well on the strategic missions, especially any Warfare mission. It's still frenetic enough for heated, stressed-out deathmatches, but not so fast that capture the flag turns into a series of back-and-forth races.
My main complaint is that once you've played it, you've played it. There are 8 additional character models to unlock through the Campaign mode, and aside from that, that's it. The maps are nice but are all symmetrical, which granted gives everyone a fair playing field, but leaves them feeling a bit simple, no matter how nice they are. All of the weapons are available from the get-go, and while some of the heavy additions are nice (but rare)- there's an anti-vehicular missile launcher and what can only be described as a mobile one-shot nuclear cannon- it lacks variety, and there just isn't a lot to keep you going unless you just really, really like the game.
I enjoy it myself, but I can see myself getting tired of it. I've been playing it for roughly 3 hours, and I tossed on an online deathmatch and a game of Warfare just to mix things up, but I'd be lying if I said I would've still bought this if I hadn't needed a splitscreen shooter to play with my bud. It just doesn't give you a reason to go on past love the of game itself- which again, isn't a bad thing, but it limits the game's appeal to hardcore Unreal fans.
Then again, if you're someone who hates doing all of that damned work just to unlock shit that you feel like you should have from the beginning, Unreal's the way to go. It's gorgeous, it's fun, and Warfare mode alone is worth the price of admission. And the different fun, gory ways to die.
I'll break this bad puppy down:
Graphics: 8.5/10 - Not perfect, but a damned fine representative of the graphical arts.
Music: 6/10 - Pretty much just generic techno-ish trance beats. Nothing you'd want to buy unless comas appeal to you, but not bad for the subject matter.
Sound: 7.5/10 - Nothing great, nothing horrible. Appropriate but well-done. A lot of silence on the big levels though, until something big happens closer to you.
Gameplay: 9/10 - If it weren't for the vehicles and their crosshair-centric targetting (tanks should have the cannons independent, period) and that moving-to-the-left glitch, it'd be perfect- the game lets you do what you want, when you want, simply and easily.
Interface: 6/10 - Not broken, but hard to navigate in places. Campaign has a map that looks like you should be able to choose missions or go back to old missions, but you can't, and local multiplayer is difficult to find because it isn't in the multiplayer section.
Innovation: 8/10 - The game plays well and looks great doing it. Throwing a wealth of vehicle types and variations in the game makes this the sci-fi game to have for the vehicle lovers out there, which may not be new, but it's the one thing that's been around before but never been done to this point in this kind of game. VERY nice. And Warfare mode is just insanely frickin' cool.
Features: 9/10 - Unreal dumps a lot on your plate right off the bat, with traditional single-player, splitscreen co-op and versus, and online versions of all modes in the game. Getting to pick your multiplayer character from the dozens of models included is a treat, even if it isn't quite character customization, and the game even lets you offer up your console as a dedicated server if you feel up to it- as long as you don't mind being excluded from the game. Good stuff, and splitscreen always helps out. And DLC is coming. Eventually.
Extras: 4/10 - I'll admit, I like unlocking new content, but 8 characters and a Gears of War 2 video that everyone and their grandmother has seen by now? Weak, seriously weak, and it brings the replay value down.
Replay: 7.5/10 - Just going with a middle-of-the-good score here because if you love Unreal, you'll play this forever. If you don't, you'll get bored and move on to something else pretty quick.
Overall: 65.5/90 - Purchase if you're a fan of the franchise or you're just needing a new shooter; otherwise, stick with the big dogs.
Final Verdict: 72.8% - Exceptional effort
Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War do shooters better- overall. But for a game that mixes frenetic shooting, traditional shooter game types and a new twist on the "capture objective points" with Warfare mode, Unreal Tournament innovates and makes you wanna play just one more game. Good stuff- just not perfect.
