Unreal

[Desslock]

...I come back to you now, from 1998 -- which I think is undeniably the best year for PC gaming in the past 10 years, if not ever. Aside from there being some truly landmark games, such as Half-life, there was also just tremendous diversity, from genres that have largely disappeared to Europe these days (traditional Adventure games, flight sims, space sims) - here's a brief outline of just some of the notable games released in 1998: Half-life, Grim Fandango, Unreal, StarCraft, Baldur's Gate, Fallout 2, FreeSpace 1, Independence War, Thief, Final Fantasy VII, Falcon 4.0, Battlezone, WWII Fighters, Rainbow Six, European Air War, Myth II, Railroad Tycoon 2, Janes F-15, Operational Art of War. Incredible.

One of the games on that list that I'd always kept on my "to be played" list, but never got around to for more than an hour or so, was the original Unreal. I bought it the first weekend it was released, since the early buzz was surprisingly good, but then put it aside after most reviewers seemed ultimately a bit disappointed. By the time Half-life came out later that year, it seemed irrelevant. The consensus seemed to be that it was pretty, but a lot like Quake, and that there were a few scripted scenes (but nothing like Half-life, which came out later the same year) and some decent AI, but the tricks got old. And the multiplayer code was pretty broken, initially.

So I am really surprised at how much I enjoyed playing through Unreal. I actually think the game is great - and holds up very well. It's a much, much better game than the original Quake (which I loved at the time, because the polygonal graphics were so new), and one of the most entertaining shooters I've ever played. The graphics (at today's 1600x1200 resolution) are much better than I expected - the polygon counts on the creatures are obviously very low relative to today's shooters, but the textures are great, there's some good water effects, reflective surfaces, cool forcefield type effects and holographs. The AI is also surprisingly good -- not quite Halo-good, which really set the standard in my opinion, but very solid. The level design and gameplay are definitely old-style: i.e., run and gun, and levels are basically just caves with few interactive items, furniture, or environmental fixtures, but some of the levels are much larger than other games at the time, open-ended and feature large outdoor environments in a way Quake (and Quake engine games, like Half-life) - it's frankly refreshing compared to the overly scripted "rail" shooters like Medal of Honor and Aliens vs. Predator 2. The enemy types are distinctive and interesting, and there's a few scripted scenes interspersed to give 'em some additional personality - the message logs you find also held my attention better than the ones in System Shock 2.

It's also a really meaty game- putting to shame the length of the average shooter these days, and new enemies/items/weapons were interspersed well so there was always something interesting to discover. Perhaps my admiration may partly triggered by nostalgia for a run-and-gun shooter (in which case, maybe I'd like Painkiller even more), so maybe I wouldn't have liked the game as much if I'd played it through in 98 when it was initially released, but right now I think the game was actually underappreciated when initially released (aside from its multiplayer, which definitely stank).

Playing Unreal and then Far Cry back-to-back has been pretty interesting, to see how the shooter genre's evolved (I like Far Cry a lot too, although I haven't finished it yet). I will say that while I've never minded check-point systems before, it's pretty easy to get stuck with a 20-30 minute stint to replay in Far Cry if you take a stealthy, or indirect, approach through the game -- and I hate scripted scenarios that essentially mandate your death the first time through (like the Heli on the carrier early on, or the Omaha beach scene in MOHAA) -- they ludicrously make the best strategy mindlessly charging in every time you hit a checkpoint, just so you know where the danger spots and scripting triggers are. Bah.

Anyway, hope all have been well.

[Jason Becker]

I remember looking around Unreal for the first time and thinking how cool it was outside the ship(the first game I played with my Voodoo1 card). It didn't hold up for me in the end. It just got dull after awhile. I didn't really know why I was supposed to be going forward(I got tird of reading the boring PDA messages). I just sort of stopped playing one day and never started again.

Still its a landmark game in the technical sanse to me. Along with Quake it first showed the reason to get a 3D card.

[cyborg]

Unreal still oozes atmosphere - it really felt you were on a vast alien planet when you could walk for ages and explore some Nali huts if you felt the need.

The Nali Castle still is just an amazing level.

And the game is so HUGE - I kept thinking it must be nearly the end of the game and then I'd find out that I still wasn't even halfway through.

Makes me want to go play it again really...

[Dave Long]

The biggest problem with the game was the feel of the weapons. They just didn't seem like they hurt anything... that's since been rectified in the series obviously.

Good to have you back. I've been saying since mid-1999 that 1998 was the best year in computer gaming, well, ever. So many long term franchises were born or reborn. It still remains the best year to be a PC gamer on record.

--Dave

[tronnc]

Unreal did bring us Nali healing fruit. Its a great game feature that makes the player sit around and watch a plant grow to get health from it.

[curst]

Unreal had a few spectacular moments, a few brilliantly-designed levels, and awesome atmosphere. But for me, the pacing of the game was so haphazard that I never got into it:

Great moment #1: the intro level.
Great moment #2: the hallway with the first Skaarj encounter in level #2.
Great moment #3: the Sunspire, probably 12 levels down the road.
Great moment #4: after you destroy the reactor in the mothership which is in (I believe) the second to last level of the game
Great moment #5: the final level before you reach the final bland boss.

[Derek Meister]

Unreal was the first game I played using an actual 3D accelerator in the form of a cheaply bought Voodoo II 12MB card. Seeing the difference between software rendering and the accelerated mode was like a small revelation of things to come.

I agree on the pacing bit, as I was one of the many who dropped out of the single-player story about ¾th of the way through. Lots of "wow" moments seperated by long stretches of running through a valley.

Still, unlike most others I had tons of fun with the multiplayer mode, though that was perhaps because I was able to play through the university broadband connection. The "Illhaven Saga" series of maps was nothing but co-op goodness, and I still found myself getting together with some friends online and playing co-op well after Unreal Tournament's release.

The two mods I absolutely loved for Unreal were Serpentin, which provided a number of real world weapons and played great on a map like DM-Bronx, and Unreal 4 Ever, which had a collection of oddball weapons such as black hole generators and my treasured "Baby Nukem" wind up doll.

Unreal was also the first game I managed to run a server of under Linux using a very early build of WINE.

[Shadari]

Unreal had, in my opinion, the absolute most immersive first half hour or so of gameplay of all-time. Yeah yeah, watch it with the superlatives and what not, but I'm serious. Yes, it beats out Half-life.

But as others have stated, it did drag a bit through the middle and the end was so so. But there were enough little rewards throughout the game to make it worthwhile completing. The game was close to being a classic, but it didn't quite pull it off.

The biggest problem with the game was the feel of the weapons. They just didn't seem like they hurt anything... that's since been rectified in the series obviously.
I still think the weapons of the Unreal (Tournament) series are lacking in the "oooomph" department when put up against games like Quake 3: Arena. I've been playing both Q3A and UT2004 a bit lately, and man, Q3A's weapons are infinitely more visceral and just in your face! Granted, UT's weapons have improved since Unreal, but I still think they have a ways to go.

[Wholly Schmidt]

I still think the weapons of the Unreal (Tournament) series are lacking in the "oooomph" department when put up against games like Quake 3: Arena. I've been playing both Q3A and UT2004 a bit lately, and man, Q3A's weapons are infinitely more visceral and just in your face! Granted, UT's weapons have improved since Unreal, but I still think they have a ways to go.
Amen

[christopher]

...I come back to you now, from 1998 -- which I think is undeniably the best year for PC gaming in the past 10 years, if not ever. Aside from there being some truly landmark games, such as Half-life, there was also just tremendous diversity, from genres that have largely disappeared to Europe these days (traditional Adventure games, flight sims, space sims) - here's a brief outline of just some of the notable games released in 1998: Half-life, Grim Fandango, Unreal, StarCraft, Baldur's Gate, Fallout 2, FreeSpace 1, Independence War, Thief, Final Fantasy VII, Falcon 4.0, Battlezone, WWII Fighters, Rainbow Six, European Air War, Myth II, Railroad Tycoon 2, Janes F-15, Operational Art of War. Incredible.

The greatness of 1998 is only equaled by the sad fact that some of the interesting ideas never caught on. Everyone wants to make the next Half-life, but has anyone tried to make the next Grim Fandango? The next Independence War? What about the original High Heat Baseball, a game that should have set the standard for baseball games from then on, but doesn't even exist anymore? Very sad.

[TheWombat]

Unreal had, in my opinion, the absolute most immersive first half hour or so of gameplay of all-time. Yeah yeah, watch it with the superlatives and what not, but I'm serious. Yes, it beats out Half-life.

That's because the first half hour of Half-Life is a tram ride :P

When I reviewed Unreal for CGM (Strat Plus then I think, still?) I gave it 3/5, largely because it had too much filler to plump out those 40 levels or whatever. The best Unreal levels were very, very good. The majority were meh. But in retrospect I'd agree it holds up pretty well.

[Talisker]

The greatness of 1998 is only equaled by the sad fact that some of the interesting ideas never caught on. Everyone wants to make the next Half-life, but has anyone tried to make the next Grim Fandango? The next Independence War? What about the original High Heat Baseball, a game that should have set the standard for baseball games from then on, but doesn't even exist anymore? Very sad.
Very sad, yes. But, were any of those games big sellers?

Oh, and someone did make the next Independence War (http://www.i-war2.com/) (at least, in a very literal sense).

[Ben Sones]

...I come back to you now, from 1998 -- which I think is undeniably the best year for PC gaming in the past 10 years, if not ever.

1994 was also a great gaming year:

DOOM II
X-com: UFO Defense
Jagged Alliance
Lords of the Realm
Magic Carpet
Mission Critical
Panzer General
Sam & Max
Myst
Tie Fighter
System Shock
Warcraft
Warlords II
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
Wings of Glory


...And '96 wasn't half bad, either. But '98 was defintely a banner year.

[tronnc]

The greatness of 1998 is only equaled by the sad fact that some of the interesting ideas never caught on. Everyone wants to make the next Half-life, but has anyone tried to make the next Grim Fandango? The next Independence War? What about the original High Heat Baseball, a game that should have set the standard for baseball games from then on, but doesn't even exist anymore? Very sad.
Very sad, yes. But, were any of those games big sellers?

Oh, and someone did make the next Independence War (http://www.i-war2.com/) (at least, in a very literal sense).

But IWar 2 basically sucked. The gameplay was very different from Iwar 1. Iwar 2 was a great idea just not implemented properly.

If only someone would simply remade Iwar 1 with modern graphics and coop multiplayer for some missions.

[Erik Andersson]

I had a surprisingly low framerate with both the gf3ti200 and my current FX5900 before I managed to find a new OpenGL driver for the game. I don't remember where I found it but if anyone else wants it I can send it.

[christopher]

Very sad, yes. But, were any of those games big sellers?

I'm sure they weren't, and that's why no one bothered to emulate them. But why does everything have to sell well? It seems like there used to be tons of niche games that couldn't have sold very well. And yet they kept making them. Are games that much more expensive to make these days? And if so, why?

Oh, and someone did make the next Independence War (http://www.i-war2.com/) (at least, in a very literal sense).

That's right, only the developer of the original game bothered to make a similar game. The same was true for High Heat Baseball.

[Captain Tenneal]

You know, I really liked Grim Fandango. I wish more of that genre would've came out. I guess I had to stick with Myst and the like... :cry:

[Derek Meister]

I had a surprisingly low framerate with both the gf3ti200 and my current FX5900 before I managed to find a new OpenGL driver for the game.

You should still be able to get Dan Vogel's patch at oldunreal.com (http://www.oldunreal.com/patch.shtml).

[Creole Ned]

I agree with the general consensus on Unreal. It remains one of my favorite FPS's and it's one of the few I ever go back to.

I played it at a leisurely pace spanning two months and partway through upgraded from a Voodoo1 to a Voodoo2. This allowed me to bump the resolution up from 512x384 to a staggering 640x480. Joy!

The worst part was definitely the sheer volume of content. The pacing flagged at times and there are a number of levels that could have been tightened up to the betterment of the overall experience (in fact, a lot of content was cut before it shipped, some of which resurfaced in the expansion pack). The final boss fight, as with too many shooters, was a letdown.

The story started out simple ("You're a prisoner, your ship has crashed on a strange world and you must fight to survive and escape"), becomes intriguing (hinting that you were the "savior" of the Nali) before ultimately being abandoned altogether. Too bad on that.

I loved the way the game combined a quasi-medieval look with SF tech and managed to make it seem credible (the space-faring and evil Skaarj are subjugating the mystical, peace-loving Nali), the environments were often lush and sometimes breath-taking and the game had a lot of fun moments, many of which have already been covered.

The botmatch included was quite good and was unique among shipped games at the time and after a few patches, the netcode was good enough to make it a decent play on the Internet, too.

I always liked the odd, alien weapons. The ASMD was an elegant weapon that dealt cruel damage. Every weapon doesn't need to blow out the bass in your speakers to be worthy, you know. :)

Personal highlights (curst hit most of mine, apologies for the repeats):

• the opening level. You start badly injured and weaponless. You work your way through the crashed ship amid the screams of the dying, dodging burst pipes and other hazards. Along the way, you catch your first glimpse (if you're quick) of a Skaarj -- an enemy you won't see again until several levels in. It all ends with you exiting the ship and setting sight on the stunning Nyleve Falls. Even better, you turn around and there is the Vortex Rikers, the huge prison ship, towering above you. The size and scale of such things had never been seen in a shooter before.

• the first "real" encounter with a Skaarj as the lights click off one by one.

• the first time a Nali beckons you to follow him, leading to a secret passage that he opens with a wave of his hands. In typical Nali fashion, he then assumes a floating lotus position before dematerializing. :)

• coming out of a series of underground passages to find yourself in an arena of sorts and then the first Titan of the game emerges through a gate for a little one on one.

• after destroying the reactor, you go back through the same level but with it in shambles, the darkness interrupted only by the beam of your flashlight and the glow of the uber-Skaarj that come to investigate. This was the first time I'd seen this sort of idea done in a shooter, where you go back through a familiar environment that has been changed and I found it incredibly immersive at the time.

• um, probably a bunch more.

I still have the game installed. May be time to check it out yet again.

[Desslock]

after destroying the reactor, you go back through the same level but with it in shambles, the darkness interrupted only by the beam of your flashlight and the glow of the uber-Skaarj that come to investigate.

Those guys are actually in the game the first time you go through the level, only they are imprisoned behind forcefields (there's a text description in the message log explaining what happened). Taking out the reactor lowers their forcefields, freeing them. That level was great.

[Derek Meister]

In many ways I prefer the look of the ASMD over it's later offspring, the Shockrifle. However, my two favorite weapons were the Eight Ball Launcher and the Razorjack. There was nothing like finding an online opponent had trapped themselves in a small room and using the Eight Ball to toss six bouncing shell grenades into their confined space. Most people didn't know how to properly use the Razorjack, but it's alt-mode allowed enough control to bounce the little spinning blades across walls and around corners into hiding opponents.

[Warning]

If you haven't played it, you should check out Operation NaPali. http://www.planetunreal.com/teamvortex/help/

A team of modders who didn't like the "official" expansion to Unreal developed their own and coded it in the original Unreal Tournament engine. I played it through last fall and its amazing! Very true to the original Unreal in both atmosphere and playstyle.

And it doesn't have any of the repetitiveness that plagued the original.

Definitely worth checking out.

[steve]

Even better, you turn around and there is the Vortex Rikers, the huge prison ship, towering above you. The size and scale of such things had never been seen in a shooter before.
While I generally agree with everything you said, Jedi Knight came out a year before Unreal and had this kind of scale throughout.

[Creole Ned]

steve, you're right. I'm not sure why I had forgotten about the immense levels in JK. Right from the start you had areas like the vertigo-inducing "vertical city" of Nar Shaddaa (yes, I looked up the spelling). Perhaps the Nyleve Falls level impressed me not just because of the scale, but because of the dramatic transition (albeit with a level load) between the cramped exit tunnel of the prison ship to the vast open space of the outdoor area.

Both games still rank among my favorite shooters and the immense scale featured in each is a primary factor.