This weekend, Epic’s most known first person shooter Unreal Tournament is celebrating its 10th anniversary and all comers are welcome to play for free Unreal Tournament III: Black Edition.

All you need is a Steam account and you should be able to download the free game, along with the the 2.0 patch, and the Titan Pack which includes lots of new weapons, vehicles, environments, as well as two new game-types; Greed and Betrayal.

Bronze Trophies

Lock and Load
Complete chapter 1

Soldier’s Blood
Complete chapter 2

Does Not Compute
Complete chapter 3

Not in Kansas Anymore
Complete chapter 4

I Need Some Backup
Complete 1 mission in co-op

Got Your Back
Complete 10 mission in co-op

I See How It Is
Complete an Instant Action Match in every game mode

Spice of Life
Play a match with every mutator, using only 1 per match

Brain Surgeon
Get the “Head Hunter” award in 10 matches

Dont Taze Me Bro!
Get the “Combo King” award in 10 matches

Goo God
Get the “Biohazard” award in 10 matches

Pistolero
Get the “Gun Slinger” award in 10 matches

Shard-O-Matic
Get the “Blue Streak” award in 10 matches

Hammerhead
Get the “JackHammer” award in 10 matches

Strongest Link
Get the “Shaft master” award in 10 matches

Have a Nice Day
Get the “Rocket Scientist” award in 10 matches and “Flak Master” award in 10 matches

Big Game Hunter
Get the “Big Game Hunter” award in 10 matches

Armadillo
Get the “Roadkill” award in 10 matches

Jack of All Trades
Kill an enemy with every vehicle (except hoverboard)

Ace
Get the “Top Gun” award in 20 matches

Deathwish
Get the “Bullseye” (self-destruct to destroy an enemy) award in 20 matches

Seeing Red
Have over 20 minutes of “Berserk Time”

Never Saw It Coming
Have over 20 minutes of “Invisibility Time”

Survival of the Fittest
Have over 10 minutes of “Invulnerable Time”

Delivering the Hurt
Have over 20 minutes of “UDamage Time”

Hat Trick
Achieve a Hat Trick in 10 CTF or VCTF matches

Being a Hero
Return 100 Orbs in Warfare matches

Flag Waver
Complete 100 CTF matches played to at least 3 captures.

30 Minutes or Less
Complete 100 VCTF matches played to at least 3 captures

Paint the Town Red
Complete 100 Deathmatch or Duel Matches played to atleast 20 kills.

Connect the Dots
Complete 100 Warfare matches played to at least 3 points

Serial Killer
Get the “Killing Spree” award in 20 matches

Sir Slays-a-Lot
Get the “Monster Kill” award in 20 matches

Killjoy
End Sprees in 20 matches

Off to a Good Start
Get the “First Blood” award in 40 matches

Let’s Get It On
Complete a multiplayer match in every game type

Silver Trophies

I’m Not on a Holy War
Defeat Akasha and complete the campaign

Just Business
Complete Chapter 2 in Insane

Bag of Bolts
Complete Chapter 3 in Insane

Open War
Complete Chapter 4 in Insane

Thanks to All the Little People
Complete a campaign in co-op

Like the Back of My Hand
Collect every power up on every map

Around the World
Win a multiplayer match on every map

Get a Life
Get 200 kills in multiplayer on 50 different days

Gold Trophies

Fear the Reaper
Defeat Akasha and complete the campaign in Insane.

Untouchable
Reach 20 kills against a god-like bot in instant action without dying

Online Champion
Win 500 online matches

Platinum Trophy

Unreal!
Collect all other trophies.

Hej igen!

Ni får ursäkta det lilla avbrottet (som förövrigt var helt och hållet inte mitt fel), men här kommer ett nytt inlägg serverat på ett ganska litet och silveraktigt fat.

Vid sidan av BF1942 så är det UT3 som gäller när det gäller onlinespel. Varför? Jo, det är fruktansvärt fartfyllt, supersnyggt och brutalt bra balanserat.

Häromveckan släpptes en minst sagt stor uppdatering av det nämnda spelet i form av en patch och ett tilläggspaket.

Innehållet i korta drag (saxat från BeyondUnreal):

• 16 new maps + 3 bonus pack 1 maps
• Titan mutator
• Greed and Betrayal gametypes
• Stinger Turret, Eradicator Cannon Artillery and the Stealthbender vehicle
• X-Ray Field and Link Station Deployables
• Slow-Field power-up (pickup version of the deployable of the same name)
• Two new characters: Nova (Liandri) and Kana (Ronin)
• 57 Steam Achievements
• Major enhancements, incuding AI, network performance, menu and UI, better mod support
• Client-side demo recording, updated server browser, new maplist system, mid-game mutator and gametype voting functionality

Läs mer om uppdateringen här och här.

Jag upplever det som om spelet flyter på bättre, Greed-spelläget är grymt grymt och de nya kartorna är roliga, så om ni råkar äga ett exemplar av detta spel så då tveka inte!

Avslutningsvis kommer här lite länkar åt er! Ta för er, för bövelen! Det är gratis!

UT III 2.0 Patch (309 MB): DDL, Torrent

UT III Titan Pack (916 MB): DDL, Torrent

I’ve been out of town all weekend doing some volunteer stuff, so I’m afraid I just don’t have my second post ready on game criticism. I figured rather than half-assing it I’d post my impressions of a few games I rented a while back and pick up the criticism next week.

The following are games I picked up on my one free month of the Blockbuster game pass. These were all games that I felt I wanted to check out but either didn’t have a demo, or I wanted to see more than the demo offered.

Rise of the Argonauts: This game is officially on my buy list. I’m not saying it’s without bugs, but none of them outweigh the potential of this game, for me at least. It has sticky corners, only really plays well when installed to the hard drive, and the dialogue has too many dramatic pauses. Aside from that it has a great combat system, beautiful graphics, and an inventive story which reimagines Greek mythology. Not for everyone, but I’m sold.

Quantum of Solace: I wasn’t hoping this game would be Golden Eye, but I was hoping for split-screen multiplayer with bots. It doesn’t have split-screen multiplayer. That’s a huge disappointment for me. The campaign seemed pretty good (the use of actors from the films is awesome), but the gameplay just isn’t great enough. The stealth wasn’t stealthy enough and the action just felt … strange. It’s very much the kind of game you repeat a level over and over until you get it just right, and I wasn’t looking for that. I will say that I prefer its cover mechanic to that of Gears of War. Unfortunately the cover mechanic is really all this game holds for me, and there are other third-person action games I’m already looking forward to.

Sonic Unleashed: When I saw the reviews for this one I thought that it was just another case of adults beating up on a kids game. Though not a fan of Sonic in the past I wanted to like this game. The first few levels convinced me that this was a pass though. The controls just aren’t tight enough for what this platformer offers. I like the visuals and the design differences between the day and night levels, but the dialogue was a lot of fluff without any substance and the controls frustrated me too far. I was also really disappointed that while you were graded on how well you did in a level there was no opportunity to go back and replay it to try and get all those secret nooks and crannies. That was the final, big, nail in the coffin for me.

F.E.A.R.: I picked this game up because I missed it when it was originally released and I liked the demo for the sequel. The game looks a little dated and the controls weren’t as good as the revised ones for the sequel, but the A.I. is still better than most stuff out there. I’m not sure if I need another FPS right now, but it’s definitely still in the back of my mind.

Unreal Tournament 3: This game was another I thought might be good for multiplayer fun, after all it’s made for multiplayer. I also knew that it had bots, so I figured it would perhaps resemble the multiplayer of Timesplitters 2 (fully customizable with up to 4 human players on one console). I was super disappointed to find out that you could only play with two players on one console. WTF!?! How does Halo still have this beat? I returned the game in disgust.

In the end I used up my last few days working through the better part of F.E.A.R., but I just couldn’t get into the story enough to outright buy it. Then my gamepass was up and I went back to my pile of shame to start working on the stuff I already owned.

Next week I’ll be posting a bit about my views on the realm of videogame journalism.

Di seguito una terna di video tutorial che spiegano minuziosamente tre nuove modalità di gioco presenti in Unreal Tournament III: Titans, Betrayal e Greed. Buona visione…

UT3 – A guide to Titans

UT 3 – A guide to Betrayal

UT3 – A guide to Greed

Unreal Tournament III Black, which includes the new Titan Pack, is currently on sale through Valve’s Steam service. Due to demand, the sale has been extended through March 22.

You can grab a digital copy for $12.

Valve also tells us that since the Titan Pack was released along with a free weekend for the game, the amount of people playing UT III has gone up by 2000%. They do not say, however, how many of those players have purchased the game. Either way, that’s a nice increase for Midway and Epic.

I already snagged my Steam copy during the holiday sale of 2008, but would probably buy it now if I did not already own the game. $12 is a great value for a nice twitch shooter. Hopefully, more people are playing the game online now. Oh, and it now has Steam Achievements!

Antes que nada, los trofeos ya fuerón liberados en Europa, dias antes de la llegada del Titan Pack, al parecer la gente de nuestro continente tendra que esperar a que los trofeos lleguen junto con la expansión.

También ha habido varias quejas por supuestos problemas con los trofeos de parte de los usuarios del viejo continente, ya que al parecer cuando desbloqueas un trofeo, estos aparecen en a lista de trofeos, pero no en el perfil de jugador.

Cabe destacar que al principio se anunciarón que serian 57 trofeos, pero la actualización solo trae 48, de los cuales 36 son de Bronce, 8 de Plata, 3 de Oro y el respectivo de Platino que obtenemos al tener todos los demás trofeos.

La lista de trofeos esta a continuación.

TROFEOS DE BRONCE:

- Cargado y listo – Completa el capitulo 1.
- Sangre de un soldado – Completa el capitulo 2.
- No tiene lógica – Completa el capitulo 3.
- No estás en casa – Completa el capitulo 4.
- Necesito refuerzos – Completa 1 misión en una campaña en línea.
- Estás cubierto – Completa 10 misiones en una campaña en línea.
- Ya veo como es – Completa una partida de Acción instantánea en cada modo de juego.
- La especia de vida – Juega una partida con cada mutador, usando 1 sólo por partida.
- Neurocirujano – Obtén la recompensa “Cazatalentos” en 10 partidas.
- ¡No me electrocutes tio! – Obtén la recompensa “Rey del combo” en 10 partidas.
- Dios del moco – Obtén la recompensa “Peligro biológico” en 10 partidas.
- Pistolero – Obtén la recompensa “Pistolero” en 10 partidas.
- Shard-o-matico – Obtén la recompensa “Racha azul” en 10 partidas.
- Cabeza de martillo– Obtén la recompensa “Martillo neumático” en 10 partidas.
- Eslavón más fuerte – Obtén la recompensa “Maestro de lanza” en 10 partidas.
- ¡No tiene un buen día! – Obtén la recompensa “Ingeniero aeronáutico” en 10 partidas y la recompensa “Maestro antiaéreo” en 10 partidas.
- Cazador de caza mayor – Obtén la recompensa “Cazador de caza mayor” en 10 partidas.
- Tortilla – Obtén la recompensa “conducta violenta” en 10 partidas.
- Manitas – Mata a un enemigo con cada vehículo (Excepto Hoverboard)
- As de ases – Obtén la recompensa “Insuperables! En 20 partidas.
- Kamikaze – Obtén la recompensa “Dianas” (autodestrucción para destruir al enemigo) en 20 partidas.
- Viendo rojo – Juega más de 20 minutos en “Enloquecido”.
- No lo vi venir – Juega más de 20 minutos en “Invisibilidad”.
- La ley del más fuerte – Juega más de 20 minutos en “Invulnerabilidad”.
- Regalando golpes – Juega más de 20 minutos en “UDamage”.
- Truco de sombrero – Logra un “truco de sombrero” en 10 partidas COB o CLB con vehículos.
- Siendo un héroe – Devuelve 100 esferas en partidas de guerra.
- Alzando la bandera – Completa 100 paridas CLB jugadas por lo menos 3 capturas.
- Treinta minutos o menos – Completa 100 partidas CLB con vehículos jugadas hasta por lo menos 3 capturas.
- Pinta la ciudad roja – Completa 100 partidas en Deathmacht o Duelo con hasta por lo menos 20 golpes mortales.
- Conecta los puntos – Completa 100 partidas en Guerra jugadas hasta por lo menos 3 puntos.
- Asesino en serie – Obtén la recompensa “Matanza indiscriminada” en 20 partidas.
- Exterminador – Obtén la recompensa “Muerte de monstruo” en 20 partidas.
- Aguafiestas – Finaliza “Matanzas” en 20 partidas.
- Empezando bien – Obtén la recompensa “Primera sangre” en 40 partidas.
- Vamos a empezar – Completa 1 partida en Multijugador en cada tipo de juego.

TROFEOS DE PLATA:

- No es una guerra santa – Derrota a Akasha y completa la campaña.
- Solo negocios – Completa el capitulo 2 en Locura.
- Saco de tornillos – Completa el capitulo 3 en Locura.
- Guerra abierta – Completa el capitulo 4 en Locura.
- Gracias subordinados – Completa una campaña en línea.
- Como la palma de mi mano – Reúne todos los power-up en cada mapa.
- Alrededor del mundo – Gana una partida Multijigador en cada mapa.
- Búscate vida – Obtén 200 golpes mortales en Multijugador en 50 días diferentes.

TROFEOS DE ORO:

- Teme a reaper – Derrota a Akasha y completa la campaña en Locura.
- Intocable – Alcanza 20 golpes mortales contra un robot omnipotente en acción instantánea sin morir.
- Campeón en línea – Gana 500 partidas en línea.

TROFEO DE PLATINO:

- ¡Unreal! – Reunir todos los otros trofeos.

The Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack has now been released for the PC including new maps, game-types and unreal amounts of tweaks and fixes for the game.

Get the pack at Beyond Unreal or Filefront.

We’ll let you know as soon as the PS3 version of the patch is released!

The mammoth update for Unreal Tournament III will be delayed until the 9th on the PS3.

“Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, the certification process for the PS3 patch and DLC has taken much longer than we expected. As a result, we have been forced to push back the release date for the PS3 version to 3/19…The PC patch contains updates that will improve mods cooked for PS3, so we’ll be taking advantage of this extra time to work with mod authors to make sure the best mods for UT3 are cooked with the latest patch” said Steve Polge from Epic games.

See the full details of the update here.

El titan pack, expansión gratuita de Unreal Tournament 3 que incluye muchas mejoras (trofeos, mapas, personajes, pantalla dividida, power ups, entre muchas otras cosas), no podra ver la luz este jueves 5 de Marzo.

Segun la gente de Epic, esto se debe a problemas que no le corresponden a ellos, pero que veran que otras cosas le podrán agregar hasta que sea por fin liberado este 19 de Marzo.

Por otra parte el Titan Pack saldra el día de mañana (5 de marzo) en PC como se tenia previsto.

[Fuente:PlanetUnreal]

UTIII

Well, Epic Games has recently announced the “Titan pack” which is an update that’ll be released on the PS3 and the PC.  But, it’s not being released on the Xbox 360, and Epic has sent an email out, explaining why:

The file size limitations prevent us from releasing it, not to mention we have things like split-screen support (Xbox 360 already has this), maps that are already in the 360 version, the integrated mod browser (The xbox 360 doesn’t support this)… the list goes on. Obviously, we are big supporters of Xbox 360 but there are significant hurdles keeping us from shipping the Titan Pack for Microsoft’s platform.

So here it is. For all of you who started crying fanboyism/favoritism, think again, Hah. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone would pull the “favoritism” thing, knowing Epic has the Gears of War franchise on the Xbox 360. Anyway, the preset patch size wasn’t large enough, so the patch couldn’t be supported on the Xbox 360.

Hora de um pequeno balanço da minha vida gamística de 2008. Estava aqui olhando alguns games e fiquei espantado com a quantidade de games que não comecei ou não terminei em 2008. Isso não deve acontecer com todos é claro, mas com quem vive comprando lançamento deve acontecer. Claro que não de forma exagerada como a minha. XD

Games que não fui até o fim em 2008:

Bem, em relação aos RPGs não fico espantado, eu geralmente jogo-os tão devagar que não é nenhuma supresa levar mais de 1 ano para encerrá-los. Em 2008 fiquei satisfeito de ter encerrado Blue Dragon. Já Saints Row 2, recebi ele com atraso em relaçou a seu lançamento e quando ele chegou eu já estava com tantos outros para jogar que ele ficou encostado, nem coloquei no X360 para sentir.

Unreal Tournament 3 foi uma surpresa não ter jogado, agora parando para pensar, não me lembro o que estava jogando na época que o admiri a ponto de ignorá-lo até agora. Já GTA 4 foi um game que me rendeu semanas e muitas horas de gameplay, mas depois de 80% de jogo, parei por cansaço. É tudo igual demais e o jogo ficou enjoado, vamos ver se em 2009 eu termino os 20% que faltou. Já Ninja Gaiden 2 foi um game comprado mais no hype. Não sei, o game não chegou a encantar como eu esperava, talvez eu devesse ter dado outra chance para ele.

Para GRID há uma explicação chamada Burnout Paradise, pois é, eu joguei Burnout 2008 inteiro, ficando difícil dar espaço para qualquer outro game de corrida. Porém vou fechar GRID antes da Codemaster lançar Fuel esse ano! Devil May Cry 4 eu acredito ter jogado até sua metade, mas fiquei horrivelmente irritado com determinadas fases, acho extremamente porco e preguiçoso produzir um game que o obrigada a ficar repassando por lugares já passados. Rainbow Six 2 não tem desculpa, comprei esse jogo sem motivo, nunca tive a pretenção de jogá-lo, na época devo ter confundido ele com algum outro game.

Bad Company existe um motivo para não ter jogado na época devida: Tinha acabado de fechar Call of Duty 4 e não tenho hábito de fechar 2 games com o mesmo tema seguidamente. Aí depois vieram outros lançamentos e o encostei. Por isso ainda não comprei Call of Duty 5 em 2008. Fallout 3 eu comecei e fui até umas 4 horas de game, preciso ressaltar que é um game que se você não entende inglês nem se preocupe em jogar. Mas aí chegou Gears of War 2 dias depois de receber Fallout 3 e você já deve saber o que aconteceu. Far Cry 2 é a mesma coisa, chegou junto de GoW 2, todos os games foram para escanteido quando ele chegou na verdade.

Uau, bastante coisa hein? O bom é que eu fechei também muita coisa em 2008, como Gears of War 2, Call of Duty 4, Blue Dragon, Sonic Unleashed, Beatiful Katamari, Burnout Paradise, Soul Calinur IV, Crash Mind over Mutant, Spider-Man Web of Shadows, Lego Indiana Jones, Battle Fantasia, Lego Batman…

E você? Ficou com alguma coisa aí na sua prateleira sem fechar em 2008?

OBS: Fiquei sem jogar alguns games em 2008 porque não consegui compra-los ainda como Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts, The Last Remnant e Tomb Raider Underworld. Este ficaram para 2009 mesmo.

2008 Xbox 360 Holiday Gift Guide

About writes: “Finding a gift for a gamer in your life can be pretty tough, but hopefully this guide will help you out. We cover the hottest games of 2008 so you can find just the right gift. If you are looking to buy a new Xbox 360 system, you have several options. I would suggest first to take a look at our Xbox 360 System Buyer’s Guide so you can find out all about what the system offers and what you can do with it besides just play games. Next, you need to decide what system is right for you or the person you are buying it for. There are several different configurations available.”

Phó giám đốc của Epic, Mark Rein vừa thông báo về bản mở rộng của Unreal Tournament III, chính thức xóa bỏ mọi tin đồn về việc UTIII sẽ bỏ rơi bởi nhà phát hành là Midway, mặc dù không được thành công như ý muốn. Trong cuộc phỏng vấn với Gamespot, Rein cho biết thỏa thuận giữa Epic với Midway không phải là thỏa thuận về bản quyền, mà chỉ là một hợp đồng phát hành game, thêm nữa, công ty đang tiếp tục phát triển một bản mở rộng mới. Rein không cho biết thêm bất cứ thông tin nào khác về bản mở rộng này.

Mặc dù UT3 không thành công như mong đợi nhưng những game khác dựa trên nền tảng engine Unreal mà điển hình là Gear Of War, đã rất thành công khi hàng triệu bản game đã được đưa đến tay người dùng.

Recently I’ve been working on a number of projects, the two that have been consuming most of my time are a short story and a level for Unreal Tournament III. As I’ve been working I’ve begun to notice a number of similarities in the processes I use when creating the level and those I use when writing short stories.

In both cases I have a central idea, a theme, that I’m aiming for and will come up with a general outline of the desired structure. Once I get started with the actual creation I work in an organic and iterative manner. I’ll get the broad strokes of characters, and areas down first and build a complete work in very rough form. Then I’ll go back and refine each element.

Often I’ll find a character is acting inconsistently, or an area doesn’t fit in a functional or aesthetic sense. In those cases usually the character or the area will tend to tell me how they want to develop, I’ll let it grow accordingly, adjust the original structure to fit. If the new direction is powerful enough sometimes even the theme itself will change.

UNN Celeste - Work In Progress

Over time I keep refining and adding more detail, adjusting the overall structure to compensate for new discoveries about how a character or an area is developing.

Even though I’m working on a vanilla deathmatch level it’s interesting to see how I go about building a narrative into the environment in terms of architecture and texturing and how willing I am to allow the emerging shape of the level guide subsequent iterations. The overall layout of the level is similar to the original concept but a number of areas have changed dramatically as certain initital assumptions have been proved incorrect. I’ve scrapped entire areas because they simply weren’t adding anything to the level, in the same way that I’ve had to rewrite entire scenes because they didn’t make sense given the way the characters had developing since my original outline

At some point the level and the short story, take on a life of their own and I have to let that happen or they just fall apart.

It’s fascinating to see how much I let the work itself influence future iterations; how subsequent iterations can see the finished form emerge in a way I didn’t expect but that always seems to work better. No matter how attached I might be to a line of dialogue, a specific scene, or a specific area if they don’t fit they don’t fit and I have to cut them. Almost always the work is better for having made that sacrifice.

I’m sure my personal biases have some bearing on how I work, still it’s strange to consider how closely the processes of two superficially dissimilar mediums match up.

Addendum: I’ve been considering including more of these style of posts, ones focused directly on things I’m currently working on and the processes I go through with each one. I don’t know if I want to turn this into a progress diary, I’m not sure how interesting that really is to anybody besides myself. At the same time I do feel it’s about time I validated my claim that I’m a Programmer, Designer and Writer.

Clichés.  You know the kind of thing I’m talking about: “The grass is always greener,” is a common one, or “It was a game of two halves,” or of course, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

When it comes to writing, many a hand-smacking has been given out by an overzealous literary teacher for making use of clichés in articles.  I try to avoid it as much as I can, but there is one serious problem with trying this; clichés only became clichés because they’re pretty much always right – the grass is always greener on the other side, the game was rather obviously of two halves (okay, that one is always annoying)…

And, at least in the case of Unreal Tournament III, things have most definitely remained the same, despite a couple of rather cosmetic changes.

The big difference is naturally in the graphics; UT3 uses the Unreal Engine 3 (coincidence?!), to amazing effect, and manages to graphically surpass every third-party game release that has used the powerful engine.  All the graphical bells and whistles are present here, and even better it all runs at a very nice frame rate on the console versions; the game also scales very well on PC, and like previous games in the UT series will play perfectly alright on systems that really have no right to run it at all (I ran the game on a rig well below spec at low-ish details simply as a test, and it consistently ran at over 30fps, which is purely amazing).

The art direction is also particularly impressive, resembling Gears of War (which isn’t surprising considering it’s made by the same studio) but with a brighter palette and more organic looking levels.  However, while the grungy industrial areas, desert ruins, and oriental-esque temples are a sight to behold, there isn’t anywhere near the same amount of variety that was apparent in the old games, which seemingly ignored theme in favour of sheer coolness; it was quite common to have a game of the original UT and go from a sci-fi weapons plant to some contemporary-looking slums to an alien forest, with nary a familiar looking map to be seen.  It isn’t a big criticism really, but it feels as though some of the character of the franchise has ironically disappeared in the attempt to make the levels more characterful.

The game sounds like, well, it sounds like a UT game really; the commentator is back, shouting “PANCAKE” and “MONSTER KILL” with wild abandon; the bots will taunt you with the typical “you be dead” comment that you’ve been hearing for four iterations of the game, and I swear the guns still have the same sound effects playing as well.  Things sound good enough, but there is little variation, and certainly not much of the entertainment value inherent in the soundscape of other multiplayer FPSs of the moment (with TF2 being the obvious example).  The voice-acting in the story mode, however, is a whole other kettle of poorly thought out sentence structure.

Oh wait, that’s right, we haven’t gotten around to discussing the big gameplay change for this year’s edition of the Unreal Tournament franchise: there’s no longer an actual tournament to be unreal at! Instead we have a group of soldiers fighting a mercenary war for revenge against the evil Necris across multiple warzones…that contain respawners, power-ups, and people crotch-thrusting while standing over your bleeding gibs; yes, it is as stupid as it sounds. 

The cutscenes, at least, look amazing, and are produced with all the quality of those in Gears of War (albeit with less action), but the premise is so laughable, and the dialogue so poorly written, that it is impossible to remotely care about why Malcolm is ordering your team to play the same Warfare map for the sixth time.

What’s Warfare I pretend you care enough to ask? It’s a combination of the old Assault and Onslaught modes; capture power cores to form a link to the enemy node, but this time you have fancy special vehicles and missile launches and all sorts of stuff that manages to make the mode a little more interesting to play.  It’s a great deal more fun than vanilla Onslaught was (and it was fun, feeling like Battlefield Lite), but it isn’t a good replacement for the objective-based thrills of Assault.

This becomes a real issue when you realise that a bunch of other game modes have also been assimilated or annihilated, with Domination, Bombing Run, and a bunch of others being cut; these modes may not have been overly popular when compared to your regular modes, but why remove something that works?  Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Warfare hardly epitomise the old UT emphasis on having enough variety to suit every player.

At least the game still plays as well as it ever did.  The Unreal Tournament series has always been the smoothest, slickest FPS game going (eat that Quake 3!), and UT3 has refined things to the point where shooter novices can pick up the controller and be moving around comfortably in no time; admittedly, said novices will still get absolutely owned by enemies that teleport across the map, wall-flip over their heads, and fire a rocket into their spines, but at least they’ll feel comfortable while it happens.

‘Comfortable’ is a word that fits UT3 like a non-clichéd appendage-warming garment.  The changes that have occurred, barring a general beefing up of the prettiness, have petty much involved the introduction of a shonky storyline, a slightly upgraded game mode, and some baffling omissions. 

Actually the more I think about it, the more I realise that Epic have finally managed to accomplish what they started when they first started releasing yearly iterations of the game (2003, 2004): they’ve turned UT into a sports game franchise! In true EA-like fashion, Unreal Tournament 3 is a slight improvement over previous versions of the game in some areas, and yet some things that players liked have inexplicably gone missing. 

No doubt we’ll see Bombing Run come back with a different name in Unreal Tournament 4: A New Hope, and flogged as a new feature; hell, if they bring back the old single-player Tournament mode (sans cutscenes with vomit-inducing dialogue) and Assault, I’d be willing to go out on a limb and call it the most revolutionary Unreal Tournament yet!

Graphics: 9.5/10 (A gorgeous looking game with the very, very occasional instance of déjà vu with some samey map design.)

Sound: 6/10 (Sounds the same as the previous games, and the voice-acting and scripting during the cutscenes is cringe-worthy.)

Gameplay: 7.5/10 (The perfect action FPS has been refined to the extreme, with controls so smooth that nothing else even comes close to the freedom of movement on offer here… and yet some game modes have been removed for no apparent reason, the updates to existing modes and weapons are rather minor, and there is simply nothing here that is NEW enough to grab and hold your attention when compared to many other modern FPSs.)

Longevity: 8/10 (The bots are probably the best in the business, but are still AI constructs at the end of the day.  Multiplayer is as fun as ever, but the limited modes mean you had best ensure you really enjoy Warfare and Deathmatch.  The good news, however, is that UT3 still has the legendary modding potential that has made the franchise so popular, and if you are into the modding scene (and don’t own a 360) then the potential here is pretty much unlimited.)

Overall: 7/10 (It is very difficult to rate this game, as there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it; UT3 is fun, looks great, sounds alright, and has very robust single and multiplayer modes.  The problem is that the same could be said about the previous three games in the series, and for the exact same reasons.  UT3, for all the pretty graphics and woeful introduction of a story, is a very small step forward, and as such it is difficult to justify giving a high rating for a product that is pretty much just a visual upgrade.

If you buy UT3 you will certainly enjoy yourself, and you may even get a great deal of long term enjoyment if you really dig the game modes or enjoy downloading mods.  Just remember that you’ll get the exact same thing from the previous version…and the next one too.)

-Tim Sweeney

Unreal Tournament III has already made an impact on the PS3 but the 360 is about to get the smash hit game within the next few weeks and will host the Unreal game engine much like the Gears of War game which I will keep you updated on Gears 2 as we go on, but Unreal Tournament III will show some unparalleled graphical and physical realism from the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 technology delivers the most compelling first-person shooter experience to date…online and offline!

Vast arsenal of weapons — Unreal Tournament has always been known for brutal weaponry, and now the arsenal is even bigger and badder. Detonate your opponent from a distance with the ever popular Shock Rifle or blast away at close range with the Flak Cannon. Over two dozen weapons and vehicles have been upgraded and enhanced for maximum killing potential.

The new single player campaign will show some pretty sweet features that will make for some really good gameplay.

New and favorite characters — Fight side-by-side or compete against new and returning characters from the Unreal universe, including two Xbox 360 exclusive characters, all with enhanced abilities, extremely detailed designs, and distinct personalities.

Según publican los compañeros de Meristation se ha confirmado el 4 de julio como fecha de lanzamiento de Unreal Tournament III, juego ya disponible para PS3 y PC.

Después de unos meses de incertidumbre sobre la fecha de salida en el mercado europeo por fin se ha confirmado.

Por ahora se conocía la fecha de lanzamiento en USA (7 de julio) pero no conociamos la fecha para europa, lo que nos llevo a especular sobre un posible retraso del juego en territorio PAL. Al final esto no ha sido así y podremos catar los juegos en nuestras XBOX europeas antes que en el otro lado del Atlántico.

]]> http://lastshepard.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/unreal-sega/ Tue, 27 May 2008 20:35:52 +0000 aliengroups http://lastshepard.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/unreal-sega/

Last May, Sega joined a handful of other Japanese publishers, including Square Enix and Capcom, as licensees of Epic Games’ epically popular Unreal Engine 3. As part of its original agreement, Sega said it would be implementing Epic’s game engine into several projects currently being developed in North America. While the publisher was cagey on which projects specifically would be the object of the deal, current Sega titles being developed in the New World include Obsidian’s Aliens role-playing game and Alpha Protocol, Gearbox’s Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Silicon Knights’ unnamed project, which has been the subject of a lawsuit between the Canadian studio and Epic for its disputed use of Unreal Engine 3. Today, Sega said it would be extending its original Unreal deal to include one more title. Details on the unannounced title are slim, with Sega only stating that the game will be a multiplatform effort and further details will be revealed on an undetermined date. Epic has received substantial support for its game engine in recent years. During this year’s Game Developers Conference, the game maker drew especially large crowds thanks to a tech demo for the latest build of the engine, which featured new “fracture” animations, surface deformations, crowd generation, and a slightly revolting cube of meat. Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 has powered a variety of games, including the company’s own Gears of War and Unreal Tournament III, BioWare’s Mass Effect, and Midway’s Hour of Victory.