Unreal 2 
I finally got my hands on a copy of the game that I've been anticipating for last two years and after anxious wait for the game to install, I fired it up. It did not start off very well - I was presented with a pretty bland menu system and absolutely no music. I quickly got passed that and spent good half hour fiddling with various options and tweaking them to my likings. The initial setting looked like 1600x1200, 6xFSAA/16xAF, everything else set to highest option available.
The training was standart for any action game, getting me familiar with movement controls and weaponary. Nothing special here, after firing a dozen or so shots at static targets I was ready to go.
I practically skipped the part where you are introduced to spaceship crew, because I could not wait to go out there and take a look at open environments and engage in combat(preferrably long range one, as I would have better chances of staying alive...).
The very first mission had me saving some miners from a mysterious life form that attacked the planet and did not act very friendly at all. After landing on surface I was treated with absolute silence and tortured human bodies laying all around. I knew somebody must be still alive and went inside of a complex to investigate(and hopefully kick some arse...).
Wow, they jumped on me all at once, about 10 creatures, that are weak if encountered in small quantities, but deadly in large groups. Could I say dead..? Yes, I may. Difficulty setting went to Normal from initial Hard. First skaarj was pretty tough even on Normal, and had me seriously sweating. I figured out the pattern relatively quick though. Avoid enclosed areas and always move around. Now if I only could concentrate on saving up ammo.
Strafing is the key for victory(pretty standart for FPS games), but effectively switching between weapons is even more important. Alien weapons picked up on the battlefield just do not cut it when using them to fight these same alien back. Yet, they work very well against human opponents.
Assault rifle is pure sweetness to use. Very fast fire rate and, if your accuracy is good enough, even skaarj's could be taken out before he could do any significant damage to you. Rifle's secondary fire is more powerfull than primary one, but has a slower fire rate. You should use it only when you're sure that the target will take damage.
Enemies shoot at you. Oh yes, they do it very well. Hiding behind walls, surrounding you and setting up ambushes, they are lethal for your character if one is not being extremely cautious and not planning out your next move, blasting with your guns through the levels will not do it. Believe me it won't.
Somewhere in the middle of taking out some skaarj I noticed that the game does not run very well. Checking framerates proved my theory, I was getting around 55fps with drops down to 25fp with several moving objects on the screen. The game turned out to be quite a bit of a resource hog, and it was the first game where I had to set FSAA to 2x and AF to 8x to keep the game enjoyable. Hoping for a patch that will improve Unreal's performance.
Unreal 2 still looks gorgeous with 2xFSAA/8xAF. I mean it, the game is the most graphically advanced game I've ever seen. No doubt about that. Particle effects are so outstanding that could be hardly explained. They have to be experienced to be appreciated. I forund myself running around and blowing stuff up just to see one more explosion, one more cloud of smoke around me. Everything from character models to wall textures is highly detailed and jaggies are creatures that never visit world of Unreal 2.
With my 5.1 setup blasting, with EAX 3.0 panel turned on, I'm sure I heard ambulance siren rushing to save my neighboors from deafness. Weapon sounds are very solid and explosions made me want to hide under my bed.
The most important aspect of Unreal 2 to me was it's atmospheric gameplay. I have not felt being "on the edge" ever since I finished Half-Life years ago. The action sequences come at you in waves, you could travel around in absolute silence for minutes(considerably long period of time for an "action-packed" game), just to be met with 5-7 aliens running at you as you open a door.
These first impressions are mixed and not organised, I will sure come up with a less miserable attempt to describe my Unreal 2 experience down the road. But one thing I hope I managed to bring to you with this mini-review - Unreal 2 is shaping out to be one of the best games I have played in long years of being a PC gamer.
Posted by P1x44r on 27/07/2005 14:04 
Comments (0)
Leave a Comment
Copyright © 2005-2006 P1x44r.com, all rights reserved.