Author Archives: TheUser

Unreal Tournament 3

The gameplay of Unreal Tournament feels just like it always does! It has all the weapons I love and the fast pace I came to know in the first Unreal Tournament. However, it now has an odd plot. The plot should be simply that Liandri Corporation is having a tournament. In UT3, some aliens attack a planet on which the main character lives, and he gets hurt. After he heals up, he wants revenge. There’s a bit more to it than that already, and I’ve only played one level of the campaign. There was a substantial amount of cut scenes already, but they looked good besides the faces, which looked very undetailed.
After he wakes up, he finds himself in what looks to be a monastery of some sort, and it appears that it belongs to people he and his friends are working for as mercenaries. The main character’s sister wants to make sure he’s ready for battle, so she decides to have a one-on-one match with him with rocket launchers (although when the match actually starts, you do not start with the rocket launcher, and other weapons are available). He question the safety of this, and she points out that respawners are used on the battlefield. Although the main character seems familiar with respawners, he’s surprised they’re used in the field. She says they’re portable units.

 
Of course I’m familiar with the concept of respawning, but I’d really prefer it if the characters were not.
Oh! I forgot to mention that the main character is Marcus Fenix from Gears of War. His armor’s a little different, but it’s basically him with a different voice actor. The aliens look like Locust also. I’m glad they’re proud of their new Gears franchise, but it should be kept out of Unreal Tournament. Everyone has the bulky, thick look of characters in Gears of War. Their armor has that same look as well.
Most dissapointingly, the buildings have the ugly bulk too. I played CTF on Facing Worlds, and the buildings just seem needlessly thick. I realize that previous incarnations of UT had altered the map to have much “thicker” looking towers, but those were also different, thicker towers. This map is a recreation of the original. It looks like the original except extra bulky. I also feel like they overuse textures on the buildings, especially the walls. Not every wall needs a little monitor or some flashing lights. People loved this map for a reason! Epic really didn’t need to change it. The towers also seem to have an Asian theme now, with some sort of futuristic paper lanterns hanging on them.
I’ve done a lot of complaining about things, but that’s because the core game feels just like every previous Unreal Tournament game – pretty awesome. I think I just prefer the clean, classic Unreal Tournament over any of the sequels. In fact, what I didn’t like about 2k4 was that it felt clunkier and bulkier. Here’s hoping for an Unreal Tournament 3 Lite Edition.

Peter’s Dream

Last night I had a dream in which I met Bob, maker of Bob’s Game. I told him how I thought the way he promoted his game was really interested and that I was looking forward to playing it. I asked him when it was coming out and if he was planning on releasing it as DS homebrew, but Bob seemed very evasive. He said that he wasn’t releasing it and that no one could play it except people he knew personally. I’m not sure if I tried to convince him to let me play it or if I only thought about it. It’s hard to distinguish between thought and speech in dreams sometimes. He later revealed that he had created a development studio consisting solely of himself and got financial backing so he could qualify as an official developer. In the dream I didn’t think it was strange that he would do that, which goes against what he’s expressing in the game.

 
Then we were in a GameStop, where we might have been all along. I talked to the guy working there about how most people seem to hate GameStop but that I like to come in and talk about games. Then I expressed my desire to have a place that was like a gamer’s pub. I suppose I want there to be a place like an arcade but not with arcade games necessarily(or at least not like current arcades with racing, fighting, and shooting games only). The GameStop employee and Bob agreed with me. Then Bob decided to take a shower. There was a shower right in the store separated only by a shower curtain. I found it quite strange.

Interview with Andrew Harris

Me: Between a Heroes hero, a Gunstar Heroes hero, and a Guardian Heroes hero, what do you think is the best kind of hero?!
Andrew: Well, Heroes heroes have been sucking as of late, and I have no experience with Guardian Heroes heroes, and Gunstar Heroes heroes are just plain awesome, so I’m gonna say Gunstar Heroes heroes. Final answer.