Bohica Gaming Community

by Naxel

Platform : PC
Genre : Shooter (Deathmatch, Capture the flag and such)

It’s been what? 4 month since this one has been released, and I’ve been hesitant to buy this one for a while, BUT steam made it easy for me making Epic’s game available earlier this week. So how does it go?

Graphics are f’n phenomenal. It’s the unreal engine 3 to it’s best and it’s also rather smooth considering the rig I’m testing this on. Is there is better out there now? I doubt it. Crysis looked nice but I had a hard time to boost the engine and see good result compared to this game. Everything is vivid, colorful, lighting is super good and the quality of your sight change depending if you’re too much into blinding light or in snow or in cave, etc. You also get the splatter on the screen when you kill someone else with the hammer a bit a la Gears Of War when you chainsaw’d a locust. Really I haven’t seen graphic that are that good on my PC before. Granted COD4 looks good but this one goes beyond that in the quality of it’s effects.

Gameplay = take UT2k4 Aka the last instance of Unreal tournament and copy paste. The game plays the same BUT There is a bunch of new toys to play with vehicles and updated graphics on the weapons and items, tweaked game play on warfare maps, new elements to play with, but it stays Unreal 100%. Fast paced action shooter period. The assault and ball mode are not present on the game which is really a bummer, which tell me that they’ll probably release it later in another instance of the game or just add the mode with a patch. A novelty would be the single player campaign, which can be played with actual players, if you want to make your game public or with just a bunch of friends. The campaign is a tad like the one in the original UT, you get to do deathmatch, team deatmatch or warfare (whatever the game modes are available) through the monologue of the characters (your general, yourself and your sister) in the fashion of a military campaign overlooking the map of the terrain. It’s more of a campaing with a linear course compared to the older instance of the game where you shoot for the tournament’s golden trophy. Apparently we’re at war and it’s what we’re living.

Sound took me by surprise. The same voice announcing “Multi-kill” Is back but as an hybrid from the original and ut2k4, brighter voice, but still made my sub shake the floor with every mention of double kills or killing sprees :). The voice-over are not perfect, (cuz yes we’re being shown cut scenes) but they sound good enough. Malcolm really sounds like *okay no call for racism here but it’s the only image I have* he sounds like a… an uneducated black man to be fairly polite and not call him a nigga… *oops* Nevertheless it’s hilarious, and realistic where I wouldn’t expect someone that kills people for a living to be philosophical and have a posed tone.

Fun factor goes like this. If you’ve like other UTs instances before, you’ll like this one too. But it is more of the same in majority. There are some novelty in modes such as “vehicles capture the flag” and the hoverboard is always fun to use (makes you feel like Marty Mcfly). If the balance is enough to make you get the game I don’t know, it depends on how much you like the genre, because this game is not redefining anything but makes thing better and more balanced. However I’ll say this as a final word. Any game that makes me stick to my chair and play, even if I really have to go and take a piss but I’ll just keep playing, deserve a fun factor that is fairly high.

So in brief

The good
-Graphics from heavens that can scale to even a mid-range rig without sacrificing beauty or performance too much
-Familiar and solid gameplay for competitive and enthusiasts players
-The maps are amazing and take you through a lot of different environments

The bad
-It’s UT so don’t expect any more than UT
-Where is the Assault mode, damn you Epic

The score : A bloody 9.0/10

I have bought every UT game since the original, and this one doesn’t disappoint either. It’s not new but still feel fresh, and fun, which is more than enough for me to give that game such a high score.

Buy or rental? Try the demo and judge by yourself. It depends if you’re a fan of the genre or not. The game is nothing new compared to the older ones, which might stop you if you didn’t like the other instances of the game.

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