In this topic I'd like to express my views about how and why I consider UT3 to be absolutely the best UT game so far.
I started playing the UT series since about 2000, I played extensively UT, UT2003 and UT2004 - I also downloaded a lot of custom content (I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds of maps). Each one of these games has been my favourite when it was its time (yes even UT2003).
This little introduction is to tell that yes, me too have personal memories and a childhood bound to UT, and that no, I don't praise UT3 because it has a better graphic.
So, here's some of points of why UT3 is superior to its predecessors:
- Weapon balance UT3 weapons are the best balanced so far. Never had a game where there is no dominance of a single weapon. Each weapon is different and has it's use, each weapon is lethal in its own way.
UT2004 had dominance of hitscan (or we'd better say, shock rifle) and all the floating pigeons and huge mapscale rendered the non-hitscan pretty much useless.
And don't let me started with UT, because its weapon balance was a complete crap (e.g. shock rifle primary that delivers 60hp, who needs sniper rifle? Ah sorry, you need sniper rifle because it shoots faster LOL - biorifle useless - ripper was good only to spam, with headshots included -flack didn't allow for a good bouncing hit - pulse gun (for the new players, that is the predecessor of the link gun) had the exact same use of the minigun - etc.)
- Feeling of power Ah, never felt so powerful in any FPS so far. You have the feeling that you have a real instrument of death in your hand, that you can destroy everybody - providing you can shoot well. In no game like UT3 the weapons are so deadly, and yet, there's large room to avoid the enemy fire. They did a miracle IMO: putting together a great deadly arsenal, but still offering great possibilities for good players to avoid being killed.
Sure it doesn't have the reward for the abilities like in UT2004, as now a n00b can get a kill once in a while, but hey, it's a game and it's supposed to be fun. If I wanted a 100% competitive game I'd go playing chess.
- movement system Oh finally I don't have to shoot down flying pigeons anymore! Finally jumping does not mean instant death and finally you can actually kill someone with a non-hitscan. The scale of the map is more realistic and a great fun to play - no more ant-like players.
Removal of the dodge-jump (something I really frowned upon at the beginning) makes the fight a pure "in your face" action, no easy escape. On the other hand, the smaller map scale allows great uses for the wall-jump. In UT2004 it was pretty much useless, now the wall-jump is great both in a fighting action and to navigate the map (e.g. Reflection, Coret, etc.).
- item whoring Finally it counts less. With more powerful weapons it's a little less relevant who gets the 100hp armor. In UT2004 with the nerfed weapons was pretty much impossible to kill someone who just geared up with items, the 1on1 were really frustrating.
- gametypes yes, take your Assault, your Domination, your BR...and give me vCTF any day. Assault was never played online on UT2004 (sure it wasn't the right game for it, perhaps it would be better in UT3), and the other gametypes were simply disregarded. vCTF is a great fun, just look at the players online. I know that vCTF was introduced by UT2004, but the lack of stock maps made it unplayable online.
WAR is really more interesting than ONS. I miss huge maps to travel in (like Dria), but new objectives, barricades, countdown nodes, new strategies really make it all more fun to play. No more boring shoot node-touch node - link node for the whole match. Orb was a great idea, 'nuff said.
- heroism Finally a game where, in addition to teamwork, good performance of a single player can really turn the tide of a battle. Mixing firepower (that allows to take out a lot of opponents quickly in CTF), powerful vehicles, and orb, the game leaves room for great actions from solitary players. It's so satisfying when you do a cap by yourself, or destroy the heavily defended node by yourself in a BR fashion. This wasn't possible in the previous games.
- vehicles Not only they are 16 (sixteen) they are all perfectly balanced. They work as rock-paper-scissors, requiring for teamwork (in addition to the above point). Besides some rarely used one (cicada, paladin), they are all really useful in the actual combat and a great fun to play.
Let's face it, in UT2004 you took the scorpion or the hellbender only to travel the map. Now these 2 vehicles are so deadly in their own way, that you can actually find yourself choosing them.
Also I love how they are all powerful, how they can crush easily a foot player that forgot to take the Avril. In UT2004 it was a joke, you just got hit by the shock rifle and your vehicle was thrown away as it was made of paper. You were stronger on foot than in a vehicle (except for the manta that could do a massacre).
- maps They might be less, but the overall quality is really superior to the previous games. In UT2004 they just loaded up trash, proof was that online there were only 2 DM maps played (rankin, deck).
- style This could be a personal matter, but I love the UT3 style. The Necris style in particular, it looks so cool, so realistic, and so original. Just take a look at e.g. Floodgate or Sanctuary, how can you not like this Sci-Fi/Alien style, with tentacles and statues?
Oh well, that's a long read and I should have worked on my essay instead
But I'm so sick of hearing "if UT3 had x, y, z, etc. it would be just as good as UT", or "UT3 for the look, UT2004 for the gameplay".
Seriously, I don't understand why people keep sucking the other games cock so badly. UT3, in spite of its flaws, is the best game we ever got.
And the massive whining it got, it's because people realized its potential and didn't want to let it go.
UT3 über alles
I started playing the UT series since about 2000, I played extensively UT, UT2003 and UT2004 - I also downloaded a lot of custom content (I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds of maps). Each one of these games has been my favourite when it was its time (yes even UT2003).
This little introduction is to tell that yes, me too have personal memories and a childhood bound to UT, and that no, I don't praise UT3 because it has a better graphic.
So, here's some of points of why UT3 is superior to its predecessors:
- Weapon balance UT3 weapons are the best balanced so far. Never had a game where there is no dominance of a single weapon. Each weapon is different and has it's use, each weapon is lethal in its own way.
UT2004 had dominance of hitscan (or we'd better say, shock rifle) and all the floating pigeons and huge mapscale rendered the non-hitscan pretty much useless.
And don't let me started with UT, because its weapon balance was a complete crap (e.g. shock rifle primary that delivers 60hp, who needs sniper rifle? Ah sorry, you need sniper rifle because it shoots faster LOL - biorifle useless - ripper was good only to spam, with headshots included -flack didn't allow for a good bouncing hit - pulse gun (for the new players, that is the predecessor of the link gun) had the exact same use of the minigun - etc.)
- Feeling of power Ah, never felt so powerful in any FPS so far. You have the feeling that you have a real instrument of death in your hand, that you can destroy everybody - providing you can shoot well. In no game like UT3 the weapons are so deadly, and yet, there's large room to avoid the enemy fire. They did a miracle IMO: putting together a great deadly arsenal, but still offering great possibilities for good players to avoid being killed.
Sure it doesn't have the reward for the abilities like in UT2004, as now a n00b can get a kill once in a while, but hey, it's a game and it's supposed to be fun. If I wanted a 100% competitive game I'd go playing chess.
- movement system Oh finally I don't have to shoot down flying pigeons anymore! Finally jumping does not mean instant death and finally you can actually kill someone with a non-hitscan. The scale of the map is more realistic and a great fun to play - no more ant-like players.
Removal of the dodge-jump (something I really frowned upon at the beginning) makes the fight a pure "in your face" action, no easy escape. On the other hand, the smaller map scale allows great uses for the wall-jump. In UT2004 it was pretty much useless, now the wall-jump is great both in a fighting action and to navigate the map (e.g. Reflection, Coret, etc.).
- item whoring Finally it counts less. With more powerful weapons it's a little less relevant who gets the 100hp armor. In UT2004 with the nerfed weapons was pretty much impossible to kill someone who just geared up with items, the 1on1 were really frustrating.
- gametypes yes, take your Assault, your Domination, your BR...and give me vCTF any day. Assault was never played online on UT2004 (sure it wasn't the right game for it, perhaps it would be better in UT3), and the other gametypes were simply disregarded. vCTF is a great fun, just look at the players online. I know that vCTF was introduced by UT2004, but the lack of stock maps made it unplayable online.
WAR is really more interesting than ONS. I miss huge maps to travel in (like Dria), but new objectives, barricades, countdown nodes, new strategies really make it all more fun to play. No more boring shoot node-touch node - link node for the whole match. Orb was a great idea, 'nuff said.
- heroism Finally a game where, in addition to teamwork, good performance of a single player can really turn the tide of a battle. Mixing firepower (that allows to take out a lot of opponents quickly in CTF), powerful vehicles, and orb, the game leaves room for great actions from solitary players. It's so satisfying when you do a cap by yourself, or destroy the heavily defended node by yourself in a BR fashion. This wasn't possible in the previous games.
- vehicles Not only they are 16 (sixteen) they are all perfectly balanced. They work as rock-paper-scissors, requiring for teamwork (in addition to the above point). Besides some rarely used one (cicada, paladin), they are all really useful in the actual combat and a great fun to play.
Let's face it, in UT2004 you took the scorpion or the hellbender only to travel the map. Now these 2 vehicles are so deadly in their own way, that you can actually find yourself choosing them.
Also I love how they are all powerful, how they can crush easily a foot player that forgot to take the Avril. In UT2004 it was a joke, you just got hit by the shock rifle and your vehicle was thrown away as it was made of paper. You were stronger on foot than in a vehicle (except for the manta that could do a massacre).
- maps They might be less, but the overall quality is really superior to the previous games. In UT2004 they just loaded up trash, proof was that online there were only 2 DM maps played (rankin, deck).
- style This could be a personal matter, but I love the UT3 style. The Necris style in particular, it looks so cool, so realistic, and so original. Just take a look at e.g. Floodgate or Sanctuary, how can you not like this Sci-Fi/Alien style, with tentacles and statues?
Oh well, that's a long read and I should have worked on my essay instead
But I'm so sick of hearing "if UT3 had x, y, z, etc. it would be just as good as UT", or "UT3 for the look, UT2004 for the gameplay".
Seriously, I don't understand why people keep sucking the other games cock so badly. UT3, in spite of its flaws, is the best game we ever got.
And the massive whining it got, it's because people realized its potential and didn't want to let it go.
UT3 über alles
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