I wrote this some time ago now (with some addendums), but it seems as relevant as ever. I could go back and make some changes (perhaps some of my facts are sketchy), but I think I make my point.
To those who take the time to read this, it will probably make you angry, no matter if you agree or not. Angry if you agree because of the poor decision making Epic made (unless you are their accountant) and how they have just become old men.
Anyhow, for what it's worth, here it is. A long read, but please don't comment unless you actually read it. Also, it was written for a far more ignorant audience, so again, there may be omissions and or factual anomalies, but as I said, none of that really changes my point. I take some liberties with timelines also, again, in an attempt to create a flow to the narrative. Call it artistic license.
The Epic begins...
An Ode to Epic: Carnivorous fish leaping
A testament to the life and death of Epic (once Mega) Games.
Why pick on Epic? To answer that, I will need to provide a bit of background. I am glossing over many wondrous years in both PC development and gaming in general; both have very long and amazing histories, but for the sake of brevity and relevance, I am speeding through to the early ‘90s. It was around this time that the heart of gaming, the graphics processor became powerful enough that games began to change substantially. This was a great turning point in gaming, and it is where this narrative will begin.
In those days of PC gaming, Epic and Id were the gunners. Epic was the new whiz-kid, Id was the established boss and both companies were pushing early PC sales; one could even speculate that these two companies alone fueled the amazing innovations in graphics for the early- and very important – years beginning in the mid-90’s. I can think of no two better companies to be at the helm during this period, with John Carmack of Id and Tim Sweeney of Epic leading the charge. Id rose with great titles and a great distribution platform, licensed their tech, became demigods and household names in the gaming world, got stinking rich and then seemed to stagnate, retreat, become navel-gazers and now are like the rich old genius hermit who rarely goes out anymore.
Epic came onto the scene as a force somewhat late, after Id had laid some of the foundations that are the template still used today, both in technology and in the FPS (First Person Shooter) game market. It seems Epic came on the scene as Id was at their zenith, just before releasing Quake 3: Arena to largely good reviews, though they were already wandering off on the tangent that would come to define them. Epic, with a small team of programmers, designers and artists of pretty much the same ilk as Id; driven by passion, fueled by memories of imperfect games that they believed they could do better and a possessed a vision for a game unlike anything else. Id were past all of that already, having pretty much done it all by that time, but in an older era; by the time Epic arrived, CPUs were becoming exponentially more robust and powerful, graphics cards were still in their infancy, but were growing up quickly and the PC likewise was maturing into a powerful gaming platform. It could easily be said that Id made a conscious decision in the late 90’s, after Q3:A to step back; Carmack has said publicly that all of the licensing was getting in the way of doing other things, and he was also more than distracted by his increasing commitment to Armadillo Aerospace. They were on the gravy train and retreated to pursue other interests, a respectable decision if you feel your heart isn’t in it anymore. While Id still had a couple of good games in their future, it seems that most of their innovative spark had left them. Games became fewer and farther between with Doom 3, essentially a modern re-working of a very old title appearing, then recently with Rage, which took over 5 years to develop and enjoyed only marginal success, comparatively speaking. This story is not about Id specifically however, so with that story in our minds, let’s shift our focus back to the mid-90’s, a time when Epic were three guys and a dream.
Epic games produced some small, relatively popular titles in their early years, but what they were moving towards and shooting for was the Id killer; to topple Id, to beat the grand master in making great games. So now, why put Epic under the microscope? Because they wanted it, so here it is.
After years of struggle and strife, Unreal finally appeared in ’98 and it was a smash. It was beautiful, powerful, colorful and exciting. It was a game made of passion, blood, sweat and tears. You knew it when you played; the world, the detail, the sound, the care. It was clearly a game made by people who were on fire with creativity and intensity with a dream that only a gamer could have; to make the game that they wanted to play. Unreal changed my life. I don’t think it is an overstatement to say that. I had grown up playing adventure games, but they were often text-based and a bit slow, comparatively speaking. Back when Id brought out Wolf3D, I was brought into the world of fast paced action, where the kill was the goal. This may not be an entirely fair statement, but I think that it is a reasonable one. The treasures, the loot; nothing was as cool as mowing down Nazis and it was all about finding more ammo, not the loot. Thus, a choice: to play slower, point-and-click styled adventure/story games or jump into the fast, intense world of the budding FPS.
Unreal however, brought many of the adventure elements to the FPS. It had a sense of exploration, wonder and awe that nothing Id – or anyone else - had produced contained to the same degree. There was no clear objective, no compass, no narrative or voices with only hints provided by a translator you found, which made the alien hieroglyphs and the journals of dead readable. All you were told at the first scene of the game is that you were Prisoner 849 and that you, by leaving the room you ‘wake up’ in, are escaping. Escape was all you were told and the rest was up to you. Unreal was as much about taking your time, looking at the world and understanding, solving, engaging and beholding it as much as it was about shooting. In context, the shooting was justified, even necessary to survive and move towards the unstated goal of getting away from where you currently were. It mixed fantasy and run & gun in wonderful proportions, something that hadn’t been done before. In this way, and through the countless hours spent tweaking my computer to get just one extra frame per second, make the graphics just an increment better, downloading user content (made by thousands with easy-to-use tools provided on the game disk) and customizing nearly everything in the game from textures to crosshairs, it became a passion for me as well. 15 years later and I am still in love with that world and I still return often. Following Unreal, an expansion pack was released, “Return to Na Pali”. This offered new content and featured a lot of ideas that were left out of Unreal for various reasons. It brought more of the same magic, but could never reach that greatness that was Unreal. It notably included some content that fans thought didn’t belong in the Unreal world and this early criticism was the first hint of the future direction for Epic. They never took criticism the right way.
Epic next produced Unreal Tournament, which was a direct answer, albeit a bit late, to Id’s Quake 3 Arena. UT was another amazing game, with loads of innovation, passion, energy and ideas. Epic were now going toe-to-toe with Id in their own genre and beating them with their innovative gameplay ideas and unique weapons. It garnered great reviews, spawned a massive fan base and an incredibly devoted following, one of whom I remain. For me, it is and was the best FPS ever made. What it wasn’t, however, was new. Unreal had been so completely alone in the field, a place where Id – or anyone else - had never been; in an adventure FPS. Unreal was sublime, enchanting and wondrous while UT was fast, noisy and in your face, just as Q3: A was before it. The biggest difference between the two was that for Id, Quake 3: A was an evolution, but for Epic, it was a revolution, one from which they would never return. Never again would they produce titles so profound as Unreal.
UT2003 was the direct lineage of UT1, or UT99, as we call it (it was going to be called UT2 initially). It was essentially the same basic gameplay as UT99, but some new game modes, weapons and improved graphics; it was UT99 massaged, tweaked and updated. Although it wasn’t generally well received, I personally think this is the last ‘pure’ game produced by Epic. It wasn’t kitschy or crass, it wasn’t a copycat or a panderer; it was still Epic making something they loved, something they wanted to make, in a very pure sense. They still had something to prove to themselves. Id was clearly fading back in the FPS market by now, but Epic was determined to take this genre to the next level. While UT2003 had few revolutionary aspects, it was an extension of UT in many ways, but again, it was not well-received. I loved it because of it being such a natural growth from UT and as a fan, I accepted the changes as part of Epic’s vision; I was still onboard, so to speak. I felt that they didn’t try to replace UT or backseat it, but offer something else, an alternative. I loved it and again, the dedicated modding and mapping community took up the call and reams of user-made content were delivered. In my books, UT2003 was another Epic classic, a great game made from devotion to a vision.
Unreal II came out (actually just before UT2003, but for this narrative, I will play with the timeline a bit), a formal successor to Unreal and was received tepidly by fans and critics. I personally thought this was a decent game, but was a bit too slow moving (halting, actually) at times. Not in a good way, which slow-moving can be, as it was sometimes in the original Unreal, but slow moving in a bad way. Long, needless cut scenes broke any real flow, the characters were voiced (Unreal had virtually no dialogue at all) which gave an impetus for a narrative, never Epic’s strong suit and awkward scripted moments filled the game. The voicing was good, but when you give a voice to a character, you steal the player’s voice. When you show the main character in game, you erase the player. All of the things that made Unreal so amazing were gone in Unreal II, almost as though it was a totally different group developing it. It actually was; so divorced were Epic becoming from their flagship, the title that shot them skyward, that the work was entrusted to Legend Entertainment. When it got moving, it was a solid shooter, with great atmosphere, enemies and some truly great scenes. It was very linear however, which killed the sense of adventure. Again, it was lacking that drive, that passion and impetus that made Unreal so incredible. It was somewhat inspired, but pretty much by-the-latest-FPS book rather than following to fruition the original Unreal idea, another indication of what to come. The fact that they trusted their hugely successful flagship IP to another company is very telling, and the fact that it got mediocre reviews was another sign. Why they would do this to a game that was clearly so beloved by so many is baffling. Should Epic be held responsible for Legend’s misstep? Yes, completely. Epic made a choice to entrust their treasure to Legend and they were accountable for the tarnishing of their crown. Again, Epic doesn’t take criticism well and had started to develop convictions like a fog that blow whichever direction trends (and cash) do, something which for me, would come to characterize all of their games in the future.
If until now they only noticed the water ski shop across the street before, they were now slobbering on the window. UT2004 came out fast upon the heels of UT2003, as if they were not only listening to the fans, but wanting to make them happy just a little too much. UT2003 seemed to Epic as Vista to Microsoft; an embarrassing blunder, half-baked, released before ready. To me, this was an egregious error; I loved UT2003 and felt they were insulting me for enjoying it so much. Then, when UT2004 arrived so early and was so similar to UT2003, I smelled something rotten. No longer were they doing this for themselves, no longer was there a vision which happened to resonate among gamers; they were now kowtowing to them, being lapdogs and I started to lose respect for the guys who changed my world just a handful of years ago. UT2003 was the game they wanted to make, while UT2004 was the game the fans said they wanted. UT2004 was a great game. I bought it and played it and again, the modders and mappers came through and thankfully, UT2004 was backwards-compatible with UT2003’s content. This is illustrative of how closely they followed one another; UT2004 was really a glorified mod or expansion; an alteration based on….what, exactly? The fans, which is a cool thing, but my question is, what was the real motivation at this point? To please them or cash in on them?
I contend it was not about passion or the desire to produce something incredible, but more of cash-in. Seeing life still in the genre, they realized that they had made many “mistakes” with UT2003, mistakes that were costing them fans which of course, also money and fame. They had always been licensing their technology (many great games were built on Unreal Engine tech; Deus Ex, as an example), and it seems that also was a factor. In order to license effectively, they needed a showpiece game and they could not afford to have a failure or even a mediocre offering. (One would think this would be a good time to get back all they had lost with Unreal 2, but the fans want multiplayer; single player games probably weren’t seen as big earners.) UT2004 was there only to make such a statement; that they had the best game engine and now with UT2004, the ‘best’ game to showcase that technology with a satisfied fan base to go with it, which brings the fame and the money. So, we see Epic getting all of their ducks in a row to be a huge gaming machine. Making the games that fans loved, having the cutting-edge tech with a full, robust set of tools to license to the moon had them swept up and away from everything they had ever been. No more magic, no more wonder, no more awe. A bloated company producing triple-A titles as a means by which to license their tech. All this and a boot-licking devotion to the fans; where Epic’s game production had once been from fans to fans, now it was from a company who wants your money and attention and will do pretty much anything to get it. By now they were doing slick triple jumps over the shark tank.
As I said before, Epic has weak convictions. A new breed of gamers arrived; the ADD-addled generation of players who want explosions every second, enemies coating the terrain, bigger blasters to blow them to bits with and ease; regenerating health and a games that are so arcade-y, so simple, so brain-dead that anyone with a pulse can play them. Cash is their new god; “fans” became “supporters” and are now just “customers”. In 2007, UT3 came (where was UT2, by the way?) and again, a good butt-kissing came as well. It clearly showed them owning the store, the skis the boat and the water. A “return to UT99” Epic proclaimed, but that candy-coating melted away quickly. Sure there were fans; even I enjoyed the game, but it isn’t near what it was or could have been and the motivation for its existence was transparent and as shallow as the kiddie pool. UT3 was the eulogy to UT as a series, at least in Epic’s hands. Zero innovation, zero passion, just a coat of paint and manipulation by slick marketing buzzwords. Did I buy it? Yes, and I played it and still do today. I never said it was a bad game, but it was simply adding more bricks to an already over-sized behemoth of a franchise. Nice bricks, well-laid bricks (Epic are very, very good at making UT games) but necessary bricks? For the money and time that went into UT3 and the free Titan pack, a reboot of Unreal would have been prudent. It would have been a move which would have first brought back the older fans Epic forgot about long ago and brought in a whole new generation of young gamers. But dudebros were the flavor of the day and Epic decided to milk a rapidly shriveling teat.
At least Id went away with some pride and their reputation pretty much intact, only popping up now and then to release a game that they love, not concerning themselves overly with critics or even fans. You have to admit, there is something cool, something admirable in that; love ‘em or leave ‘em, they are and always have been themselves. Epic however, went cheap; Walmart cheap and just another generic game-producing machine, like EA is often seen to be. Cliff Bleszinski, one of the original Epic team recently left Epic, but it was already way too late. He should have left years ago, when “Cliffy B’s Ownage” wasn’t so sadly ironic. Now we have Bulletstorm and Gears of War, two of the latest IPs from Epic; no magic, no awe, no real innovation and no passion. Fun games maybe, but not nearly as innovative as past titles and nowhere near as unique or compelling. Now, before many of you jump out of your seats with fury, while the Gears game did win many awards, not one was for anything innovative. “Best of an exhausted premise” should have been an embarrassment for Epic considering their lineage and if they couldn’t do even that much after 15 years, they should have been doubly ashamed. Epic is now a huge, soulless company, feigning interest in the “fans” with empty platitudes, putting out mediocre titles with hot new technology to license, epitomizing pretty much every factor that anesthetized PC gaming and made it a generic bore for years. You couldn’t throw a rock and not hit an Unreal-engine powered game. They all looked the same and played very similarly, and I blame Epic for this too. They not only swallowed themselves in their implosion, but went supernova and engulfed the whole industry in their ugly self-destruction. As an added slap in the face to those who put them where they are today, Cliff B. recently came out against PC gaming, saying that because of the pirates, blah, blah. So, Epic has taken a side in the debate, and it isn’t ours. But I digress.
So, it’s goodbye Epic and goodbye to the magic they once made. To the new Epic gamers out there, I feel sorry for you. You have been hoodwinked by a company that isn’t what it was or even what it says it is; that sees you as nothing more than a means to the next score. Any magic you find is manufactured to be just that; like a sweet treat made specifically to give you short, spiked buzz, but doesn’t last and just leaves you hungrier than before. I personally still find that old magic in other games, but from Epic we now get spam. If there ever was a company in which my typically-cynical-self placed trust, it was Epic and so I write this because it honestly saddens me to know that such great heights can be matched by such shallow, empty lows. Maybe it is too much to think that they could have held me any longer? Well, the Elder Scrolls – Bethesda - is an example of a company with a singular, unswerving focus and a deep commitment to achieving that vision with every sequel of the Elder Scrolls series. Skyrim is a tribute to that sense of purpose, that singular path I wish Epic would have stayed on. Every time I play Skyrim, I get a sense of loss for what Unreal could have become.
All is thankfully not lost, however. Thanks to the tireless and endless work of the community that grew way back in the early days of Epic, Unreal lives on today, as does UT99, 2003, 2004 and UT3, with mappers and modders still producing great content and people with a rare level of deep devotion to something now past. These are the truly dedicated people that Epic should have looked at, listened to, beheld and learned from, but ultimately forsook. These people are indeed the blood that used to flow through Epic’s veins, back when they cared, back when they were hungry, back when they had passion, back when they were gamers. Thanks for the great memories Epic; it’s just too bad they were so, so long ago.
R.I.P.
To those who take the time to read this, it will probably make you angry, no matter if you agree or not. Angry if you agree because of the poor decision making Epic made (unless you are their accountant) and how they have just become old men.
Anyhow, for what it's worth, here it is. A long read, but please don't comment unless you actually read it. Also, it was written for a far more ignorant audience, so again, there may be omissions and or factual anomalies, but as I said, none of that really changes my point. I take some liberties with timelines also, again, in an attempt to create a flow to the narrative. Call it artistic license.
The Epic begins...
An Ode to Epic: Carnivorous fish leaping
A testament to the life and death of Epic (once Mega) Games.
Why pick on Epic? To answer that, I will need to provide a bit of background. I am glossing over many wondrous years in both PC development and gaming in general; both have very long and amazing histories, but for the sake of brevity and relevance, I am speeding through to the early ‘90s. It was around this time that the heart of gaming, the graphics processor became powerful enough that games began to change substantially. This was a great turning point in gaming, and it is where this narrative will begin.
In those days of PC gaming, Epic and Id were the gunners. Epic was the new whiz-kid, Id was the established boss and both companies were pushing early PC sales; one could even speculate that these two companies alone fueled the amazing innovations in graphics for the early- and very important – years beginning in the mid-90’s. I can think of no two better companies to be at the helm during this period, with John Carmack of Id and Tim Sweeney of Epic leading the charge. Id rose with great titles and a great distribution platform, licensed their tech, became demigods and household names in the gaming world, got stinking rich and then seemed to stagnate, retreat, become navel-gazers and now are like the rich old genius hermit who rarely goes out anymore.
Epic came onto the scene as a force somewhat late, after Id had laid some of the foundations that are the template still used today, both in technology and in the FPS (First Person Shooter) game market. It seems Epic came on the scene as Id was at their zenith, just before releasing Quake 3: Arena to largely good reviews, though they were already wandering off on the tangent that would come to define them. Epic, with a small team of programmers, designers and artists of pretty much the same ilk as Id; driven by passion, fueled by memories of imperfect games that they believed they could do better and a possessed a vision for a game unlike anything else. Id were past all of that already, having pretty much done it all by that time, but in an older era; by the time Epic arrived, CPUs were becoming exponentially more robust and powerful, graphics cards were still in their infancy, but were growing up quickly and the PC likewise was maturing into a powerful gaming platform. It could easily be said that Id made a conscious decision in the late 90’s, after Q3:A to step back; Carmack has said publicly that all of the licensing was getting in the way of doing other things, and he was also more than distracted by his increasing commitment to Armadillo Aerospace. They were on the gravy train and retreated to pursue other interests, a respectable decision if you feel your heart isn’t in it anymore. While Id still had a couple of good games in their future, it seems that most of their innovative spark had left them. Games became fewer and farther between with Doom 3, essentially a modern re-working of a very old title appearing, then recently with Rage, which took over 5 years to develop and enjoyed only marginal success, comparatively speaking. This story is not about Id specifically however, so with that story in our minds, let’s shift our focus back to the mid-90’s, a time when Epic were three guys and a dream.
Epic games produced some small, relatively popular titles in their early years, but what they were moving towards and shooting for was the Id killer; to topple Id, to beat the grand master in making great games. So now, why put Epic under the microscope? Because they wanted it, so here it is.
After years of struggle and strife, Unreal finally appeared in ’98 and it was a smash. It was beautiful, powerful, colorful and exciting. It was a game made of passion, blood, sweat and tears. You knew it when you played; the world, the detail, the sound, the care. It was clearly a game made by people who were on fire with creativity and intensity with a dream that only a gamer could have; to make the game that they wanted to play. Unreal changed my life. I don’t think it is an overstatement to say that. I had grown up playing adventure games, but they were often text-based and a bit slow, comparatively speaking. Back when Id brought out Wolf3D, I was brought into the world of fast paced action, where the kill was the goal. This may not be an entirely fair statement, but I think that it is a reasonable one. The treasures, the loot; nothing was as cool as mowing down Nazis and it was all about finding more ammo, not the loot. Thus, a choice: to play slower, point-and-click styled adventure/story games or jump into the fast, intense world of the budding FPS.
Unreal however, brought many of the adventure elements to the FPS. It had a sense of exploration, wonder and awe that nothing Id – or anyone else - had produced contained to the same degree. There was no clear objective, no compass, no narrative or voices with only hints provided by a translator you found, which made the alien hieroglyphs and the journals of dead readable. All you were told at the first scene of the game is that you were Prisoner 849 and that you, by leaving the room you ‘wake up’ in, are escaping. Escape was all you were told and the rest was up to you. Unreal was as much about taking your time, looking at the world and understanding, solving, engaging and beholding it as much as it was about shooting. In context, the shooting was justified, even necessary to survive and move towards the unstated goal of getting away from where you currently were. It mixed fantasy and run & gun in wonderful proportions, something that hadn’t been done before. In this way, and through the countless hours spent tweaking my computer to get just one extra frame per second, make the graphics just an increment better, downloading user content (made by thousands with easy-to-use tools provided on the game disk) and customizing nearly everything in the game from textures to crosshairs, it became a passion for me as well. 15 years later and I am still in love with that world and I still return often. Following Unreal, an expansion pack was released, “Return to Na Pali”. This offered new content and featured a lot of ideas that were left out of Unreal for various reasons. It brought more of the same magic, but could never reach that greatness that was Unreal. It notably included some content that fans thought didn’t belong in the Unreal world and this early criticism was the first hint of the future direction for Epic. They never took criticism the right way.
Epic next produced Unreal Tournament, which was a direct answer, albeit a bit late, to Id’s Quake 3 Arena. UT was another amazing game, with loads of innovation, passion, energy and ideas. Epic were now going toe-to-toe with Id in their own genre and beating them with their innovative gameplay ideas and unique weapons. It garnered great reviews, spawned a massive fan base and an incredibly devoted following, one of whom I remain. For me, it is and was the best FPS ever made. What it wasn’t, however, was new. Unreal had been so completely alone in the field, a place where Id – or anyone else - had never been; in an adventure FPS. Unreal was sublime, enchanting and wondrous while UT was fast, noisy and in your face, just as Q3: A was before it. The biggest difference between the two was that for Id, Quake 3: A was an evolution, but for Epic, it was a revolution, one from which they would never return. Never again would they produce titles so profound as Unreal.
UT2003 was the direct lineage of UT1, or UT99, as we call it (it was going to be called UT2 initially). It was essentially the same basic gameplay as UT99, but some new game modes, weapons and improved graphics; it was UT99 massaged, tweaked and updated. Although it wasn’t generally well received, I personally think this is the last ‘pure’ game produced by Epic. It wasn’t kitschy or crass, it wasn’t a copycat or a panderer; it was still Epic making something they loved, something they wanted to make, in a very pure sense. They still had something to prove to themselves. Id was clearly fading back in the FPS market by now, but Epic was determined to take this genre to the next level. While UT2003 had few revolutionary aspects, it was an extension of UT in many ways, but again, it was not well-received. I loved it because of it being such a natural growth from UT and as a fan, I accepted the changes as part of Epic’s vision; I was still onboard, so to speak. I felt that they didn’t try to replace UT or backseat it, but offer something else, an alternative. I loved it and again, the dedicated modding and mapping community took up the call and reams of user-made content were delivered. In my books, UT2003 was another Epic classic, a great game made from devotion to a vision.
Unreal II came out (actually just before UT2003, but for this narrative, I will play with the timeline a bit), a formal successor to Unreal and was received tepidly by fans and critics. I personally thought this was a decent game, but was a bit too slow moving (halting, actually) at times. Not in a good way, which slow-moving can be, as it was sometimes in the original Unreal, but slow moving in a bad way. Long, needless cut scenes broke any real flow, the characters were voiced (Unreal had virtually no dialogue at all) which gave an impetus for a narrative, never Epic’s strong suit and awkward scripted moments filled the game. The voicing was good, but when you give a voice to a character, you steal the player’s voice. When you show the main character in game, you erase the player. All of the things that made Unreal so amazing were gone in Unreal II, almost as though it was a totally different group developing it. It actually was; so divorced were Epic becoming from their flagship, the title that shot them skyward, that the work was entrusted to Legend Entertainment. When it got moving, it was a solid shooter, with great atmosphere, enemies and some truly great scenes. It was very linear however, which killed the sense of adventure. Again, it was lacking that drive, that passion and impetus that made Unreal so incredible. It was somewhat inspired, but pretty much by-the-latest-FPS book rather than following to fruition the original Unreal idea, another indication of what to come. The fact that they trusted their hugely successful flagship IP to another company is very telling, and the fact that it got mediocre reviews was another sign. Why they would do this to a game that was clearly so beloved by so many is baffling. Should Epic be held responsible for Legend’s misstep? Yes, completely. Epic made a choice to entrust their treasure to Legend and they were accountable for the tarnishing of their crown. Again, Epic doesn’t take criticism well and had started to develop convictions like a fog that blow whichever direction trends (and cash) do, something which for me, would come to characterize all of their games in the future.
If until now they only noticed the water ski shop across the street before, they were now slobbering on the window. UT2004 came out fast upon the heels of UT2003, as if they were not only listening to the fans, but wanting to make them happy just a little too much. UT2003 seemed to Epic as Vista to Microsoft; an embarrassing blunder, half-baked, released before ready. To me, this was an egregious error; I loved UT2003 and felt they were insulting me for enjoying it so much. Then, when UT2004 arrived so early and was so similar to UT2003, I smelled something rotten. No longer were they doing this for themselves, no longer was there a vision which happened to resonate among gamers; they were now kowtowing to them, being lapdogs and I started to lose respect for the guys who changed my world just a handful of years ago. UT2003 was the game they wanted to make, while UT2004 was the game the fans said they wanted. UT2004 was a great game. I bought it and played it and again, the modders and mappers came through and thankfully, UT2004 was backwards-compatible with UT2003’s content. This is illustrative of how closely they followed one another; UT2004 was really a glorified mod or expansion; an alteration based on….what, exactly? The fans, which is a cool thing, but my question is, what was the real motivation at this point? To please them or cash in on them?
I contend it was not about passion or the desire to produce something incredible, but more of cash-in. Seeing life still in the genre, they realized that they had made many “mistakes” with UT2003, mistakes that were costing them fans which of course, also money and fame. They had always been licensing their technology (many great games were built on Unreal Engine tech; Deus Ex, as an example), and it seems that also was a factor. In order to license effectively, they needed a showpiece game and they could not afford to have a failure or even a mediocre offering. (One would think this would be a good time to get back all they had lost with Unreal 2, but the fans want multiplayer; single player games probably weren’t seen as big earners.) UT2004 was there only to make such a statement; that they had the best game engine and now with UT2004, the ‘best’ game to showcase that technology with a satisfied fan base to go with it, which brings the fame and the money. So, we see Epic getting all of their ducks in a row to be a huge gaming machine. Making the games that fans loved, having the cutting-edge tech with a full, robust set of tools to license to the moon had them swept up and away from everything they had ever been. No more magic, no more wonder, no more awe. A bloated company producing triple-A titles as a means by which to license their tech. All this and a boot-licking devotion to the fans; where Epic’s game production had once been from fans to fans, now it was from a company who wants your money and attention and will do pretty much anything to get it. By now they were doing slick triple jumps over the shark tank.
As I said before, Epic has weak convictions. A new breed of gamers arrived; the ADD-addled generation of players who want explosions every second, enemies coating the terrain, bigger blasters to blow them to bits with and ease; regenerating health and a games that are so arcade-y, so simple, so brain-dead that anyone with a pulse can play them. Cash is their new god; “fans” became “supporters” and are now just “customers”. In 2007, UT3 came (where was UT2, by the way?) and again, a good butt-kissing came as well. It clearly showed them owning the store, the skis the boat and the water. A “return to UT99” Epic proclaimed, but that candy-coating melted away quickly. Sure there were fans; even I enjoyed the game, but it isn’t near what it was or could have been and the motivation for its existence was transparent and as shallow as the kiddie pool. UT3 was the eulogy to UT as a series, at least in Epic’s hands. Zero innovation, zero passion, just a coat of paint and manipulation by slick marketing buzzwords. Did I buy it? Yes, and I played it and still do today. I never said it was a bad game, but it was simply adding more bricks to an already over-sized behemoth of a franchise. Nice bricks, well-laid bricks (Epic are very, very good at making UT games) but necessary bricks? For the money and time that went into UT3 and the free Titan pack, a reboot of Unreal would have been prudent. It would have been a move which would have first brought back the older fans Epic forgot about long ago and brought in a whole new generation of young gamers. But dudebros were the flavor of the day and Epic decided to milk a rapidly shriveling teat.
At least Id went away with some pride and their reputation pretty much intact, only popping up now and then to release a game that they love, not concerning themselves overly with critics or even fans. You have to admit, there is something cool, something admirable in that; love ‘em or leave ‘em, they are and always have been themselves. Epic however, went cheap; Walmart cheap and just another generic game-producing machine, like EA is often seen to be. Cliff Bleszinski, one of the original Epic team recently left Epic, but it was already way too late. He should have left years ago, when “Cliffy B’s Ownage” wasn’t so sadly ironic. Now we have Bulletstorm and Gears of War, two of the latest IPs from Epic; no magic, no awe, no real innovation and no passion. Fun games maybe, but not nearly as innovative as past titles and nowhere near as unique or compelling. Now, before many of you jump out of your seats with fury, while the Gears game did win many awards, not one was for anything innovative. “Best of an exhausted premise” should have been an embarrassment for Epic considering their lineage and if they couldn’t do even that much after 15 years, they should have been doubly ashamed. Epic is now a huge, soulless company, feigning interest in the “fans” with empty platitudes, putting out mediocre titles with hot new technology to license, epitomizing pretty much every factor that anesthetized PC gaming and made it a generic bore for years. You couldn’t throw a rock and not hit an Unreal-engine powered game. They all looked the same and played very similarly, and I blame Epic for this too. They not only swallowed themselves in their implosion, but went supernova and engulfed the whole industry in their ugly self-destruction. As an added slap in the face to those who put them where they are today, Cliff B. recently came out against PC gaming, saying that because of the pirates, blah, blah. So, Epic has taken a side in the debate, and it isn’t ours. But I digress.
So, it’s goodbye Epic and goodbye to the magic they once made. To the new Epic gamers out there, I feel sorry for you. You have been hoodwinked by a company that isn’t what it was or even what it says it is; that sees you as nothing more than a means to the next score. Any magic you find is manufactured to be just that; like a sweet treat made specifically to give you short, spiked buzz, but doesn’t last and just leaves you hungrier than before. I personally still find that old magic in other games, but from Epic we now get spam. If there ever was a company in which my typically-cynical-self placed trust, it was Epic and so I write this because it honestly saddens me to know that such great heights can be matched by such shallow, empty lows. Maybe it is too much to think that they could have held me any longer? Well, the Elder Scrolls – Bethesda - is an example of a company with a singular, unswerving focus and a deep commitment to achieving that vision with every sequel of the Elder Scrolls series. Skyrim is a tribute to that sense of purpose, that singular path I wish Epic would have stayed on. Every time I play Skyrim, I get a sense of loss for what Unreal could have become.
All is thankfully not lost, however. Thanks to the tireless and endless work of the community that grew way back in the early days of Epic, Unreal lives on today, as does UT99, 2003, 2004 and UT3, with mappers and modders still producing great content and people with a rare level of deep devotion to something now past. These are the truly dedicated people that Epic should have looked at, listened to, beheld and learned from, but ultimately forsook. These people are indeed the blood that used to flow through Epic’s veins, back when they cared, back when they were hungry, back when they had passion, back when they were gamers. Thanks for the great memories Epic; it’s just too bad they were so, so long ago.
R.I.P.
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