This is sort of a UT > UTX series post, so bare with me on this one.
Well I myself play both UT2k4 and UT daily and I can say UT definitely has an atmosphere to it that it seems UT2k3/4 were lacking. Just to make sure my UT favoritism didn’t take over when writing this post, I loading up UT and played with the weapons and walked around on the levels, then loaded up UT2k4 and did the same thing. The difference is pretty clear; Ut2k4 really has no mood set with its maps no atmosphere or any good sounds. Let me try to explain what I mean below:
Let me cover weapon sounds first,
Ok well in UT, you fire a flak burst, your shells hit the wall, you hear a "thud", then as each metal flak shrapnel bounces about, you can hear them bouncing off objects (you hear metallic noises). Then you pick up your enforcer and shoot some rounds, as you are hearing the bullets make contact with the wall/floor you also hear your bullet cartridge hit the floor and bounce. Now you load up UT2k4, sure the guns make noises and some make sounds when they impact, but that is about it, the flak shells don't have that metallic noise when they bounce (I hope they are made of metal in ut2k4). You hear no bullets bouncing about, and just the impacts of the explosions don't sound powerful.
The maps
Each map in UT has its own feel, The music fits right in and a lot of maps have great abundant sounds. You could hear wind howl through corridors and tunnels, you could hear the fire on the torches, hear crickets and frogs near water on some maps, hear birds etc. Ut2k4 does have some of these things, however most maps are quiet and don't really have their own unique feel to them. Also the music on some maps is questionable.
The lava/slime/water all have great sounds as well in UT. You walk near water you can hear it rushing; you walk near lava it sounds like it is scourging hot. You walk near slime, you can hear it bubbling. In Ut2k4, I think maybe only a small handful of maps have any kind of sound like these and mostly it is for water. Most maps, slime, lava have no noise at all.
Human sounds
The sounds in UT for humans dying/getting gibbed I feel are a lot better in UT then the UTX series. In UT when someone died they screamed, I think mostly only the females do it in UTX. When someone got gibbed you would hear the sound of them getting ripped open in UT1. Also gibs, I think even the die hard fans of UT2k3/4 will agree with me on this, the gibs in UT sound a whole lot better then UTX. When the gibs hit something or fell from a high altitude, the sounds they made on impact sounded like chunks of meat hitting the ground, where as in the UTX series well I am not sure what it sounds like actually
Also the gibs seemed to interact better with the maps in UT, such as bouncing about.
Death scenarios
Let me pull away from sounds now and cover something that just has been bugging me.
In the original UT, it seemed like every hazard on a map had its own way of killing you. If you went out into space, your body exploded and your camera would spin about making it look like you were adrift in space. Where as in the new series, your character simply falls on the skybox and lays there. Also when your character completely gibbed your camera acted like your head and would bounce around, it just looked better when being gibbed. Also in UT1 if you fell in slime your body would dissolve making it feel like you fell in acid, in Ut2k4 no animation really does it justice, it just feels like you died in green water. If you went into lava in UT your body incinerated, now Ut2k4 you turn into a skeleton however it doesn’t always do that. In UT1 if you got decompressed such as in Dm-pressure or Hyperblast1 your camera view would go read, and your FOV would radically change giving the impression you were imploding. Also the gibs interacted with the hazards as well in UT. If they fell in water they would float, if they fell in slime they would dissolve, if they fell in lava they would vaporize (and you could hear it).
Basically the point of this post is to show that in UT all the sounds and everything else mentioned above set the mood to where you were fighting, if you were fighting in space, it felt like space etc. If you died by lava/water/slime it felt like it. UT2k3/4 are lacking that feeling. I really think what I wrote really doesn't do what I am trying to cover justice, to fully see what I mean you will need to load up both games and be your own judge. Am I saying the next UT should just be like the original? Not at all, I just want some of the things that I felt were +'s in adding to the game experience added to the next Unreal Tournament.
Well I myself play both UT2k4 and UT daily and I can say UT definitely has an atmosphere to it that it seems UT2k3/4 were lacking. Just to make sure my UT favoritism didn’t take over when writing this post, I loading up UT and played with the weapons and walked around on the levels, then loaded up UT2k4 and did the same thing. The difference is pretty clear; Ut2k4 really has no mood set with its maps no atmosphere or any good sounds. Let me try to explain what I mean below:
Let me cover weapon sounds first,
Ok well in UT, you fire a flak burst, your shells hit the wall, you hear a "thud", then as each metal flak shrapnel bounces about, you can hear them bouncing off objects (you hear metallic noises). Then you pick up your enforcer and shoot some rounds, as you are hearing the bullets make contact with the wall/floor you also hear your bullet cartridge hit the floor and bounce. Now you load up UT2k4, sure the guns make noises and some make sounds when they impact, but that is about it, the flak shells don't have that metallic noise when they bounce (I hope they are made of metal in ut2k4). You hear no bullets bouncing about, and just the impacts of the explosions don't sound powerful.
The maps
Each map in UT has its own feel, The music fits right in and a lot of maps have great abundant sounds. You could hear wind howl through corridors and tunnels, you could hear the fire on the torches, hear crickets and frogs near water on some maps, hear birds etc. Ut2k4 does have some of these things, however most maps are quiet and don't really have their own unique feel to them. Also the music on some maps is questionable.
The lava/slime/water all have great sounds as well in UT. You walk near water you can hear it rushing; you walk near lava it sounds like it is scourging hot. You walk near slime, you can hear it bubbling. In Ut2k4, I think maybe only a small handful of maps have any kind of sound like these and mostly it is for water. Most maps, slime, lava have no noise at all.
Human sounds
The sounds in UT for humans dying/getting gibbed I feel are a lot better in UT then the UTX series. In UT when someone died they screamed, I think mostly only the females do it in UTX. When someone got gibbed you would hear the sound of them getting ripped open in UT1. Also gibs, I think even the die hard fans of UT2k3/4 will agree with me on this, the gibs in UT sound a whole lot better then UTX. When the gibs hit something or fell from a high altitude, the sounds they made on impact sounded like chunks of meat hitting the ground, where as in the UTX series well I am not sure what it sounds like actually
Also the gibs seemed to interact better with the maps in UT, such as bouncing about.Death scenarios
Let me pull away from sounds now and cover something that just has been bugging me.
In the original UT, it seemed like every hazard on a map had its own way of killing you. If you went out into space, your body exploded and your camera would spin about making it look like you were adrift in space. Where as in the new series, your character simply falls on the skybox and lays there. Also when your character completely gibbed your camera acted like your head and would bounce around, it just looked better when being gibbed. Also in UT1 if you fell in slime your body would dissolve making it feel like you fell in acid, in Ut2k4 no animation really does it justice, it just feels like you died in green water. If you went into lava in UT your body incinerated, now Ut2k4 you turn into a skeleton however it doesn’t always do that. In UT1 if you got decompressed such as in Dm-pressure or Hyperblast1 your camera view would go read, and your FOV would radically change giving the impression you were imploding. Also the gibs interacted with the hazards as well in UT. If they fell in water they would float, if they fell in slime they would dissolve, if they fell in lava they would vaporize (and you could hear it).
Basically the point of this post is to show that in UT all the sounds and everything else mentioned above set the mood to where you were fighting, if you were fighting in space, it felt like space etc. If you died by lava/water/slime it felt like it. UT2k3/4 are lacking that feeling. I really think what I wrote really doesn't do what I am trying to cover justice, to fully see what I mean you will need to load up both games and be your own judge. Am I saying the next UT should just be like the original? Not at all, I just want some of the things that I felt were +'s in adding to the game experience added to the next Unreal Tournament.
