Smells Good
It was kinda hard to get into CUT2. It had a lot going on, and I really wasn't sure what I was doing. Now for me, I have to deal with that and work through that. But to a casual gamer, this could be a real turnoff. Some just wanna get into it, and not worry about whether his grappling hook was set to a key. He just wants to grapple. Anyways, I set everything up to my liking. It took me a few test runs to find an appropriate setup. I set my weapon modifiers near my movement keys, and made my grappling hook as my middle mouse key (click my mouse wheel). Everything else was set up near the right shift.
Tastes Better
I'm going to start with the items. They are good times The Anti-Grav belt is a nifty little device that lessens the effect of gravity on its user. So on a normal map, you can bounce around as if it were a low-grav map. It worked without a hitch, and was fun. It was kinda neat to run up to a player, flip on your belt, and leap high above them, just juking the hell outta them. As an alternative to that, you can grab the good ol' Jump Boots. You know you love them. Yes...and they are just as fun as you remember them!
But the real item gem is the grappling hook. Never in any game have I used a grappling hook as awesome as this one. It does take some getting used to, but when you figure out how the hell it works. First click of the hook sends it whirring off to hook onto something (or someone) you want to grapple up onto. Now, you will be reeled in. You can allow yourself to be reeled in all the way, and hang out where you hooked. Or, if you got the knowhow, you can stop the reeling in at anytime, and hang at that distance. And the usefulness is endless. There was some serious Indiana Jones swining going on in my games. I'd hook to the ceiling, but by then, enemies would be firing on me. No worries...I just stopped it midway, and used my momentum to swing into an open doorway that was above me, but is now at my level. Sweet. I need a Grappling Hook mute. Now. Sure, there are other grappling hooks. But none feel as good as this one.
Explodery
Of course, weapons are included. And they are pretty amazing themselves. The Crossbow is well...a crossbow. It can fire several types of arrows, and has two firing modes. You can fire up to five arrows, or one charged arrow. Worth mentioning is the animation for the charged arrow. The crossbow cranks around, and it is quite delicious to watch. That being said, I didn't really like the crossbow. You hafta be a helluva shot do damage, especially in the furious UT world. If you aren't a SWAT sniper, you'll probably get chewed up by some other item in the Chaos Arsenal.
The Grenade Launcher is another so-so weapon. It shoots grenades. And it shoots them well. And you have different grenades. And you can shoot them so they detonate on impact, or bounce about. But honestly, it isn't that great. I think it actually looks worse because some of the other weapons are so much more satisfying. If it was a mutator on its own, it would be nifty. But here...it's kinda boring.
The C.U.T.T.E.R. is the Ripper. That's about it. I never really liked the Ripper. It works fine, but it isn't that exciting.
Now, the good ones. The ERDW is the rail gun, and it is fairly awesome. It can either shoot a standard rail round, but it doesn't penetrate walls. Secondary fire does, and with a more than fun bang. But it takes two rounds. The only hindrance is there is no scope or heat-scope. You hafta be a serious mack to shoot through a wall and score a kill...blind. Maybe a scope can be left out, but if you are gonna use through the wall shooting, include a heat-scope. It would make it more satisfying.
The Sniper Rifle is next, and it is a righteous bitchmaker. You can shoot with the normal ammo, and cap players up. Or you can use the rocket-propelled bullets and shoot multiple opponents...with one shot. This is balanced with a smoke trail so players can detect you. And the scope GUI is awesome.
The CUT2 Rocket Launcher is righteous itself. It shoots normal rockets, but the takes a page from the Half-Life RPG, and lets you guide your rockets with a laser. Only difference is this rocket launcher is infinitely sexier than the HL one.
The Gravity Vortex Launcher is the super-weapon of the bunch. It shoots out a little ball that, of course, releases a gravity vortex, sucking players in, and leaving their torsoes behind. The death animation is sweet. Excellent.
But the king of the weapons is, of course, the Claw2. This gun is as fun as the Grappling Hook. It can shoot one of two items. It can either shoot Proxy Mines or Fire Mines. But neither are ordinary. For standard ass kicking, the Fire Mine is preferred. A mine is released, and it shoots out a laser. If anything crosses the laser, the poor sap is engulfed with flames. Delicious. But who needs that when you have the GREATEST proxy mines ever invented. Cute little smiley face balls with legs are ejected from the gun. Primary lets them bounce about freely. Secondary lets them await they're prey. Either way, be prepared for 0wnery. Watch as your little proxys of doom chase the victim, all the while spitting hilarious tidbits (I love it when they sing...nothing is better). This is one of my top 10 weapons of all time.
Put It All Together
Gameplay is generally a blast. You get the sense fairly quickly that every player loves the Claw. Which is ok....but it leaves things to be said about the other weapons. There is a need for balancing in this mod. The Claw is awesome, as are the Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle. But rare is the day where people run about with the Grenade Launcher or Crossbow (if they have to). Something has to be done to make them more viable options. The included gametype, King of the Hill is also pretty rocking. Team KotH is the best. Additionally, CUT2 plays well on any map, but especially well on the CUT2 mappack. I think the team should just combine the two instead of making them seperate downloads. The mod feels infinitely more natural on its own maps, and especially for this mod, it is that more fun because of it.
More? You Want...MORE?
Now I know why everyone loved the original CUT. I am not really sure why this mod didn't make the Finalist cut for the contest. It is much better than quite a few of those mods that are finalists. I'm sure the CUT2 team will keep churning forward and give us all more of this fantastic mod.
-Bean
