A lot of the discussion on the boards revolves around simple gameplay mechanics (weapon damage, movement speeds etc…). For me it’s something slightly more intangible that will make or break a game. One thing I feel is missing from UT2003/4 is the atmosphere and imaginative style of Unreal and Unreal Tournament. The earlier games made a far greater use of bright and vibrant colours – they were rich in reds, greens, blues etc..
The maps themselves were also more interesting, most of them really did feel like they were real locations that had been converted into battle arenas. There were lots of nice little touches that brought the maps to life without interrupting the gameplay. Quite often you would also need to adapt your style of play depending on the map design. I really enjoyed being able to pick a map that suited my current mood – if I was feeling aggressive I play something that was balls to the wall action, if I was more relaxed I might play a more open level were I could sit and snipe. The maps in UT2003/4 feet open and spacious whether they were or not. The UT2003/4 maps all feel alittle generic and unconvincing. There’s a lot of shiny grey in the locations which doesn’t exactly help fire the imagination. This could well be down to the use of the same static meshes and the lack of colourful textures applied to them. It also looks pretty obvious that some of the maps (especially from UT2003) have been designed to show off all the fancy graphics and effects rather than being playable and enjoyable.
Unreal and Unreal Tournament also had far more evocative sound effects and music. The weapons all had a nice meaty feel to them and made satisfying bangs when fired. The music complemented the style of the game and added to the pace of the maps. The thumping tunes in maps like DM-Liandri and DM-Morpheous really did get the juices flowing and added nicely to the absolutele carnage you could get on those maps. But at the same time there was some nice eerie music for the more exotic, alien locations which built up tension in a totally different manor. The UT2003/4 music, while having far higher production values, just didn’t really engage me in the same way.
And one final problem for me personally was the way the game just didn’t feel that convincing – there was too many little things that just destroyed the illusion of world. One of my biggest gripes is the scale – the characters in the game just look tiny, even up close and don’t really look like they belong in the game environments. The way they move is also pretty unconvincing. I don’t mean the unrealistic moves they can pull off, it’s the way they pull them off, their leg and arm movements just don’t look that human.
I think UT2007 really needs to recapture some of the atmosphere and ingenuity of the earlier games. I can overlook minor flaws in a game if I can really ‘get into’ the universe that it’s created for itself (I'm not talking about super grahpics here by the way). I find that because UT2003/4 didn’t really seem to have this I actually started getting bored with it after a few weeks and the flaws in the games would become more and more apparent so that in the end I just stopped playing.
Does anyone else have any opinions on this aspect of the unreal games?
The maps themselves were also more interesting, most of them really did feel like they were real locations that had been converted into battle arenas. There were lots of nice little touches that brought the maps to life without interrupting the gameplay. Quite often you would also need to adapt your style of play depending on the map design. I really enjoyed being able to pick a map that suited my current mood – if I was feeling aggressive I play something that was balls to the wall action, if I was more relaxed I might play a more open level were I could sit and snipe. The maps in UT2003/4 feet open and spacious whether they were or not. The UT2003/4 maps all feel alittle generic and unconvincing. There’s a lot of shiny grey in the locations which doesn’t exactly help fire the imagination. This could well be down to the use of the same static meshes and the lack of colourful textures applied to them. It also looks pretty obvious that some of the maps (especially from UT2003) have been designed to show off all the fancy graphics and effects rather than being playable and enjoyable.
Unreal and Unreal Tournament also had far more evocative sound effects and music. The weapons all had a nice meaty feel to them and made satisfying bangs when fired. The music complemented the style of the game and added to the pace of the maps. The thumping tunes in maps like DM-Liandri and DM-Morpheous really did get the juices flowing and added nicely to the absolutele carnage you could get on those maps. But at the same time there was some nice eerie music for the more exotic, alien locations which built up tension in a totally different manor. The UT2003/4 music, while having far higher production values, just didn’t really engage me in the same way.
And one final problem for me personally was the way the game just didn’t feel that convincing – there was too many little things that just destroyed the illusion of world. One of my biggest gripes is the scale – the characters in the game just look tiny, even up close and don’t really look like they belong in the game environments. The way they move is also pretty unconvincing. I don’t mean the unrealistic moves they can pull off, it’s the way they pull them off, their leg and arm movements just don’t look that human.
I think UT2007 really needs to recapture some of the atmosphere and ingenuity of the earlier games. I can overlook minor flaws in a game if I can really ‘get into’ the universe that it’s created for itself (I'm not talking about super grahpics here by the way). I find that because UT2003/4 didn’t really seem to have this I actually started getting bored with it after a few weeks and the flaws in the games would become more and more apparent so that in the end I just stopped playing.
Does anyone else have any opinions on this aspect of the unreal games?
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