O come all ye faithful! The mod you've all been waiting for for so long has finally arrived. Actually, it's been here for some time, but I've been a little slow reviewing it. You all know what I'm talking about- Apocalypse Weapons beta 7! Beta 7 took longer than usual, but this is only because Darkness wanted to make a good job of it. And I have to say, he certainly has. Many new things have been added in this release. I'll list many of the minor tweaks as they appear in the read-me later on in the review, but for now, here's a summary of some of the more interesting additions.
Firstly, I was pleased to see that Darkness had acted upon my suggestion in the previous review, and added a menu. No more ferreting around in the ini file. The menu is incredibly complete, and includes multiple options for the weapons, powerups, and other features. Now you can completely customize Apocalypse Weapons to suit your tastes exactly. I like this feature.
Another thing I suggested in the Beta 6 review was having a complete line of AW powerups. Darkness has had a good shot at this, and produced the Enhanced Shield Belt, the Gravity Neutralizer Belt and the Mobile Heal Pod, replacing the Shield Belt, the Anti-Gravity boots, and the Invisibility, respectivley. The Enhanced Shield Belt and the Gravity Neutralizer Boots are similar to their UT counterparts, but both can be customized via the mod menu. You can have the Enhanced Shield Belt recharge, for instance, or the Gravity Neutralizer Boots to have power for 999 jumps! The default value of 45 jumps is a little excessive, I feel.
When I first saw the Mobile Heal Pod, I expected it to be something you picked up and carried around with you, and it kept healing you. Instead, you have to stand next the the pickup in order to feel it's effects. This can lead to some interesting matches, as everybody fights to control the Heal Pod.
Overall, these pickups are good. The Enhanced Shield Belt and the Gravity Neutralizer boots are a little unoriginal, but needn't be once you customize them. Now let's see a new pickup for the Damage Amplifier.
Two other 'pickups' which have been added are red versions of the Health Packs and Health Vials. The red Health Packs give 30 health, whilst the vials give 10. The menu also allows you to set the maximum health you can collect.. The health is randomly red or normal (blue).
Volatile Ammunition is also supported in the release. Via the menu, you can set the amount of damage an ammunition container can take, before it explodes, sending it's contents flying in all directions.
Another interesting feature is the fact that Darkness has now made the EMP Carbine availiable in two flavours- standard blue, and the new red. The red carbine becomes availiable when you pick up some red ammo, and, like the blue, as two modes of fire. Primary fire is similar to that of the blue carbine, but it shoots red fiery tasers instead. Secondary fire will normally kill someone straight away if you hit them with it, but should you fire it against the wall, it will land and start shooting little Primary Fiire lasers at anyone who approaches it, including it.
These are the major new features in Beta 7. There have also been a whole host of little changes and tweaks, which I have copied staight out of the readme:
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Apocalypser:
- Added Random Seeking Blades to the Primary Fire.
- New Seeking Blade code.
Cyber Rifle:
- Bullet trail improved a little.
- Original zoom support added.
Pinball Rocket Launcher:
- Animations fixed.
- Small changes on the projectiles.
- TightWad Launch System added.
- A new "Target Lock System", more realistic and effective.
BrimStoner:
- Changes on the ClipCount.
- Secodary Fire's Cost increased.
- Ammunition increased.
Shredder:
- Less Ammunition per pack.
- Configurable Secondary Fire's Cost Effectness.
Phoenix:
- Secodary Fire's Cost increased.
- Ammunition reduced.
Tarydium Machine Gun:
- Secondary Fire recoded.
- Ammunition reduced.
E.M.P Carbine:
- Added a "FlashBang Effect" to the Secondary Fire.
- RedBeam Carbine added.
- Ammunition reduced a little.
Acid Spitter:
- Secodary Fire's Cost increased.
- Ammunition reduced.
Silver Falcon:
- Secondary Fire's code improved.
Overall:
- New HeadShot code - better, with no bugs.
- Multiplayer client support improved, but still far from an acceptable level...
- Many bug fixes, along with more balance and action.
- Great improvement on Bots' AI - Now they use all weapons very well.
Well, with this level of improvements, why isn't Beta 7 a 10? Unfortunately, as stated in the read-me, network play is still far from an acceptable level. Namely, the infamous Sniper Rifle zoom bug still remains. It's here that I make a plea upon Darkness' behalf for anyone who has any multiplayer coding experience to contact him if they think they can help him iron out these ugly bugs. Apart from multiplayer support, it's almost perfect. I'd just like to see a replacement for the Damage Amp, though. Good work, Darkness.
-Doobin
