Well I've have to look at what I was posting at the time, but I felt the same at release. I think my first impressions were wrong though because I just didn't stay the course, and I have few real positive memories of the game.
UT3
- Thread starter JohnDoe641
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Well I've have to look at what I was posting at the time, but I felt the same at release. I think my first impressions were wrong though because I just didn't stay the course, and I have few real positive memories of the game.
Part of it is just genre fatigue. Also, no real solid communities sprung up around the game. The advantage we had with UT, UT2003 and UT2004 was that it wasn't a solitary game. We made friends, we had FragBU pretty much every week, we joined clans, we got in Teamspeak. That just never happened much with UT3.
Gameplay wise, UT3 is awesome. I won't sugar coat it, it does have some major flaws also. But the fact that there was just no excitement or interest in it at almost any time, and the flubs they made in the first twelve months of release basically killed the game for most people. I still have fun when I decide to play it, I just don't decide to very often.
I can understand the performance issues back then as it was around 2006, though today it seems rather pale. Oh well.
UT is still my favorite.
The scale and weapon balance were as close to spot-on as possible, the stock maps were simple and clean while still being elegant, and the movement was quick and precise without being ridiculously hard to master (like with Quake.) I lean towards traditional projectile weapons like the rocket launcher, and it was really nice being effective against snipers and shock whores with the flak cannon or the goo gun.
UT2004 felt like something totally different to me. The movement didn't feel fast enough for my taste, but that was mostly down to map/player scale. Every weapon except shock and the LG is basically useless against a good player. The revamped jump and dodge systems didn't fare too well with me either; in my opinion it was overly-complicated simply for the sake of being 'pr0.'
I skipped UT3 entirely. I played the demo for a while and it was okay, but by then I had all but given up on arena shooters and online play in general.
UT was much more accessible in terms of mapping. You didn't need to be a good modeller and skinner to make decent-looking maps. Editing UT2004 wasn't terrible, you had to work with static meshes to make anything that looked decent but at least you could be a little more creative with BSP and it didn't take six months to build a map. Hell, I finished some UT maps in a day or two.
I don't know how people deal with Unreal Engine 3 mapping; the amount of time it takes to build a map, millions of polygons on-screen, realistic lighting, programmable shaders... the amount of talent required just to build a good-looking map is ridiculous. You almost need an entire dev team to build a single solid map.
The scale and weapon balance were as close to spot-on as possible, the stock maps were simple and clean while still being elegant, and the movement was quick and precise without being ridiculously hard to master (like with Quake.) I lean towards traditional projectile weapons like the rocket launcher, and it was really nice being effective against snipers and shock whores with the flak cannon or the goo gun.
UT2004 felt like something totally different to me. The movement didn't feel fast enough for my taste, but that was mostly down to map/player scale. Every weapon except shock and the LG is basically useless against a good player. The revamped jump and dodge systems didn't fare too well with me either; in my opinion it was overly-complicated simply for the sake of being 'pr0.'
I skipped UT3 entirely. I played the demo for a while and it was okay, but by then I had all but given up on arena shooters and online play in general.
UT was much more accessible in terms of mapping. You didn't need to be a good modeller and skinner to make decent-looking maps. Editing UT2004 wasn't terrible, you had to work with static meshes to make anything that looked decent but at least you could be a little more creative with BSP and it didn't take six months to build a map. Hell, I finished some UT maps in a day or two.
I don't know how people deal with Unreal Engine 3 mapping; the amount of time it takes to build a map, millions of polygons on-screen, realistic lighting, programmable shaders... the amount of talent required just to build a good-looking map is ridiculous. You almost need an entire dev team to build a single solid map.
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Glad to see some people still appreciate UT3.
It was actually really good as a coop TDM bot frag-fest on 360. The auto-aim and magnetism hit a perfect balance where, with the right sensitivity settings, you could make moving shock combos just as well as on PC, but it never felt like the game played itself for you. I never could have got my girlfriend into deathmatch without it.
Once my 360 broke, I convinced her to get a PC so we could expand into custom maps, mods, etc. The reworked gamepad options in Foxx's FoxxMod splitscreen mutator made for a perfect seamless transition; you can play with 0 aim assistance on a gamepad and do just as well against inhuman/godlike bots as with a mouse. Playing TDM on the top custom maps is great, I love CBP and HOLP.
After playing UT3 for so long, going back to UT2004 feels so backwards. The gravity is proposerously floaty; it feels like a convoluted imitation of Halo. The weapon balance is so bad too; 90 dmg for the RL? Ass Rifle much? Why is the Minigun a high dmg weapon?
The character art style in 2k3/2k4 is awful; the Necris look like anime fanart done by tweens at hot topic, the others look like a feed of the worst results of an Aeon Flux search at Deviant Art. Even UC2's Mortal Kombat-influenced designed were a massive improvement.
Don't get me wrong, Onslaught was great in UT2k, and they ruined it in UT3, but basic DM/TDM is much better. I far prefer UT3's short, quick movements to 2k4's loooong, slooww, floaty BS. UT3 isn't perfect, but IMO it's the best official iteration of UT movement/weapons there is, and it still looks amazing.
It was actually really good as a coop TDM bot frag-fest on 360. The auto-aim and magnetism hit a perfect balance where, with the right sensitivity settings, you could make moving shock combos just as well as on PC, but it never felt like the game played itself for you. I never could have got my girlfriend into deathmatch without it.
Once my 360 broke, I convinced her to get a PC so we could expand into custom maps, mods, etc. The reworked gamepad options in Foxx's FoxxMod splitscreen mutator made for a perfect seamless transition; you can play with 0 aim assistance on a gamepad and do just as well against inhuman/godlike bots as with a mouse. Playing TDM on the top custom maps is great, I love CBP and HOLP.
After playing UT3 for so long, going back to UT2004 feels so backwards. The gravity is proposerously floaty; it feels like a convoluted imitation of Halo. The weapon balance is so bad too; 90 dmg for the RL? Ass Rifle much? Why is the Minigun a high dmg weapon?
The character art style in 2k3/2k4 is awful; the Necris look like anime fanart done by tweens at hot topic, the others look like a feed of the worst results of an Aeon Flux search at Deviant Art. Even UC2's Mortal Kombat-influenced designed were a massive improvement.
Don't get me wrong, Onslaught was great in UT2k, and they ruined it in UT3, but basic DM/TDM is much better. I far prefer UT3's short, quick movements to 2k4's loooong, slooww, floaty BS. UT3 isn't perfect, but IMO it's the best official iteration of UT movement/weapons there is, and it still looks amazing.
I played some UT3 last night for the first time in years i think.
It was never as fun as 2k4 for me, and i still play 2k4 every few weeks-ish, well maybe more like once a month.
It was never as fun as 2k4 for me, and i still play 2k4 every few weeks-ish, well maybe more like once a month.
TheIronKnuckle
What the hell is this "ballin" thing?
Epic also forgot to put Malcolm in the game as a playable character.Funny how of all the things, that was what did it for me