I'm totally new to XMP, never played U2XMP, so I have nothing to compare it to. I downloaded UTXMP back in December and have been playing it on and off.
I really can't believe the number of people who are complaining about it not being the same as U2XMP. I may be new and therefore not qualified to judge, but I really cannot see any point in making it exactly the same. i refuse to believe that it was "perfect" because nothing ever is, and FMI would be foolish to try to copy a game that very few people now play...what would be the point in spending all those hours, days, weeks, months in creating SOMETHING THAT ALREADY EXISTS. If you want U2XMP...then play it. To be perfectly honest, I'm sure that right from the off FMI knew that even if they wanted to copy U2XMP, and then managed to pull that off, there would still be vets who would find something to complain about, something that wasn't right. Truth is, some people will never be satisfied.
I doubt U2XMP was perfect, more likely it had it's faults and problems and people who loved the game just got used to them until they weren't an issue anymore. When I first played UT2k4 I didn't get on with it, kept finding things that weren't right with it, that I didn't like. It took a few months, but somewhere down the line I stopped noticing them, and now UT2k4 fits so well that I find very little about it that I dont like. Perhaps people should give UTXMP the same chance.
From what I've read, UTXMP isn't a radical departure from the original, it's a beta so for sure it needs polishing..that's what beta releases are for. If people find fault with it, then it makes sense to say "x doesn't feel right, and here's why..." Saying UTXMP doesn't feel right so I'm dotching it and going back to U2 doesn't help the develpment of UTXMP at all....people who could be giving constructive criticism just saying "It's no good. I'm not interested" strikes me as indicating that they don't really want UTXMP to be any good at all, they just want their old game.
Anyways, from my limited point of view the tech feels a little overpowered at the moment, his shotgun just owns everything, even at a fair distance. The gunner feels a little weak because he has nothing effective over long range and all his weapons are projectile...Both Rangers and Techs seem to be able to deal with Gunners pretty easily...but then again, I am a noob, so it's hard to judge.
The bug where you get crushed when you leave a moving vehicle is really annoying.
Not crazy about the turret on the raptor...it both feels and looks a little weak. At the moment, it is so inefficient as to be pretty pointless.
Having said that, I'm pretty impressed with UTXMP, and I guess when you talk about it needing to attract a new player base from UT2k4 players, then I am one of those. While I don't know if it will ever replace UT as my staple game, I am pretty sure I'll carry on playing it. It is relatively noob friendly, as there are things to do (ie hack) that can be done even if you don't have the aiming, movement skills to compete against better players. The movement actually feels really good and natural, the environments are pretty good (although some are really too dark for me) and as I've said above, I like it a lot.
Maybe I would have liked U2XMP a lot as well....but I guess if I had, I wouldn't see any point in having exactly the same game made again.
