Smarter than your average shooter.
Note: Unreal Gold includes Unreal and its mission pack Unreal: Return to Na Pali.
Unreal
The Unreal series is best known for its competitive multiplayer first-person shooters, but the franchise started with a traditional shooter where the single-player campaign is primary and the multiplayer secondary. At first glance, Unreal appears to be another FPS in the same extended family that includes Doom, Quake, Hexen, and Rise of the Triad. In reality, Unreal is much more than that. It is far more intelligent than the PC shooters that came before; it is far better looking; and it is far more progressive. In fact, in the evolution of first-person shooters, Unreal represents a missing link -- a transitional game that shares qualities of the inferior class of games that came before it, and the superior class that succeeded it.
In Unreal, players take control of an unnamed inmate who survives the crash of his prison ship into an alien planet. The goal is to escape from the planet by any means necessary. Along the way the silent protagonist explores jungles, caves, ruins, temples, and mining facilities -- just to name a few -- and uncovers many secrets about the planet and its inhabitants.
Unlike most shooters that came before, Unreal features an engaging and intelligent story. The developers at Epic Games could easily have relied on the game's superior technical achievements and inserted a formulaic, boring story (or no story at all), but they didn't. They crafted a genuinely interesting world with a genuinely interesting plot line. What's even more impressive is that they did so without a single line of dialogue or narration. In Unreal, the story unfolds entirely through logs, journals, and other written information. It is very similar to Metroid Prime in that respect.
Another area where Unreal breaks from the pack is its focus on both cramped indoor environments and open outdoor environments. It might not sound like a big deal, but moving from claustrophobic tunnels, waterways, and ruins into expansive fields, villages, and other open areas provides a much needed diversity -- a far cry from your run-of-the-mill corridor shooter.
Graphically, Unreal is a masterpiece. It has some of the best graphics you will ever find (compared to games of its generation, of course), with gorgeous colored lighting, incredible texture smoothing, and draw distance that would shame the Hubble Telescope. Unreal was the first game to use the now ubiquitous Unreal engine, which allowed for some pretty impressive physics and curved-surface rendering support.
Watch the opening movie here:
Another area where Unreal shines is its artificial intelligence. The enemies in the game aren't mindless monsters that walk willingly into a hail of bullets; they dodge, duck, and otherwise defend themselves. It was impressive to watch an enemy throw up an energy shield to block incoming projectiles, or a Skaarj somersault out of the way of a cluster of shrapnel. As in Halo, players will feel like they are going head to head with smart, resourceful enemies.
The excellent single-player mode in Unreal comes with several multiplayer options, which provide some entertainment but don't really match the excellence of the campaign. The best of the bunch is "bot match" which allows players to fight computer-controlled bots.
Overall, Unreal is a game that excels on all levels. Technically, the game is a marvel. But there is much more too it: a good story told in a creative way; outstanding enemy artificial intelligence; some very cool weapons (with primary and secondary fire); great pacing; and a healthy combination of corridor shooting and open-world exploration.
Unreal: Return to Na Pali
One year after the release of Unreal, Epic Games released a mission pack titled Return to Na Pali. It takes place an indeterminate amount of time after the end of the original game. A military vessel intercepts the escape pod used by the unnamed hero, who gets a name of sorts in this expansion, and orders him to retrieve weapons data from a crashed ship. In exchange, he will be given a full pardon and repatriated to Earth.
Return to Na Pali was developed using leftover art from the original production, and almost all of the levels that were left on the cutting room floor during the making of Unreal. As a result the game flows less smoothly than the first game. An icy level high in the mountains arrives out of nowhere, for example, and disappears just as quickly. Still, the excellent engine and mechanics are carried over from Unreal, so it's hard to complain.
Three new enemies and three new weapons are introduced in Return to Na Pali. Weapons include the grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and combat assault rifle. The grenade and rocket launcher are somewhat redundant since the eightball launcher already fires rockets and grenades, but the assault rifle is an excellent addition -- even if it eats up ammo too quickly. New enemies include spiders, pack hunters, and Terran marines.
Return to Na Pali also added four new multiplayer modes: gravity match; cloak match; Terran weapon match; and marine match, which pits players again Terran marines, who are far more deadly than normal bots.
The weakest point in Return to Na Pali, ironically, is its storytelling. Where Unreal relied on left-behind journals, electronic logs, and signposts to tell an engaging story, Return to Na Pali relies on voice-over narration. And it's bad voice over narration. It brings to mind Harrison Ford in the theatrical version of Blade Runner.
That being said, Return to Na Pali is a completely entertaining add-on to a great game with a few new weapons, enemies, and modes. It might lack a great story, but it does provide closure to fans left hanging at the end of the original game. For those who didn't care for the first game, Return to Na Pali won't do anything to change their minds. But for those who enjoyed it, this expansion will tack on a few more hours to a game they never wanted to end.
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| Unreal: 1998 Return to Na Pali: 1999 |
Unreal
The Unreal series is best known for its competitive multiplayer first-person shooters, but the franchise started with a traditional shooter where the single-player campaign is primary and the multiplayer secondary. At first glance, Unreal appears to be another FPS in the same extended family that includes Doom, Quake, Hexen, and Rise of the Triad. In reality, Unreal is much more than that. It is far more intelligent than the PC shooters that came before; it is far better looking; and it is far more progressive. In fact, in the evolution of first-person shooters, Unreal represents a missing link -- a transitional game that shares qualities of the inferior class of games that came before it, and the superior class that succeeded it.
In Unreal, players take control of an unnamed inmate who survives the crash of his prison ship into an alien planet. The goal is to escape from the planet by any means necessary. Along the way the silent protagonist explores jungles, caves, ruins, temples, and mining facilities -- just to name a few -- and uncovers many secrets about the planet and its inhabitants.
Unlike most shooters that came before, Unreal features an engaging and intelligent story. The developers at Epic Games could easily have relied on the game's superior technical achievements and inserted a formulaic, boring story (or no story at all), but they didn't. They crafted a genuinely interesting world with a genuinely interesting plot line. What's even more impressive is that they did so without a single line of dialogue or narration. In Unreal, the story unfolds entirely through logs, journals, and other written information. It is very similar to Metroid Prime in that respect.
 |
| Unreal features a number of different environments to explore. |
Another area where Unreal breaks from the pack is its focus on both cramped indoor environments and open outdoor environments. It might not sound like a big deal, but moving from claustrophobic tunnels, waterways, and ruins into expansive fields, villages, and other open areas provides a much needed diversity -- a far cry from your run-of-the-mill corridor shooter.
Graphically, Unreal is a masterpiece. It has some of the best graphics you will ever find (compared to games of its generation, of course), with gorgeous colored lighting, incredible texture smoothing, and draw distance that would shame the Hubble Telescope. Unreal was the first game to use the now ubiquitous Unreal engine, which allowed for some pretty impressive physics and curved-surface rendering support.
Watch the opening movie here:
Another area where Unreal shines is its artificial intelligence. The enemies in the game aren't mindless monsters that walk willingly into a hail of bullets; they dodge, duck, and otherwise defend themselves. It was impressive to watch an enemy throw up an energy shield to block incoming projectiles, or a Skaarj somersault out of the way of a cluster of shrapnel. As in Halo, players will feel like they are going head to head with smart, resourceful enemies.
 |
| Strategic and resourceful, Skaarj resemble Halo's Elites. |
The excellent single-player mode in Unreal comes with several multiplayer options, which provide some entertainment but don't really match the excellence of the campaign. The best of the bunch is "bot match" which allows players to fight computer-controlled bots.
Overall, Unreal is a game that excels on all levels. Technically, the game is a marvel. But there is much more too it: a good story told in a creative way; outstanding enemy artificial intelligence; some very cool weapons (with primary and secondary fire); great pacing; and a healthy combination of corridor shooting and open-world exploration.
Score: 9.0
*** SPOILER ALERT***
Unreal: Return to Na Pali
One year after the release of Unreal, Epic Games released a mission pack titled Return to Na Pali. It takes place an indeterminate amount of time after the end of the original game. A military vessel intercepts the escape pod used by the unnamed hero, who gets a name of sorts in this expansion, and orders him to retrieve weapons data from a crashed ship. In exchange, he will be given a full pardon and repatriated to Earth.
Return to Na Pali was developed using leftover art from the original production, and almost all of the levels that were left on the cutting room floor during the making of Unreal. As a result the game flows less smoothly than the first game. An icy level high in the mountains arrives out of nowhere, for example, and disappears just as quickly. Still, the excellent engine and mechanics are carried over from Unreal, so it's hard to complain.
Three new enemies and three new weapons are introduced in Return to Na Pali. Weapons include the grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and combat assault rifle. The grenade and rocket launcher are somewhat redundant since the eightball launcher already fires rockets and grenades, but the assault rifle is an excellent addition -- even if it eats up ammo too quickly. New enemies include spiders, pack hunters, and Terran marines.
 |
| The assault rifle doesn't disappoint. |
Return to Na Pali also added four new multiplayer modes: gravity match; cloak match; Terran weapon match; and marine match, which pits players again Terran marines, who are far more deadly than normal bots.
The weakest point in Return to Na Pali, ironically, is its storytelling. Where Unreal relied on left-behind journals, electronic logs, and signposts to tell an engaging story, Return to Na Pali relies on voice-over narration. And it's bad voice over narration. It brings to mind Harrison Ford in the theatrical version of Blade Runner.
That being said, Return to Na Pali is a completely entertaining add-on to a great game with a few new weapons, enemies, and modes. It might lack a great story, but it does provide closure to fans left hanging at the end of the original game. For those who didn't care for the first game, Return to Na Pali won't do anything to change their minds. But for those who enjoyed it, this expansion will tack on a few more hours to a game they never wanted to end.
Score: 8.0
Cool news! I still remember play the 1st Unreal when it was released many moons ago on a PC that could just manage to render the graphics :)
ReplyDeleteReturn to Na Pali does sound good too - thanks
Thanks for commenting! Both games are available on Steam for only $10. I wouldn't be surprised if they went on sale soon.
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