/vr/ - Retro Games

It became a tech demo when the multiplayer launched, just like in Quake.

>>8475470
Its a largely multiplayer only game that focuses around an old style of hardcore deathmatch game play that most normies arent into. Most people now want custom loadouts and kill streak teamplay garbage instead of fast paced free for all rocket jumping chaos. Its a sad state of affairs really.

I have it on Steam but I've never played it.

It wasn't overlooked. 1998 was just an extremely competitive year for PC gaming. Unreal managed to top Starcraft in May, which had came out the month before.

Halo was Unreal but better, that's why. See >>8475541 for cope.

>"normies" aren't into halo and portal-style gameplay
Hahahaha

>>8475571
>Halo was Unreal but better
Fucking hilarious, anon!

I don't remember computer hunting games being so popular

>>8475541
Are you thinking of UT99? Because Unreal had a huge focus on its single player, including advanced AI, dynamic lighting, and huge environments never really done before on PC. It even got a single player expansion.

I get multiplayer was important but it’s single player is no slouch.

>>8475470
>Why is this game so overlooked
Half-Life, that's why.

>>8475607
Was that game really so popular that every single FPS released that year is forgotten? Goddamn Gabe.

>>8475571
Halo 1 2 and 3 had more traditional unreal/quake style slayer.

Halo reach 4 5 and 6 have more call of duty style slayer with loadouts and experience and other junk. Do they even call it slayer anymore at this point? Call of duty modern warfare basically killed good multiplayer going forward. That was what began the process of all online games becoming iron sights and sprinting.

>>8475594
Yeah, I know that both unreal and quake had decent singleplayer at first but then they both dropped it a few games in and became "mostly" multiplayer like I said. Normies dont like that style of multiplayer because it takes actual skill instead of being able to have gucci loadouts carry them to victory.

>>8475587
>Unreal
>Age of Empires
>Lego Island
Soul.

>>8475643
>Call of duty modern warfare basically killed good multiplayer going forward.
Halo did it by starting the whole thing of regenerating shields, slow movement and limited weapons. CoD only continued what Halo started.

>>8475587
no half life
fucking Frogger
still a lot of big games that are still important in one single year wow

>>8475643
But the original Quake is still fondly remembered for its great single player and movement system. It’s highly regarded multiplayer or not. Even Quake 2 gets referenced in newer iD games.

The original Unreal almost seems like it didn’t exist to people despite how popular it was back in the day, meanwhile Unreal Tournament at least is somewhat recognized

UT2003 and 2004 made it obsolete.

>>8475662
Fair. It was still better than what they have become now.
>>8475695
The developers of unreal simply didnt have the kind of clout that id had. id pioneered online fps play going all the way back to doom and kept pioneering it through quake 2. The guys who made unreal were still talented but they were always following in id's footsteps even if they were only one step behind.

>>8475707
I mean Valve didn’t hate the clout iD did at first either but Half Life shattered records. You’d think with the marketing around Unreal and it’s engine it would’ve had more impact 20 years later.

Strange that everything surrounding unreal, Epic, the Unreal Engine, it’s multiplayer all ended up being monster hits… but the SP mode is outright forgotten.

>>8475587
>Myst
>Titanic
One game is from 1993, the other is from 1996. Let's assume Titanic rode on the movie's success, but still it is a footnote even in genre's history. I had no idea that adventures were THAT huge in the 90s. Thanks for sharing anon, list really gives perspective.

>>8475791
Epic is a weird company. They had a lot of success with Unreal. Then Gears of War came out and it was a huge hit, yet I talked to a bunch of GoW fans and they never heard about Unreal. Then Fortnite came out and it was a huge hit, yet talking with a few Fortnite players they never heard about either GoW or Unreal. I also know a bunch of people who know about the Unreal engine and the Epic Games store, yet never heard about any of their games other than Fortnite which they might not even know is from Epic. I don't know of any other company like that with such a disconnected fanbase and yet with so many big hits.

>>8475587
I never played Half-Life until 2000 and this list seems to explain why

>>8475695
>The original Unreal almost seems like it didn’t exist to people despite how popular it was back in the day, meanwhile Unreal Tournament at least is somewhat recognized
I think there are two factors there.
First, in 1998 Unreal was probably the most innovative of the big FPS on the market in terms of gameplay, but it didn't had Quake II's name and attention and Half-Life's relatable setting. It was already said in the thread that 1998 was competitive as hell for FPS games, and Unreal did what Half-Life did with its storytelling, but it didn't have a setting that memorable, and the innovation wasn't that noticeable. So, in the eyes of the public Half-Life became the trendsetter, even if Unreal beat it to the market by half a year.
Second, Unreal 2 came too late when Unreal (not UT) had fallen out of relevance. And was seen as one of the many attemts of making a Halo killer. It didn't help that the game itself was so-so.

>>8475838
>I also know a bunch of people who know about the Unreal engine and the Epic Games store, yet never heard about any of their games other than Fortnite which they might not even know is from Epic.
True story: one time my bro and I were waiting in the airport together for our flight to a family reunion in the summer of 2018. We were talking vidya and as someone who played 1000s of hours of classic UT I said something to the effect of "Yeah it's sad to see how Unreal has fallen so much, UT3 was a flop and you barely even hear about Epic Games anymore". He replies "Bro what about Fortnite?" and I'm like "What the fuck is Fortnite?" Felt good discovering that Sweeney was rolling in dough even if it's not something I was interested in playing.

>>8475882
It’s a damn shame because Unreal 1998 really was innovative, it’s opening comes across like a simplified System Shock but it’s enemy AI, lighting, reflections, open level design, interactive puzzles, biome with Flora and Fauna, NPC’s, weapons with alt fires and more were downright revolutionary and just as important as Half Life. Let alone introducing the Unreal Engine to the world, arguably the most popular engine in the world.

It deserves better, hopefully the ludicrous amount of money made through Fortnite will incentivize them to remake it one day.

>>8475893
Damn man, even in 2018 how had you just heard of Fortnite, that shot was everywhere back then.

>half the posters ITT don't even know the difference between Unreal and Unreal Tournament

Jesus christ lads, come on.

That said, I can see why Unreal was overlooked compared to UT. UT became a kind of phenomenon, Unreal was just a kinda obscure precursor game that tech-demo'd the engine. Yes, Unreal had a big campaign that was praised at the time for it's big, impressive outdoor environments- But the thing is, beyond that, it just... Wasn't very good, honestly.

Even at the time (I remember playing it back on my family's old beige box, which surprisingly had a fucking TNT2 in it, shit was cash af) it felt... Strange. It was this weird mid-point between the distinct "levels" in Quake, Doom, etc, and the seamless campaign of Half Life. The environments were large and continuously connected, but besides that cool scripted intro, they really felt kinda directionless. It lacked momentum as a single player campaign, and I think that's part of why they transitioned to a multiplayer game afterwards- Directing a full story just wasn't their strong suit.

Anyway UT99 is and always will be the peak of arena shooters, it's even still fun just against bots. It's a much more complete and satisfying package than Quake 3 ever was.

Because it's squeezed between Quake 2 and Half-Life.

Quake 2 coasts off its name, Half-Life gets attention for bringing a design philosophy to the genre that, love it or hate it, became the prevailing wind for the next decade of FPS games.

Unreal doesn't do either of these things, and got eclipsed by its own multiplayer standalone, Unreal Tournament, the following year.

It's a shame, really. Especially considering what a major player Unreal Engine evolved into.

>>8476548
This is correct. The large outdoor areas was pretty neat for the time, but it's just large mostly empty areas to explore these days. I never played it back then, but I did play the hell out of UT. Finally going back and playing it, just seems so slow and bland. Coming off of Duke Nukem 3D or Doom or something like that, it would have been a lot more enjoyable. Still, most talk about the game I heard back then was about the graphics.

Dead series.

>>8475587
They were cheap, ran on everything, and undiscerning hillbilly rubes loved them.

>>8475470
>did in fact sell well
>popular enough to spawn Unreal Tournament which was huge from 99-2005
>engine branding lives on to this very day
It fucking wasn't overlooked, zoomoid. It's just not 'that' great a game and it doesn't wow anyone with it's grayfix anymore. The engine, guns, and bots were cool, and were taken for its sequel. The campaign kinda blows. Never could be bothered to finish it.

For me, Unreal beats the hell out of Half-Life, Quake, or any other 90s FPS. It was an incredibly ambitious game for its time, and the level designs to this day are extremely creative, complex, and varied. The awesome art direction, environmental storytelling, and immersive soundtrack by Alexander Brandon at the top of his game, combined together create an unforgettable atmosphere. The game offered the player a huge arsenal of 13 weapons, each with alternate fire modes, and hidden mechanics such as pistol bursting, shock combos, rocket spirals, ect. The AI was super aggressive and capable of effectively dodging fire and flanking the player. The campaign on Unreal difficulty offers a very satisfying challenge for hardcore gamers, but even on lower difficulties, casuals may get frustrated by the obtuseness of certain levels. And of course, the multiplayer was the bomb. There's a reason Unreal Tournament sold over 2 million copies, even though it was essentially just a standalone map pack. Unreal is a stunning achievement in every single respect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUDAVddrEj8

>>8475687
>>8475880
Half Life came out in late november so it didn't have any time to make sales. It was a top seller in 1999 though

>>8476548
>>8476614
It kinda disagree, I thought the campaign had great pacing through most of its story and fantastic puzzles during the first 3/4ths. It really only falls apart at the end when it’s levels start feeling samey… but so does Half Life and Halo. It’s still strange that it only applies to Unreal.

>>8476674
Yeah dipshit. That’s been mentioned, I ain’t saying nobody remembers Unreal as a brand, I meant nobody cares about that original game, when it was so influential and groundbreaking.

>overlooked
what did he mean by this?

>>8475571
>Halo was Unreal but better
This seems like something a zoomer would say
>cope
There is the proof.

>>8477430
>coming to the N64
Was it really? That would have been a seriously impressive port.

>>8477435
No way they could have ported THAT to PS1, let alone N64.
>state-of-the-art PC master race FPS
>on a cart-based console
Yeah, good luck with that.

>>8476730
>The campaign on Unreal difficulty offers a very satisfying challenge for hardcore gamers
Try Godlike difficulty from 227 unofficial patch, it's basically Nightmare difficulty - not even remotely fair. Even simple wildlife is capable of maiming you, and every single Skaarj is a deadly encounter. Also UT was supposed to be a mappack, but due to numerous changes it has been packaged as a new game - still on the very same engine, and despite that it still looks so good to this day. The art direction of UT'99 aged like a fine wine.

>>8476652
Dead because SP shooters were fading out of favor, so Epic focused on UT series and outsorced the development to Legend, who also didn't give a single shit. Also
>only the rifle and D-Pistol return from U1
>not even ASMD
>not even the Flak Cannon or Eightball Gun
This and how sluggish the main character is are main reasons why U2 blows.

>>8477473
>>8477435
I think it could've ran on the N64 but it would've been at 15-20fps like every other game on the system.

>>8477425
Everyone that should be posting on this board played it in its day. It's not fucking overlooked by any definition. You being underaged != overlooked.

>>8477475
Dude, no. Fuck no. Not without massive geometry cuts, levels being divided/simplified, ported to a far less CPU intensive engine. No. It would not have been good or even the same.

>>8475571
Huh, apples ARE better than oranges. How about that? Does anyone post anything in good faith or is everything baitposting here?

>>8477483
It absolutely is overlooked, especially in comparison to its contemporaries or sequels. Nobody really talks about just the original in the way they talk about Half Life despite being just as revolutionary and influential.

In the wider gaming landscape you’d think it have more cultural impact and be more well regarded, but it rarely comes up in influential fps discussion.

>>8477520
Underappreciated (and underage, in your case) is not overlooked. We all played it, dude. We all know what it is. It had a pretty nifty engine, some neat guns (not the first with alt-fires though), and better than average bots. The environments and music evoked an immersive, alien feeling but the campaign and level design just weren't great. It only innovated as far as a step forward in accelerated graphics and developer tools. It's HARDLY culturally important or gameplay-wise. The good stuff from it was scraped and dropped into UT99 and other games on the same engine.

I don't know if Unreal was the first game to do this, but I remember when first playing it how awesome it was to run up near walls and see the texture get sharper.

>>8477538
>bad memories of trying to explain Detail Texturing to a retard in a TimeSplitters thread intensify

The feedback between your weapons and monsters kinda smelled.

>>8477529
I love how you say it isn’t overlooked, and then proceed to overlook all its innovations

>pretty nifty engine
It was light years ahead of pretty much any engine on the market at the time, far outstripping the Quake 2 engine and allowing for biomes and environments that even games like Half Life couldn’t manage. Not to even get into the fact it legacy of being the single most popular engine in the world.

>Some neat guns
It’s guns were really only comparable to Marathon, hell the 8-ball launcher had like 4-5 firing modes and the starting Dispersion Pistol could be rapidly upgraded like 5 times. That’s way ahead of its time.

>Better than average bots
You mean it had better bots than anyone because it was the first retail fps game yo have bots in the first place. Literally influencing the likes of Quake 3 and Perfect Dark. Not just that but it’s bot tech was so advanced it still holds up years later. So yeah… I’d say above average I’d a massive downplay.

It also innovated in its enemy AI, mission structure, biomes, interactive puzzles and environmental storytelling, having wildlife and an ecosystem that changed overtime, NPC’s that would discover secrets for you, day and night cycle, extensive multiplayer with a dozen modes and 20+ maps. All half a year before Half Life. Thanks for proving my point about how overlooked it is.

>>8477557
YES. I pointed out what everyone knows about it. NOT. OVERLOOKED.

>>8477529
>campaign and level design just weren't great
Wrong. Unreal has some of the greatest FPS level design ever, but plebs get filtered by Chizra early on.

The only really great thing about Unreal is the world building and setting, which is unique to this game and never re-used.

strange how the original Unreal never received any ports whatsoever. Sure, N64/PS1/saturn couldn't have handled the game, but Dreamcast could've and even received an UT port. But no unreal. Same with PS2/GC/Xbox

>>8477573
>Overlooks 99% of its innovations
>”I DIDNT OVERLOOK IT”

we need a new unreal, bros

>>8477554
No, it doesn't. Launching enemies backwards with grenades and shock combos will always be satisfying. The only weapon that lacks feedback is The Stinger, which is only useful early on because you lack other weapons. Once you get the Flak Cannon and Minigun, it becomes totally obsolete. The automag is also a lot more effective than many people realize. The trick is to alt-fire in short bursts, which results in minimal accuaracy loss in exchange for much higher DPS.

>>8477610
They would have to dumb down the AI to make it play well with a controller. The enemies do acrobatics which makes them difficult to hit even with a mouse.

>>8475470
Honestly it wasn't really innovative influential or very good. Unreal was never regarded in the same light as games like quake but there was always 1 or 2 unreal fans insisting it was bigger and better than it really is.

>>8477782
Why did you samefag?

>>8477782
But if objectively was massively innovative, if not just for proving the worth of the Unreal Engine, the premiere engine of gaming and movies. But for its advanced ai, large open levels filled with details such as wildlife, interactable NPCs, large amounts of lore, it’s lighting engine, weapon design, and its robust multiplayer that blew stuff like Quake out of the water with its revolutionary bots and expansive customization. Hell it did a lot of Half-Life’s features before Half-Life

Say what you want about the quality of the game but it was an objectively innovative and important game.

>>8477638
We don't. It would be chock full of modern gaming bullshit and certainly it wouldn't get the same art direction (music included). To put it shortly - it would be soulless as fuck. I'd rather have some fan come up with another 30-level mappack (c'mon Turboman, just release Firestorm already!).

>>8475541
playing lazer tag over and over again gets old quick which is why the genre evolved

>>8475571
>redit
yeah sure

>>8477435
I’ve heard that it was a potential N64DD title but I haven’t gotten around to asking Sweeney about the whole story of this port.

>>8477969
Nah bro, lazer tags the shit bro.

>>8477435
There was a cancelled PS1 version that was basically a different game with the same assets (think of Quake 2 on the N64), so maybe the N64 version would've like that too.

>>8475470
It wasn't overlooked at all, it came out to great fanfare.. we saw it.. we all said "fuck that looks nice!" and then we all went back to playing Half-Life.
that's why they turned it into Unreal Tournament, because the original game looked nice but kinda sucked.

>>8475571
>hmm, this game looks cool, but a better one might come out in three years that I can pay $360 to play with no mouselook or possibility of modding

>>8475470
Identify someone "overlooking" it and ask them.

ITT: 14 year olds larping as if they were alive back then

>>8478859
>went back to playing Half-Life
You went back to playing a game that came out half a year after Unreal?

>>8475571
>Halo was Unreal but better
Sub-brainlet take. Horrible.

>>8475470
Unreal and it’s expansion should have come to the PS1 and N64.

>>8477425
This anon is correct. Unreal is great for most of the campaign. You could cut out probably 4-5 maps pretty safely and end up with a better game overall, but it's mostly solid.

>>8475470
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqf93j64CEY
>>8478854
https://www.moddb.com/mods/unreal-psx-rework-rise-of-jrath

>>8479201
And again, that can apply to a lot of FPS games from that time. Even games like Halo get bogged down by mediocre levels by the end of its campaign.

>>8475470
It's not overlooked, zoomer.

>>8480761
Literally a dozen posts proving it is.

>>8481650
Ah yes, because 10 posters can decide for millions of players. Shut up.

>>8475470
Overlooked?
Used to play it competitively, nowadays I still mess around in UT2004 with bots, so much fun

>>8481658
Guarantee those millions of people don’t remember Unreal as well, or at least overlook its contributions to gaming and just see it as a forgettable prequel to UT.

>>8475470
I actually wish Unreal got the DOOM 2016 treatment, because the franchise has potential that Epic/Legend never fully took advantage of.
And I want Prisoner 849 back. She was cool.

>>8481661
>forgettable prequel
you are nuts
this game made me buy a riva tnt, it was day and night compared to quake 2

>>8479818
Holy... SHIT. Krull0r is on fire.

Pro Unreal when, Civvie?

>>8483118
lol

>>8475571
Halo was always for sexually repressed homos and teenagers

>>8481937

>>8483136
It's a one man project, bunghole. No wonder it will take so long, but the quality is outstanding.

>>8475587
Pretty sure I owned all of those hunting games except Cabela's Big Game Hunter at the time. Along with Turkey Hunter (basically Deer Hunter 2 with turkey) a game that was basically Deer Hunter 1 except more kid-friendly and took place in Africa, and sevetal games in the Carnivores series where you hunt dinosaurs and yetis and shit. Hunting games were ubiquitous back in 98-02ish

>>8477592
oh fuuuck this is genuinely the only level i remember, and i remember it well. don't kid yourself though, most of the game isn't like this. i still enjoy it though

>>8480759
you definitely can for many from the time. that said, i wouldnt even cut a single half life level, and that's including xen

>>8483549
Are you implying that environments are "samey" in Unreal? You might say that about Doom, I still get lost in Doom levels to this day. Unreal has very distinct level design for each part of the game, although my least favorite part is the Dasa Pass and Cellars - their artistic design are greatly complimented by the song that plays there. When I was a kid I was wandering around these dungeons just like I do in Doom. And I got rewarded with a soothing boat ride to the Nali Castle.

>>8483304
The fact general pop culture will never mention Unreal in the same sentence as Doom, Half-Life, Halo or even Goldeneye when talking about influential and groundbreaking FPS games.

>>8483798
Follow better e-celebs then

>>8483820
Not even e-celebs, nowhere in any review, top 10 list, blog, forum or anywhere else does Unreal get it’s just deserts.

>>8483798
>game irrelevant because some faggots don't mention it
Also Gaben is a fat fuck I hope he'll die from a heart attack after eating a 6 millionth pizza.

>>8483916
it's not near as good as those games

I remember it being kind of a big deal at the time, so it wasn't really overlooked in that sense.

But it did come out during the absolute golden age of the genre, where a ton of increasingly impressive shooters came out in a relatively short space of time following it. So of course being one of the early innovators it often ended up buried under games that executed its ideas better.

I think some of the posts earlier on are correct in that despite being innovative for the time, it wasn't necessarily all that amazing in its own right. I remember spending more time playing deathmatch against bots than the campaign.

Fun fact: The maps are compatible with the UT99 engine. You can just drag and drop the files over and play them in Unreal Tournament. There were a couple of really cool deathmatch maps.

>>8482958
>She was cool
Whole point of calling the character P849 was so that it would just be whatever character you chose. Otherwise they'd name-drop Gina in-game. Instead it's just in the menu.
Whatever though.

>>8483636
honestly it has been so long since i've played i probably can't speak on it anymore. i just think it's telling that i can remember just about every section of, say, half life distinctly but despite playing both around the same time i can only really remember the killer example you posted

>>8484219
>The maps are compatible with the UT99 engine. You can just drag and drop the files over and play them in Unreal Tournament. There were a couple of really cool deathmatch maps.
I've polished some of them for UT - altering textures to those from UT, adding music, and making slight adjustments to level geometry, power-up layout etc. DM-DeathFan][ is my favorite duel map, even better than DM-Morbias][ or DM-Fractal.

>>8482958
Epic spits all over its own legacy. The best it can muster is some blurry easter egg of CTF-Face in Fortnite. Even Digital Extremes showed more respect to Unreal when they added in a few of the weapons from UT to Warframe (Flak, Rocket Launcher, and Shock Rifle). Beyond that, I can't imagine anyone but a very dedicated fan group actually doing a good job at remaking Unreal that wouldn't end up being over-designed shit. And that's not addressing all the woke bullshit and baggage of today (goodbye all the sexy female player models).

>>8475470

I never owned Unreal for the PC back in the day. Game looked nice, but reviewer were calling it a 'Quake clone', I guess. My first introduction to Unreal was Unreal Tournament, and I still have my GOTY disc copy of that, somewhere. I spent so much time with UT99. Especially capture the flag in facing worlds with one hit kill shock riffles.

unreal carries weight still, those early maps that shattered the conventional boundaries are excellent

>>8481937
Not really. I played it a ton and even followed map making forums for it - when I was 15 or so. Dont see it as a waste of time and dont think they've improved a lot on shooters, since then, either. Still dont know many boomers or gen x that played it like my generation did

>>8484998
Quake clone was maybe the shittiest descriptor that Unreal caught. Gameplay wise the only thing they share is that they're fps games. The AI in Unreal shits all over quake so hard it's absurd. Quake is a good Doom clone, but Unreal has many of the qualities that Quake should have. It lacks some that quake kept to stock with Ids theme, so they're still distinct, but it's in no way a clone. Hell, the weapons alone kick quakes boring weapons in the balls.

How could they have fixed it?

>>8485784
I don't think it's work fixing. Maybe give the shards splash damage with they hit? Otherwise it's outclassed by the minigun and flak cannon. Which is fine. It's only the third weapon slot in a game with 9 weapons. It's not like the pistol has much utility later on either.

>>8475470
It isn't just this game but also the whole series is overlooked as well as arena shooters in general. Nobody cares for the genre no more.

>>8484620
The game picks Gina as PC by default, because she's the first one on the list, so at some point both Epic and the fandom decided to roll with it.
And the writers themselves are indecisive who the "canon" PC is supposed to be. Apparently, she was always supposed to be a canon player character, judging by the beta version and the interviews, but at the publisher's insistance Epic added make options as well. Or something, I dunno.

>>8486189
>but at the publisher's insistance Epic added make options as well
Doubt.

The Ripper is my favourite gun of all time.

>>8488108
I know that the gun is barely useful in a match full of pr0s, but during a casual game there was nothing more terryfing than the shearing sound of launched blades. Scoring a multi-headshot-kill with this think is oddly satisfying. Also I don't know why people scream when gibbed or decapitated in Unreal games - all of them. I bet it's a bug that they decided to leave unfixed because screaming severed heads were funny or something lol.

>>8488150
*thing, goddamit

>>8485719
Unreal was basically Half-Life and Halo smashed together before either of those games existed. It really was ahead of its time.

>>8475470
>it was so innovative and it’s influence in PC gaming and even gaming as a whole is monumental
zoom zoom

>>8490243
Are you talking about Half Life? All Unreal did was eventually make room for UT99.

>>8490243
>>8490571
Unreal did open and diverse alien levels with functioning biomes with a day and night cycle, filled with alien fauna and flora half a year before Half-Life and years before Halo. It also introduced advanced and competent enemy AI not only through its enemies but through its revolutionary bot tech in multiplayer, along with friendly NPC’s that interact with you and can open up secrets if you keep them alive long enough (again, before Half-Life.

All that plus it’s revolutionary arsenal of weapons and enemies, plus the fact it debuted the Unreal Engine, the definitive game engine, yeah it was a bit more than just “UT99 the prequel”.

I'm legitimately interested in Unreal's obscure lore.
1. We're the Skaarj the first alien race humans encountered? How did they get stomped so hard in one year?
2. Which guns are human vs Skaarj? The razorjack for sure is Skaarj. Eightball is implied to be as well, which others?
3. Why don't Nali just all teleport to freedom? I assume they have loved ones held hostage?
4. Does every mother ship have a queen / warlord mating pair?

>>8490948
>day and night cycle
Dunno where you're getting that. Unreal had baked lighting. It had fancy skyboxes for the era though. Not just cube maps, or the weird layered textures of quake.
It's fauna weren't terribly fancy either, but they did make the world feel a lot more real.

>>8490994
It had a day and night cycle as the game progressed, going from mid day to night back to day again. Which predated Half-Life doing it by half a year.

And yeah the fauna was fancy because it had never been done before, you didn’t get random bits of wildlife or plant growth in games before Unreal. By definition that’s pretty damn fancy.

>>8491103
I see what you mean. I wouldn't call that a day night rotation, but I guess technically it is. However if you sit in one map for 24 hours (or however long a day is on Na Pali) it's not going to change.
Other games had wildlife, though not much in the FPS genre. Redneck Rampage had pigs and chickens though.

I'm not disagreeing that Unreal was well ahead of the curve. The AI is where it really went balls out. Fighting the Skaarj or in a botmatch damn near felt like fighting real players. The weapons and their alt fires are done better than damn near any game to come out later as well.

>>8491232
No one played Redneck Rampage though, and calling the pigs and chickens in that game wildlife is stretching it. They certainly weren’t integrated into the world like the ones in Unreal were.

>>8491436
I wouldn't say the cows in unreal were much more integrated. They walk a short distance, play an eat animation, walk a bit further. They get scared if you shoot them or one of their buddies. The rabbits just run away. The birds just orbit.
Redneck Rampage was successful enough to get an expansion and spin offs.
Skeletal animation is another area that Unreal benefited from. Things looked like that were actually breathing creatures. Big step up from Quake.

How can I make a banger like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTX4dchAnQ
don't say to just rip the samples

>>8491697
Those animations were pretty groundbreaking, since the animals reacted somewhat naturally. The animals in Redneck Rampage do fuckin nothing.

It was the 90’s, everything that sold more than 10 copies got expansions. Doesn’t make it a massive success or even good.

Exactly, massive step in animation quality and enemy movement. Compare how fluid the enemies can move in Unreal and compare them to even Quake 2.

>>8491850
>Quake 2
That they were ever compared as peers was always bonkers to me as a kid. Quake 2 felt like a step down in many ways to Quake even.
It was fine, but not nearly as impactful in any metric.

>>8492478
I mean, objectively speaking it was light years ahead of quake in level design (at least what you could do with level design) lighting, models, enemy damage, enemy ai, optimization, animation on weapons and enemies, and especially its multiplayer.

It just didn’t have that Romero spark that made the 90’s iD games so revolutionary. It was just a damn good tech demo. Quake 3 thankfully avoided this by being filled with soul and godtier design and gameplay.

Just imagine if Diakatana had the polish of Quake 2.

>>8492513
Quake 3 vs UT99 was always a better VS match imo.
Personally I think Quake 3 is a better pure DM game, but UT99 blows it out of the water in teamplay.
I never beat Daikatana, but someday I will. Someday...
I hate the first fucking level though. And I couldn't give less of a shit about the story.

>>8492526
Quake 3 is a better game in a pure movement and balance way, but UT99 definitely beats it in raw content. Can’t go wrong with either.

Except UT2003/2004, that’s just better than both.

>>8477430
wtf is m2

>>8493096
it was supposed to be the next iteration of 3Do that eventually got scrapped. There was a decent amount of hype for it at the time.

>>8490948
Was the AI in Unreal really that competent? They had their tricks, but at some point you start realizing that a lot of it are smoke and mirrors. Like, the AI is programmed to get out of the way of projectiles and thanks to the input reading it will automatically dodge out of way of the projectile no matter what... right into the lava pit. And it has no idea how to counter the hitscan weapons. And the game covers up that fact, by having only three hitscan weapons in the arsenal and two of them are pretty meh. There is a reason minigun and ASDM are broken.
Return to Na Pali gives you a hitscan assault rifle from the start and this really trivializes the game.

>>8493324
Yeah it absolutely was for its time, you gotta remember for 1998 there was no AI as advanced as Unreals, you mention it being smoke and mirrors but that’s literally all AI in video games, even the Halo AI will do dumb shit like lob grenades into each other if given the chance. To have creatures like the Skarrj be able to not only adapt to your play style (they will be more aggressive if you play passively, or more defensive if you go full on turbo mode)

That’s not even getting into the Bot AI in multiplayer that has extremely complex rules of engagement for its time, including like 10-100 different variables in its behavior and rules per difficulty setting. It ain’t perfect, but for its time it blew everything else out of the water.