Video Game Violence
Written: Sep 13 '00 (Updated Sep 13 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: EVERYTHING!!
Cons: Loved ones complaining about not seeing you anymore.
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| protoguy's Full Review: Unreal Tournament for Windows |
If the issue of video game violence ever came up in your household, I urge you to tread lightly where this game is involved. It is definitely not a kids game. The action is bloody and the entire icea behind the game is to see who can kill the most.
Unreal is exactly that: UNREAL! Unreal Tournament is yet another first person shooter in the glorious tradition of Duke Nukem and Quake. But while the engine is the same or similar, the gameplay leaves the rest behind.
Graphics that kick serious butt only serve to bring home the pain when you’re kicking serious butt! With a huge amount of maps ranging from pirate ships and dungeons to galactic frigates tearing through space, the variety of environments will keep you blasting away for months without boredom creeping in.
I got the demo from a friend and began playing across our Local Area Network on our lunchbreaks and after work, and I was hooked like a trout. The Deathmatch mode we play in is so intense, we have to restrain ourselves from cursing each other over the cubicle walls. After hours is another matter. While we can’t verbally abuse each other at lunch, we can still dish out the sh!t. Unreal gives you the ability to select from a large menu of taunts, gestures, command and curses. Definitely not for kids.
There are 12 weapons to choose from:
The Air Hammer which needs no ammo. Hold the button down and deliver serious damage when you run into someone or time it right and you can deflect shots.
The Enforcer A high-powered handgun. Pick up another for two-fisted firing.
Pulse Blaster Fires plasma bursts at a high rate of speed for concentrated firepower. Secondary fire sends a steady stream of plasma slicing at you enemy.
Shock Rifle Primary fire is an instant energy beam, perfect for medium and long-range attacks. Delivers a concussive jolt that sends opponents flying. The secondary fire is a slower energy projectile.
Ripper This nasty weapon shoots spinning razor blades that bounce off of walls ricocheting around a room, slicing your enemy to shreds. The secondary fire sends a blade that explodes on impact sending shrapnel flying.
Rocket Launcher One of the most powerful weapons in the game, it fires a rocket that explodes with tremendous force. Hold the fire down and send up to six rockets at once at your adversary. Secondary fire flings pipe bombs that explode after a few seconds. Send six of these as well for extra devastation.
Flak Cannon This cool gun shoots hot chunks of jagged shrapnel. It usually takes only a couple of hits with this one to put ‘em down. Secondary is a shrapnel grenade you can lob at ‘em.
Biorifle Fires clumps of toxic sludge. Sticks to walls or opponents and explodes after a few seconds. Hold the secondary fire button down to send a larger chunk for a bigger sludge explosion.
Sniper Rifle Hands down the coolest weapon in your arsenal. Hold down the right mouse button to zoom in on your target and pop his head off with one shot. It zooms in pretty close so you can sit up on high or hidden behind objects and watch them run around helplessly when they realize you have them in your sights.
Minigun Basically a bad@ss machine gun with two fire rates. Primary is normal rate with good accuracy, secondary is faster but less accurate. When your pumping them full of lead who needs accuracy?
Chainsaw Classic wood cutting tool, great for thrusting or, with the secondary fire for slicing and dicing. Perfect for decapitation!
And finally:
The Redeemer! Get this one and find a nice hiding place. Basically a miniature nuclear warhead, it vaporizes everything in its blast zone. Great for terminating a couple of foes at a time. The secondary fire lets you guide the missile from the nose camera for greater accuracy. Seek out your nemesis and shoot it right up his butt!
All weapons have a round counter on the bottom right of the screen and when you are empty the game automatically shunts to the next weapon.
There are also power-ups like armor and anti-grav boots. There are shield belts and even invisibility for stealth killing.
You can play Unreal in a number of scenarios. You can play against a variety of deadly bots, human and sort of human maniacs set on doing you in.
You can play Deathmatch over LAN or on the internet against other gamers.
There is a Capture the Flag game with various arenas of combat.
In Assault, you join an attack force and storm the beach, take the bunker and try to hold it against a force of bots.
Domination, where you and a team of combatants try to take possession of several control points throughout a level.
You can also choose any level and try your skill at it in practice mode.
All the variables in the game are customizable, so you can play with low gravity and bounce around creating havoc or play with every player invisible. You can decide which weapons you want available, including limiting the game to only one. Have a rocket launcher blast fest!
The amount of options this game offers is astounding, and yet it would mean nothing if the gameplay itself was sub-par. Not the case hear. The play is smooth and fast and deadly. You can dodge shots by double typing the movement keys. Forward and you can flip over missiles sent at you. You can run backwards blasting anyone foolish enough to chase you down.
As if all this wasn’t cool enough, you can get on-line and download skins for your soldier and play as Darth Maul, or Duke Nukem, or even Asia Carrera, the porn star. She has a nice leather oufit with little peekaboo cutouts in the right places. You can also download new maps and weapons for use with your game. Sounds are available to. Go to a search engine and type in Unreal and see how many resources there are.
Always be careful what you load up. You may find yourself having to reinstall your game. I got an Eric Cartman sound pack that corrupted gameplay. Start out at the official site and you can’t go wrong.
With smooth, lightning fast gameplay, excellent graphics and endless variables to experiment with, Unreal Tournament is destined to be the cult classic it deserves to be.
Although, I do want to make it clear: this is not a game for kids. Parents, that's your job.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
protoguy
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Member: Guy
Location: Orlando, Florida
Reviews written: 182
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