Welp because of a bunch of annoying things going on in my personal life - that I won’t bore you folks with here - I decided to spend some money on myself, and upgrade my system to something more respectable, a 1Ghz Athlon with a GeForce2 card So, now seeing I’ve got a system that can run Unreal Tournament without bogging down, or excessive choppiness, due to it’s crappy OpenGL code, I decided to check out this Unreal Fortress thing. A few of the regulars in the PF forums were talking about it, and I’m open to new experiences. Well, let me tell you, after downloading, installing and doing the RTFM thing yesterday, and playing it all morning - I’m ready to make a few observations. And yes, I am keeping in mind that this IS only a Beta version, and it will (hopefully) get better. And yes, I know that it’s NOT intended to be a direct port, either. Read on.
Also, keep in mind I’ve got a LOT of experience in the various TF-like mods out there. I’ve at least checked out and given each of these ones a fair chance: QWTF, TFC/TF1.5, Weapons Factory for Quake2, MegaTF for QW, Deadlode for QW, Deadlode2 beta for Quake2, Q3F. The utter nonsense of Weapons Factory scarred me so badly, I doubt I’ll check out WFA - I don’t want to waste my time when a far superior equivalent mod for that engine is available. Anyhow, on to my comments.
It comes in umod form, with a nice installer. Good stuff, no problems there. All the classes can get their keys bound from a setup menu - nice touch, but there’s no info if different class can use the same key for different purposes. My biggest gripe with UT has been it’s HOSTILE scripting. I can script QW, HL and Q3 - but Unreal - forget it! Damnit Jim, I’m a Network Admin, not a code monkey. :P
You MUST remember to bind the menus to keys you can recall - or as a newbie you will be lost as all hell. UT has a nice integrated game browser - I’ve always used it over Gamespy when I play UT anyhow. Found a server and hopped on - no probs. Figured out how to join team and choose class - doing good.
On the battlefield - hooooo-boy. Time for Tot to show his displeasure. Once again, I will stress I KNOW THIS IS ONLY A BETA!!
Trying to differentiate classes is a task in itself. "what is that enemy coming at me, anyhow?" It seems they just re-skinned 3 different player models - and I’ll be damned if I can tell the difference much.
Weapons models - uhm......WTF? Did thet get some kindegarteners to do some of this stuff. The Rocket Launcher isn’t a bad model, per se - it’s just the stupidest-looking thing I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a polygonal box - for lack of a better term - that the end opens like flower petals to disgorge a rocket when you fire. Ugh. The SMG looks really good, but this burst mode of fire SUCKS. It absolutely blows. I need a full-auto setting for sentry removal, damnit. The HWGuy’s AssCannon....is.....repulsive. It looks like one of those basic tutorial for a 3-d modeling program. The flamer for the Pyro - looks like a coupla pieces of plumbing stuck together. SGuns are REALLY ugly right now, but not as bad as WF2’s "egg on a tripod with gun barrels sticking out" when I gave up on it. I didn’t try the spy, because of the next thing I’ll discuss.
STABILITY! This thing crashes more than Windows on moody hardware. I lost count after 24 times, that I got a "connection problem" indication, rejoined the server to see everyone else doing the same, asking "what happened?". Granted, that was on the BarrysWorld server. The Official UnF test server seems more stable. But not much more.
The last thing I want to bitch about - it the maps. UT has the ability to make AMAZING maps. However, the mappers forgot one factor - it has to be FUN to PLAY! Instead, they went for these enormous maps which take most classes forever to get to the enemy base. UNF-Tuskan is one of the worse offenders, and UNF-Rock is Dead also. UNF-Well, fortunately, is a good sized map to enjoy playing.
Tot’s Report Card for: Unreal Fortress, available Beta version as of 7Jan2001
Stability is a joke - this thing crashes as much as a bumper cars ride in an amusement park. Player mdls are merely reskinned default ones, and nigh impossible to differentiate classes from the distance. Weapon mdls are a mixed bag, some very good, some horrendous. Most of the maps are too damned big to make an enjoyable playing experience - someone hit the mappers over the head with a stick for me, please? Binding keys is easy at a beginner level, due to the menu that allows you to set it, but advanced scripting requires you to deal with the overly user-hostile Unrealscript.
UnF team - I like the potential I can see in this mod. UT is an EXCELLENT engine, with superior mapping capabilities that only recently id added to their Q3 engine. I’m looking forward to seeing future releases of this mod, more stable ones with new mdls/skins. I applaud your work on what cannot be an easy platform to deal with, and wish you continued success with this.
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