lowenz on 12/8/2023 at 15:34
Quote Posted by nicked
Amen to that. Sadly, seems like Epic are doing their best to rewrite history so that Unreal never existed. Ironically, considering the prominence of the engine.
Or they are preparing for a great IP reset/reboot
EvaUnit02 on 12/8/2023 at 20:48
Quote Posted by lowenz
Or they are preparing for a great IP reset/reboot
They aren't. They were making UT 4, but it was cancelled so that they could focus more resources to on-going success of Fortnite.
Nameless Voice on 12/8/2023 at 23:48
As someone who didn't play it at the time, Unreal annoys me. It has a cool setting, concept, and some really great music (I still have the Chizra track in my music playlist), but the gameplay has not aged well. Tried it two or three times, but just bounced off hard. I could never get more than a few levels into it, furthest I got was about level 7 I think.
Jason Moyer on 13/8/2023 at 02:52
I always found Unreal to be beautiful but otherwise meh. It still looks great but it came up in my backlog recently and I passed on it.
nicked on 13/8/2023 at 07:39
The clunky gameplay is why it's absolutely ripe for a remaster. Take that awesome setting and killer music but overhaul things like animations and combat responsiveness.
henke on 13/8/2023 at 15:36
I've played roughly the first half of the Quake 2 64 campaign. It's good! Mix of new levels and old. The opening level definitely feels better than the quite boring original Q2 beginning.
Also played some multiplayer and co-op with some friends last night. The MP was great, the co-op is the same as in most shooters. It's fine, but there's no real teamwork required.
heywood on 13/8/2023 at 16:45
I put Unreal ahead of Quake 2 on gameplay. There was a greater variety of enemies in Unreal, the Skaarj didn't just stand there and take fire, there was an element of exploration, and occasionally there was some thought given to alternate paths. And everything else was better in Unreal too. At that point, it was painfully obvious that there was no creative talent at id, just a brilliant graphics programmer with a weak supporting cast who could produce tech demos, but didn't see the potential of the genre they created. Quake 2 is utterly unimaginative; basically Doom in a better engine with more polish.
henke on 13/8/2023 at 17:56
Finished Quake 2 64 (what a title). It's surprisingly short! Maybe 3 hours? I didn't mind at all, seeing as it's a free addon here, but I feel like if I'd bought it full price in the late 90's I would've felt ripped off.
Random observations:
-once all the baddies in a level are dead this cool beat starts playing. Just like in Hotline Miami! Very cool.
-is the silencer powerup in Quake 2 the most useless powerup to ever exist in a game?
-the opening of Quake 2 64 is better than the PC version, but the ending is weaker. You just fight some dudes called the Guardians or some shit and there's no build up or anything, then you walk through a door and the credits roll. I feel like Makron in the PC version at least got a bit of build up. The storytelling in the PC version might've been slight, but here it's non-existant.
-the way this remaster looks. It certainly has more thought and work put into it than the RTX upgrade, but if I'm being honest I still prefered the visuals in the RTX version.
Thirith on 13/8/2023 at 18:10
@heywood: Apparently the AI of the enemies in the Quake 2 remaster has been improved and they're more interesting and more of a challenge now.
Yakoob on 13/8/2023 at 19:10
I have a confession to make. I never played the quakes back in the day. I think I tried it once much later, but the drab colors and confusing objectives/layouts made me bounce off (I think I got lost when I didnt realize I had to press a random piece of geometry that was actually a switch).
I am giving the remaster a try and having a grand time! It's just a very basic but rewarding "boomer shooter", and the graphical improvements + QoL changes work great. The new compass saved my ass from aimlessly wandering empty halls for hours a few times, and is a welcome addition. I do see the issue about the AI and hitscan weapons and some enemies being bit bullet-spongy, but the shooty shooty feels rewarding enough to offset that.
My only complaint is the sameness of the game. I like the different environments (prison cells, mines, pumps, etc.) and the one with all the experimentation/medical chambers was pretty cool. But it's still all so brown and reusing the same textures/styles that it sort of blends together. Not going to blame a 63 year old game for not being pinnacle of level design, and I can appreciate their attempts at environmental storytelling. In a way, I can see how they pioneered some of these ideas.
Overall, good stuff, only 2 more levels to go, then might try the 64 campaign!
p.s. the confession is that I shot a man in reno just to watch him die
