At the forefront of Artificial Intelligence

Unreal (PC)

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Although this game is relatively old (in computer gaming terms), Unreal is still making noises in the gaming community. With the recently released "Unreal Tournament", Unreal was revived in the gaming community. Why all the fuss over another Quake clone?

Not only is Unreal far from any Quake clone, it surpasses Quake II in so many ways - most notably the graphics and Artificial Intelligence. The Unreal team has managed to create the most incredible 3D engine capable of absolutely gorgeous scenes (click for a larger image of the right-hand screenshot to get a full appreciation of what I'm talking about!). On top of this, Steven Polge (author of the Reaper Bot) has created some of the best AI I've seen in a game to date.

Graphics

There is not much to say about the graphics apart from they are well...unreal! The engine is capable of rendering huge outdoor areas, narrow and dark passageways, large bright rooms and an array of really neat effects with very little hit on the framerate.

As you can see from these screenshots that graphics really are amazing (actually, the last shot is from Unreal Tournament, but the same engine is used). Each shot shows the incredible use of the RGB lighting that is employed thoughout the game. RGB lights can flicker, pulsate and move (most of the weapons generate a coloured firing effect). The thing I like most about the Unreal engine are the special effects - the fire is incredible, the shimmering water is beautiful and the force fields are really cool. Texturing is used in places to great effect, the waterfall in the first level generates ripples in the lake below, for example. Towards the end of the game, a lot of special effects are used to simulate large explosions, 'radioactive aliens', and portals. It is these small things that make the Unreal universe very immersive.

I do have a very problems with the graphics though. Sprites are used for things like explosions and smoke which I've no trouble with - but when you get very close to them the game slows down to about 2-4 FPS. That is unacceptable - especially since I'm running on a PIII-550 with a TNT2 (minimum spec is PII-233!). I also did notice the occasional HOM effect and a strange rendering bug when underwater - this is inevitable with the huge maps, though.

Modelling was excellent in the game - all the monsters moved very fluidly (almost as well as Quake II, but that was simply exceptional!). Some of the monster have an incredible range of motions (like the Skaaj Scout), which the AI makes incredible use of (more on this soon). The only problem I had with the models were the underwater enemies - the texturing really was quite terrible. All of the other monsters were well textured and modelled.

Artificial Intelligence

What can I say? - incredible. My initial impressions were limited, but as the game progressed (especially as my encounters with the Skaaj Scouts increased) I became more and more impressed. The enemies hide behind pillars, run away when they're low on health, find other monsters to help, duck, jump even roll to the side to avoid shots!

I don't know how much of the AI was scripted, but to be honest I don't care - it is the overall effect that matters. For example, I came into a room with two monsters and a row of boxes. The minute they saw me, they headed to the boxes and crouched behind them, then used a combination of strafing and popup-and-shoot manuevers to make my life very hard.

Enemies also will keep their distance if they can, and snipe away at you. If you move in, they'll then realize they have to "take you out" in hand-to-hand so they advance (using pillars and such as cover) before slicing you up. Each of the monsters also has a unique way of attacking you - the Skaaj Scouters use their speed and agility to dodge pretty much any projectile, forcing you to use high-speed weapons like the Stinger. They use their claws to do some serious damage at close range. Another monster uses a combination of rockets, machine guns and some fisting action (!!) to take you out. These guys have a kind of force field they can employ that means they don't take damage (but can't fire their weapons). They use this very much to their advantange, by turning it on and advancing quickly before turning it off and launching a rocket quickly.

Bad points of the AI? To be honest, Unreal easily has the best AI I have ever seen in a game so I can't really pick at it. I've been told that games like Thief and Thief II, along with the Halflife games also have AI that equal or excel the AI in Unreal, but I've yet to play them! The larger disappointments of the game came with the gameplay.

Gameplay

Unreal is an excellent game, don't get me wrong, but something seems a little wrong with the gameplay factor. The enemies are very limited in diversity - only 6 base types. The fights are quite spaced out, which I found nice at times (indeed necessary to keep the game atmosphere intact), but at other times I would wonder around for too long without a decent fight. Often also, fights would be one-on-one's (something any true Quake-player is NOT used to!) which would still present you with a challenge (hell, multiple-on-one fights are VERY challenging in Unreal!). Unreal just lacked a certain degree of wham-bang entertainment that the likes of Quake II gave you. The puzzle aspect of Unreal was very light too, "press this and this, and this happens". On that note, one thing that bugged me was the lack of "cut-scenes" for buttons. I spent a lot of time pressing buttons, then walking all over the level trying to find out what the hell it just did. On the whole, the map designers tried to give you some indication of what had happened, but at times it'd take me an hour or so to figure it out (ok, call me stupid).

On the upside, the maps were incredibly well built making each one very interesting. The range of level atmospheres was brilliant too - from the space ship, to the temple, to the village, to the stations, to the foggy, eery Skaaj ship at the end of the game. When I get scared in a game, I know its good. Hearing the those little insecty things squeak and hiss while navigating a misty, pitch black, narrow corridor with a torch and not enough ammo or life was a great experience!

Something that I really appreciated was the native support for botmatches (again, with Steven Polge's incredible AI!). In fact, I had nearly as much fun with the botmatches as I did with the game itself. It is good to still know you have a lot of gameplay left in a game after you complete the main game itself.

The main game itself also took me quite a while to complete - probably about 20-30 hours of gameplay. I kept on thinking I'd nearly reached the end of the game, when in fact I was a good 10 levels away. The main gameplay though was pretty easy - I nearly always had more than 100 health, since the super health packs lasted me long enough to get another one! This meant that the AI, as good as it was, never really inflicted serious damage. During the last few levels, where the Skaaj are really aggressive, there were points that left me very low on health. I had the difficulty on medium, which should really provide more of a challenge than it did.

Overall, gameplay balance could have been tweaked a little more, but it still provided an excellent overall experience.

Conclusion

Incredible - graphics were first rate, Artificial Intelligence is some of the best I've played, and while the gameplay had its quirks they don't destroy the overall game. Now with the game a few years old, the price is so low anyone who doesn't have the game and has a computer capable of running it doesn't have an excuse not to get it!

Cover 9.0

Platform:

Liked: Unreal graphics, AI, map design.

Disliked: Underwater alien texture, sprites slow, easy.

.: Buy at Amazon.com :. .: Buy at Amazon.co.uk :.

Last Updated: 16/05/2000

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