 |
|
The best modifications for the best deathmatch games available
By - Christopher "shaithis" Buecheler
Released in early 1998, Unreal did not exactly qualify as "terrific deathmatch" right out of the box. Fun on a LAN, and against its extremely intelligent bots, it bogged down quickly over an internet connection. Successive patches and a developement team dedicated to improving the multiplayer eventually fixed this, however, and the Unreal community has gone on to produce some terrific modifications for the game. Unreal's pseudo-sequel, Unreal Tournament, keeps the basic engine while fine tuning both the multiplayer code and the overall game design. Built for online play, UT is bound to see a ton of mods as well. Unfortunately, Unreal Tournament has only been out for a few weeks, so there are very few full modifications for it, and most of the ones that do exist are in beta. Instead, we'll be focusing on several "mutators" that have come out for the game, which are mini-mods that can be used to tweak gameplay.
Unreal
Real CTF
Real CTF should be quite familiar to anyone who's played a CTF modification for any other game. CTF stands for Capture the Flag and, naturally, that's the main
object of the game. Team based, it requires players to work together, sharing offensive and defensive duties. Unlike most CTF mods, the flag model is not actually
visible while being carried. Instead, the player glows with the color of the flag he's carrying. If a flag is dropped in the field (which occurs when a player carrying
the flag dies), and no one picks it up for forty seconds, it returns to its home base. Gameplay is simple to pick up, but forming good team tactics takes quite a while
longer, which helps keep the mod interesting. Overall, one of the strongest mods released for Unreal.
Unloaded
Unloaded uses my textures in some areas, so perhaps I'm a bit prejudiced, but I also
think it's one of the most interesting Unreal mods around. Played entirely from a top-down perspective, Unloaded feels like someone took
Guantlet and Unreal, and blended them together for awhile. While still in beta, Unloaded has a playable demo available, so we went ahead
and included it in our list. The controls are easy to learn, and the game (while not having the most detailed story of all time) is fun
to play. With new maps, models, weapons, and gameplay, Unloaded is one of the best single player conversions for Unreal available.
Infiltration
Infiltration is like those cereal variety packs you used to pester your mother to buy for you whenever she took you to the grocery store. Tasty, stays
crunchy in milk... No, wait... I mean, it has a whole ton of options in one small package. First, you've got Infiltration Classic, which puts you on
a team of attackers, or defenders. Attackers need to steal a compact disc somewhere in the level. You must then locate the laptop, and bring the cd to
it. Defenders, obviously, try to prevent this from happening.
In Infiltration Standoff, you play on one of three teams. The goal? Kill, maim, and brutalize anyone not wearing the same colors (jungle, urban,
and desert are the available choices). Once you die, you're out for the remainder of the round. The last team with members still standing wins.
Infiltration Deathmatch gives you the chaos of Unreal DM with the weapons of Infiltration. Go crazy, kill anything that moves, and rack up the most frags.
Fatboy
Fatboy is not a huge modification, but it's so damn popular we thought we should include it. Based off of the Unreal Tournament mutator of
the same name, fatboy increases your character's bulk for each successive frag you get, and decreases it whenever you're killed. This makes
players with a lower frag count harder to hit, while making frag gods prime targets. Fatboy not only levels the playing field, it's also
absolutely hysterical to watch the horrors imposed upon the Unreal models. A ton of fun over the net or on a LAN, Fatboy is a must have
for any Unreal players.
- Info: Fatboy on Mod Central Unreal.
- Download: Fatboy, thanks to FilePlanet.
Serpentine
Not everybody is a fan of weird energy based weapons and demented shrapnel guns (I am, but that's okay). Serpentine addresses this issue
by adding a wide variety of realistic weapons (machine guns, shotguns, etc...) to Unreal Deathmatch. Using a more realistic physics model
to compliment it's real-world arsenal, Serpentine is very popular with fans of modifications like Action Quake. If you're looking for
a great DM experience with a lot more realism than straight Unreal DM delivers, Serpentine is probably the mod for you.
Unreal Tournament Mutators
Here are some GameSpy picks for great, mutated deathmatch fun. They're small, they're easy to install, and they make a ton of gameplay extensions. Grab 'em. You won't
regret it. The descriptions for these mutators were graciously provided by Mod Central Unreal.
- Giants! - With every frag, you grow bigger. With every death, you get smaller. Height settings are completely customizable.
- Jumbo Pickups - All items in game are enlarged three times, even weapons in your opponents hands.
- More Gore - This mutator allows you to adjust the amount of gore in the game beyond the standard. Bring it to the max for one bloody battle, or drop it down low for the kids - its your choice.
- Mutator 6 Pack - A pack of mutators which include: Vampire - 50 health a frag, and Night Fight - the map is turned very dark (similar to DarkMatch in Unreal).
- Soul Harvest - A mutator in which points are scored by capturing souls, not by simply fragging someone. Once one dies, their soul rises slowly and you must come in contact with the corpse in order to harvest it.
There are a ton of other great mutators available at Mod Central Unreal an The Mutation Device!
Conclusion
While the Unreal modification scene began fairly slowly, it has taken off into a thriving entity worthy of note. Many great modifications already exist, and many more are on the way for both games. Between mutators and full modifications (not to mention the incredibly talented Unreal mapping scene), the forty dollar pricetag for a copy of Unreal Tournament certainly seems like a wise investment. Unreal, too, has a lot of great stuff available for it. Do yourself a favor and pick it up if you passed it by initially.
Checkout our previous Mod Week featured Mods for:
- Half-life - TFC, Counter-strike, Jailbreak, and more...
- Starseige: TRIBES - Renegade, Arena, Rabbit, and other sweet Tribes action!
- The Quake Series - Team Fortress, Capture the Flag, Rocket Arena, and more Quake-y goodness!
|
|
|
|
