[Game On] Unreal Tournament 3 gets Black and Titanic
Waka Laka
Riding the stuffed UnicornIf ya know what I mean.Registered User regular
Riding the stuffed UnicornIf ya know what I mean.Registered User regular
Epic wants to breathe new life into Unreal Tournament 3. After many issues that came up - broken net code, few game modes, quirky AI and lack of maps compared to UT2K4, it seems the programmers took it all in and decided to do what they always do and throw in a massive fix.
TITAN MAP PACK
( Psst - Its free! )
(Beyond Unreal Link)
Now featuring a fuck-load of extras and fixes. Coming on March the 5th.
•16 environments - 4 Warfare, 3 vCTF, 6 Deathmatch, and 3 CTF maps – that are new to the PC and PS3 versions
•Three bonus pack maps, CTF-Face, CTF-Searchlight and DM-Morbias (with preview pics)
•The namesake Titan mutator, which lets players overwhelm opponents as a 15 foot tall titan, or crush them as a 30 foot tall Behemoth
•Greed and Betrayal, two gametypes that breed new-found fervor throughout the competitive UT3 arena
•Two powerful weapons, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon artillery
•Two valuable deployables, the X-Ray Field and Link Station
•The Slow Field power-up, a portable version of the Slow Field deployable
•Stealthbender, a new vehicle that carries two spidermine trap deployables, one EMP mine, and one each of the new Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables
•Two new characters, Nova and Kana (Liandri and Ronin, respectively)
•57 awards attainable as Steam Achievements and PS3 Trophies
•Broad improvements for PC and PS3: Significant AI enhancements, especially in vehicle gametypes; networking performance upgrades; greatly improved menu flow and UI usability; better mod support
•Client-side demo recording, highly improved Server Browser, a new maplist system, plus mid-game mutator and gametype voting functionality for PC
•High demand PS3 features including PS3 Trophy support, two-player split-screen support, and mod browsing
Gametypes
Titan
The Titan mutator brings a fresh game mechanic to all the classic Unreal Tournament gametypes. Fill your Titan meter by killing enemies (with bonuses for multikills and killing sprees), capturing flags or nodes, and completing other game objectives. When your meter is full, you can transform at any time into a giant with a super powerful rocket launcher, massive hit points, and a devastating ground pound attack. Killed Titans self-destruct after a short countdown, so get out of the way if you assassinate one! Once you’ve become a Titan, fill your meter again to transform into a Behemoth. Behemoths are huge (almost 30 feet tall) walking mountains of destruction, but they self destruct after thirty seconds. It’s important to pick the right time to transform into a Titan, as this mode also has several limitations. Titans can’t drive vehicles, or carry flags, orbs, or Greed skulls. Titans also can’t capture Warfare nodes, or pick up any weapons or powerups.
Betrayal
This instagib game type pits players against each other, while they cooperate in temporary alliances. Only one player is the final winner, and the difference between victory and defeat often lies in knowing when to betray your teammates.
Opponents have a score above their head, reflecting their value if the player gibs them. Current teammates are blue. Every kill by a teammate adds one point to the team pot, shown at the top of your HUD. Teammates can betray each other using the alternate fire of the rifle, which shoots a blue beam. Assassinating a teammate gives the assassin both the score over that player’s head, and all the points accrued in the pot. However, the assassin becomes a Rogue for 30 seconds, during which he is not on any team, and his former teammates can garner a score bonus for getting payback by killing him. The score above a Rogue’s head is red for his former teammates. Once the rogue timer has counted down, the rogue can join a new team. Daggers beside each player’s name shows the number of times that player has betrayed his teammates.
Greed
Greed is a CTF gametype that is almost entirely based on the UT2004 mod of the same name. Greed is a fast paced team game played on CTF and VCTF maps. When a player dies, he drops a skull representing his life force, along with any other skulls he was carrying. Silver skulls are worth 1 point, Gold skulls are worth 5 points, and Red skulls are worth 20 points. Deliver skulls to the enemy base to score them. As the clock winds down, players will end up fighting over huge hoards of skulls, with each side desperately trying to stop the other team from scoring them while players try to survive all the way to the enemy base.
Maps
Deathmatch
Dark Match - In preparation for the assault on Oxida Nova, Izanagi bombers targeted supply lines and other sites of important infrastructure. This power station was one of the first to be hit, and is now left to defend itself while running only on auxiliary reserves. Attack forces have moved in, and the facility's lights haven't even been restored. This level provides a unique twist on deathmatch in a darkened laboratory lit intermittently by a particle accelerator and emergency lights, and by muzzle flashes and explosions. (As suspected this is not a gametype, sadly)
Ocean Relic - This ancient structure was discovered in the depths of an ocean rift 53 miles off the southern coast of Absalom. While the planet's seemingly endless supply of sentient Nanoblack has kept the facility active, its origins and ultimate purpose remain a mystery. This level features the slow field powerup, a portable version of the slow field deployable.
Eden, Inc. - This industrial complex was once a hydroponic research facility focused on saving rare and endangered species. When their grant ran out, funds dried up and all work was suspended. Months later, demo crews moved in to pave the path for a new highway and found that many of the research seedlings had taken root and continued to grow. This level features the introduction of deployables to deathmatch, with both a spidermine trap and an X-Ray field deployable available.
Turbine - Axon Research Corporation has many geothermal power stations just like this scattered across the northern reaches of Taryd. They form a tight grid that supplies power to the research facilities and military installations common to the area. This level features the return of a classic Unreal Tournament deathmatch layout.
Koos Barge - Continuing their long tradition of expertly crafted sea vessels, Koos Shipping now offers barge services across all of Taryd's oceans and waterways. While the prices are exorbitant, they're the only line that guarantees that your shipment will arrive on time and undamaged, even when shipping lanes take them across the frozen polar regions. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Lost Cause - The Necris have not revealed the original purpose of this crumbling structure, nor have they explained why it was decommissioned. It stands on the cliffs of Absalom as a monument to history, a living link to the Necris ancestors.
Capture the Flag
Morbid - Morbias Station Gamma is a transport hub that services overflow traffic passing through Taryd's jumpgates. The Station offers a terrestrial shuttle, storage facilities (with quarantine services for live cargo), and a social center where guests can meet incoming visitors or hold private meetings in a neutral setting. Designed for use with the Titan mutator, Morbid includes heavy blast doors that can only be operated by Titans.
Nanoblack - Giant vats of Nanoblack are processed and stored in facilities like this one across Omicron. The structures are largely self-sustaining once operational, and are upheld with much reverence by those who respect the power and significance of the Nanoblack seething within. Public access is highly restricted.
Vehicle Capture the Flag
Stranded - Civilian contractors are often used to reliably transport supplies and equipment over short distances on Taryd, but when this cargo ship full of Axon supplies ran aground in Izanagi territory, a military unit was quickly dispatched to defend the area until a full extraction team could be assembled.
Rails - Even areas of new construction can be exploited as weak points in Oxida Nova's defenses, so the Iron Guard has established a series of mobile turrets to patrol the perimeter of this worksite. With several city blocks of terrain to cover, including an access point through the city's canal system, protecting this site will be a challenge to even the most experienced of teams. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Suspense Necris - Suspense is the only bridge across the Alluvion strong enough to support the weight of heavy combat vehicles. It is under attack by Necris forces that control one river bank. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Warfare
Hostile - Many research vessels were lost in the early days of Na Pali exploration. When the terrain or local fauna proved to be too dangerous for recovery, equipment was often abandoned and forgotten. But when it was learned that the Necris had moved in to recover this equipment for their own purposes, the NEG dispatched military salvage units to reclaim their property.
Confrontation - Confrontation Canyon serves as a training ground for Axon forces, improving unit readiness by providing highly realistic, stressful training across the full spectrum of infantry and mechanized conflict. It is the premiere facility for heavy armor training, and all forces must complete courses here before assignment to a Leviathan unit.
Cold Harbor - Axon's Stealth Research Division managed to get some of the early specs for the Necris Nightshade vehicle and have been attempting to retrofit that technology onto their own. The Necris have moved to stop this research, and despite the blockade that sealed the harbor when the NEG enforced the armistice, they have maintained a foothold here and are fervently working to destroy all remaining Axon research. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Downtown Necris - The Necris are invading territories throughout Taryd, infecting conquered areas with Nanoblack to terraform them to suit their own needs. You must push back the Necris forces and restore order to this sector. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Shaft - The substrata mines of Taryd produced over 800 gigatons of Tarydium last year alone. Production never stops here, not even for war, and mining drones will remain operational even as chaos erupts around them.
Look at this shit, how could you not be happy?
Send some love this man's way
( ...and ask him why he doesn't reply to my love letters : ( )
TITAN MAP PACK
( Psst - Its free! )
(Beyond Unreal Link)
Now featuring a fuck-load of extras and fixes. Coming on March the 5th.
•16 environments - 4 Warfare, 3 vCTF, 6 Deathmatch, and 3 CTF maps – that are new to the PC and PS3 versions
•Three bonus pack maps, CTF-Face, CTF-Searchlight and DM-Morbias (with preview pics)
•The namesake Titan mutator, which lets players overwhelm opponents as a 15 foot tall titan, or crush them as a 30 foot tall Behemoth
•Greed and Betrayal, two gametypes that breed new-found fervor throughout the competitive UT3 arena
•Two powerful weapons, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon artillery
•Two valuable deployables, the X-Ray Field and Link Station
•The Slow Field power-up, a portable version of the Slow Field deployable
•Stealthbender, a new vehicle that carries two spidermine trap deployables, one EMP mine, and one each of the new Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables
•Two new characters, Nova and Kana (Liandri and Ronin, respectively)
•57 awards attainable as Steam Achievements and PS3 Trophies
•Broad improvements for PC and PS3: Significant AI enhancements, especially in vehicle gametypes; networking performance upgrades; greatly improved menu flow and UI usability; better mod support
•Client-side demo recording, highly improved Server Browser, a new maplist system, plus mid-game mutator and gametype voting functionality for PC
•High demand PS3 features including PS3 Trophy support, two-player split-screen support, and mod browsing
Gametypes
Titan
The Titan mutator brings a fresh game mechanic to all the classic Unreal Tournament gametypes. Fill your Titan meter by killing enemies (with bonuses for multikills and killing sprees), capturing flags or nodes, and completing other game objectives. When your meter is full, you can transform at any time into a giant with a super powerful rocket launcher, massive hit points, and a devastating ground pound attack. Killed Titans self-destruct after a short countdown, so get out of the way if you assassinate one! Once you’ve become a Titan, fill your meter again to transform into a Behemoth. Behemoths are huge (almost 30 feet tall) walking mountains of destruction, but they self destruct after thirty seconds. It’s important to pick the right time to transform into a Titan, as this mode also has several limitations. Titans can’t drive vehicles, or carry flags, orbs, or Greed skulls. Titans also can’t capture Warfare nodes, or pick up any weapons or powerups.
Betrayal
This instagib game type pits players against each other, while they cooperate in temporary alliances. Only one player is the final winner, and the difference between victory and defeat often lies in knowing when to betray your teammates.
Opponents have a score above their head, reflecting their value if the player gibs them. Current teammates are blue. Every kill by a teammate adds one point to the team pot, shown at the top of your HUD. Teammates can betray each other using the alternate fire of the rifle, which shoots a blue beam. Assassinating a teammate gives the assassin both the score over that player’s head, and all the points accrued in the pot. However, the assassin becomes a Rogue for 30 seconds, during which he is not on any team, and his former teammates can garner a score bonus for getting payback by killing him. The score above a Rogue’s head is red for his former teammates. Once the rogue timer has counted down, the rogue can join a new team. Daggers beside each player’s name shows the number of times that player has betrayed his teammates.
Greed
Greed is a CTF gametype that is almost entirely based on the UT2004 mod of the same name. Greed is a fast paced team game played on CTF and VCTF maps. When a player dies, he drops a skull representing his life force, along with any other skulls he was carrying. Silver skulls are worth 1 point, Gold skulls are worth 5 points, and Red skulls are worth 20 points. Deliver skulls to the enemy base to score them. As the clock winds down, players will end up fighting over huge hoards of skulls, with each side desperately trying to stop the other team from scoring them while players try to survive all the way to the enemy base.
Maps
Deathmatch
Dark Match - In preparation for the assault on Oxida Nova, Izanagi bombers targeted supply lines and other sites of important infrastructure. This power station was one of the first to be hit, and is now left to defend itself while running only on auxiliary reserves. Attack forces have moved in, and the facility's lights haven't even been restored. This level provides a unique twist on deathmatch in a darkened laboratory lit intermittently by a particle accelerator and emergency lights, and by muzzle flashes and explosions. (As suspected this is not a gametype, sadly)
Ocean Relic - This ancient structure was discovered in the depths of an ocean rift 53 miles off the southern coast of Absalom. While the planet's seemingly endless supply of sentient Nanoblack has kept the facility active, its origins and ultimate purpose remain a mystery. This level features the slow field powerup, a portable version of the slow field deployable.
Eden, Inc. - This industrial complex was once a hydroponic research facility focused on saving rare and endangered species. When their grant ran out, funds dried up and all work was suspended. Months later, demo crews moved in to pave the path for a new highway and found that many of the research seedlings had taken root and continued to grow. This level features the introduction of deployables to deathmatch, with both a spidermine trap and an X-Ray field deployable available.
Turbine - Axon Research Corporation has many geothermal power stations just like this scattered across the northern reaches of Taryd. They form a tight grid that supplies power to the research facilities and military installations common to the area. This level features the return of a classic Unreal Tournament deathmatch layout.
Koos Barge - Continuing their long tradition of expertly crafted sea vessels, Koos Shipping now offers barge services across all of Taryd's oceans and waterways. While the prices are exorbitant, they're the only line that guarantees that your shipment will arrive on time and undamaged, even when shipping lanes take them across the frozen polar regions. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Lost Cause - The Necris have not revealed the original purpose of this crumbling structure, nor have they explained why it was decommissioned. It stands on the cliffs of Absalom as a monument to history, a living link to the Necris ancestors.
Capture the Flag
Morbid - Morbias Station Gamma is a transport hub that services overflow traffic passing through Taryd's jumpgates. The Station offers a terrestrial shuttle, storage facilities (with quarantine services for live cargo), and a social center where guests can meet incoming visitors or hold private meetings in a neutral setting. Designed for use with the Titan mutator, Morbid includes heavy blast doors that can only be operated by Titans.
Nanoblack - Giant vats of Nanoblack are processed and stored in facilities like this one across Omicron. The structures are largely self-sustaining once operational, and are upheld with much reverence by those who respect the power and significance of the Nanoblack seething within. Public access is highly restricted.
Vehicle Capture the Flag
Stranded - Civilian contractors are often used to reliably transport supplies and equipment over short distances on Taryd, but when this cargo ship full of Axon supplies ran aground in Izanagi territory, a military unit was quickly dispatched to defend the area until a full extraction team could be assembled.
Rails - Even areas of new construction can be exploited as weak points in Oxida Nova's defenses, so the Iron Guard has established a series of mobile turrets to patrol the perimeter of this worksite. With several city blocks of terrain to cover, including an access point through the city's canal system, protecting this site will be a challenge to even the most experienced of teams. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Suspense Necris - Suspense is the only bridge across the Alluvion strong enough to support the weight of heavy combat vehicles. It is under attack by Necris forces that control one river bank. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Warfare
Hostile - Many research vessels were lost in the early days of Na Pali exploration. When the terrain or local fauna proved to be too dangerous for recovery, equipment was often abandoned and forgotten. But when it was learned that the Necris had moved in to recover this equipment for their own purposes, the NEG dispatched military salvage units to reclaim their property.
Confrontation - Confrontation Canyon serves as a training ground for Axon forces, improving unit readiness by providing highly realistic, stressful training across the full spectrum of infantry and mechanized conflict. It is the premiere facility for heavy armor training, and all forces must complete courses here before assignment to a Leviathan unit.
Cold Harbor - Axon's Stealth Research Division managed to get some of the early specs for the Necris Nightshade vehicle and have been attempting to retrofit that technology onto their own. The Necris have moved to stop this research, and despite the blockade that sealed the harbor when the NEG enforced the armistice, they have maintained a foothold here and are fervently working to destroy all remaining Axon research. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Downtown Necris - The Necris are invading territories throughout Taryd, infecting conquered areas with Nanoblack to terraform them to suit their own needs. You must push back the Necris forces and restore order to this sector. (Previously exclusive to the 360)
Shaft - The substrata mines of Taryd produced over 800 gigatons of Tarydium last year alone. Production never stops here, not even for war, and mining drones will remain operational even as chaos erupts around them.
Look at this shit, how could you not be happy?
Send some love this man's way
( ...and ask him why he doesn't reply to my love letters : ( )
Waka Laka on
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Posts
Silly Laka, dogs don't have fingers.
I'm really hoping some more people are willing to jump on with all this new content and Steam functionality, playing bots can only go so far. Oh and fingers crossed theres an update to Unreal Ed too.
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That's a pretty big bone to throw though, count me in.
Does UT3 currently have any playerbase online?
If I can find it cheap somewhere, I might just buy it now though.
[€dit] Looks like steam got a pretty decent deal for 19€
For me it was largely that they changed the art style to "Gears of Unreal" (which I really feel was a stupid idea), and that they removed Assault. I couldn't help but keep comparing it to what Valve did with TF2, and how in their case they created an art style that actually fit the crazy surreal gameplay. Here they just made everything dark and gritty, and threw away all the day-glo colourful sci-fi stylings that were there in the original UT, and that they even largely managed to maintain in UT2004. Watching the "making of" video made me nothing but depressed that they wasted so much time and effort on details that nobody was ever going to see, notice or care about in a fast moving deathmatch game, taking months to model a thousand moving parts on a gun model that you're never going to focus on because you need to be watching the centre of the screen and your crosshair.
And this is probably far more of a personal preference thing, but I actually preferred the singleplayer tournaments compared to the campaign they introduced in UT3. Even taken on it's own the SP campaign felt pretty daft (FLaG FLaG lol), and I was surprised they wasted so many resources on it.
Although I think a lot of the ragging on UT3 was also post release, when they refused to acknowledge any of the myriad reasons why the game didn't sell (aside from the above, there was no real reason for the playerbase to shift from 2004 (which still looks pretty good even now) to UT3, especially when UT3 would have higher system requirements, most other communities have moved away from the pure deathmatch and CTF games of old, there was almost complete lack of knowledge that it had been released, it got released at a time when all the other really heavy hitter FPS's were getting released (and those were some incredibly tough competition)), and instead blamed the whole thing on YAARGH PIRATES!
Well, they did anyway, right up until when they released on the PS3, it still tanked there, and then they just stopped talking about UT3 altogether until now.
Back to the topic at hand, it's a nice bonus pack, but if I'm honest, I think it's pretty late to be able to save the game, and doesn't really do much to address the other issues like the lack of Assault mode still. It's still a good game, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure I see that this is going to give them a big boost in sales or anything.
/sigh
Titan does look cool though. Is that monster decapitating the victim by swinging his rocket launcher?!
Really wish they'd bring back assault mode though. I can't fathom why they didn't include that in the original game.
Edit: Also, the game did end up selling over a million copies world wide as of several months ago. So I think talk of it tanking is a bit exaggerated. It just didn't tear up the charts as expected.
Good to see that the black colossus isn't being left out of the fun. Any word on the two-player split-screen making its way into campaign mode? Because that's pretty sweet if so.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
They were the ones talking about how poorly it sold. IIRC it was split half and half between the PC and the PS3. Don't know how much that would have changed with the release of the 360 version.
All in all it's not really the same kind of league as Gears of War selling 3-4 million on the 360, I guess it was just a lot less than what they were expecting from the release.
My only hope is that the free pack fixes the recent incompatibility with the most updated nVidia drivers. Also, for someone who's new to this particular iteration of the francise, are the graphics a little blurry overall, or at those just my settings?
Still ongoing. You can see the Phase 1 winners here, some of the stuff looks like fun:
http://www.makesomethingunreal.com/phase1_winners.aspx
Is there some sort of mod review / repository? I remember Modsquad back in the days of UT99, I spent many happy hours with the quirky they had listed there, do they have something equivalent to that now?
I think the real problem is that it looked way to much like Gears of War:Lite: No cover edition
They really should have gone in a more unique art direction with it.
Hopefully this will open it up for some new stuff.
But I do agree, a color that wasnt drenched in brown first would have been appreciated.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
God fucking damnit.
I'm still waiting for my TF2 updates you greedy fucks.
Man, MS really need to re-think their policy on downloads.
They should rethink their policy on suicide aswell.
Its bad enough I have to pay for Gold so I can play MP (especially when other consoles don't) but this updating shit is really fucking annoying.
Anyways, thats enough offtopic from me.
http://www.moddb.com/
Although maybe I misinterpreted you and you are looking for an Unreal Engine mod repository. Anyways, I have this game and have not played it for a while. This is a cool looking update.
Seriously. My love for that map is unconditional.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Two weeks from now 80% of all CTF servers are going to be "24/7 CTF-Face only". :P
I remember Face well. The first time I stepped onto that revolving asteroid back in UT99, I actually got a weird feeling of vertigo, watching the universe spinning around me constantly. I felt physically off balance for the first few minutes watching that.