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Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo Released
JSDopefish writes "The demo for the PC game Unreal Tournament has been released, and Blue's News has a full list of mirrors [including BitTorrent links from GameTab and AIXGaming] for downloading the 209mb Win32 client. If you like classic Deathmatch, it's a great game - I still love one on one deathmatch. The site explains: 'The Unreal Tournament 2004 official demo includes five playable game modes, and offers fans their first taste of Unreal Tournament 2004's two new game modes: the introduction of the hyper-charged Onslaught mode and the return of the fan-favorite Assault mode, which last appeared in the original Unreal Tournament. The demo also features established gametypes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Bombing Run'."
I love UT2004. I downloaded and installed it a couple hours ago, and I'm amazed. Finally, there is more focus on the gameplay and less on the graphics. This equals the win for all of us with Radeon 7500 PCI graphics cards.
Karma: Meh (Mostly from meh.)
There only seems to be a Microsoft Windows version at this point.
Anyone know if they have plans to do a Linux version like they did with UT2003?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
If the linux install is on the CD I'll be buying another game at near full price. :)
I was thinking of posting this myself but I haven't gotten around to stop playing the thing to do so. the emphasis seems to be more on teamwork than solo rambo stuff as before. it runs about as good as UT2003, which isn't saying much as my GF3 is really showing its age. I will definitely be buying this when I see it at Bestbuy, unless of course Doom3 or Halflife 2 suddenly decide to appear on the shelf.... go download it
"There must be about as many PC's that can actually handle this game as there are macs."
Uh...huh.
Maybe you should take a look at the high end PC market some time? An insane number of top of the line video cards, memory modules, processors and motherboards are available and they sell like hotcakes. Because PCs are far less generational than Macs there is a tendency for a lot of people to gradually upgrade and thus keep relatively up to date in terms of hardware.
Sorry to ruin the illusion but at a totally uneducated guess I would put money on the number of PCs worldwide that can run this game being in a ratio of at least 50:1 to the number of Macs.
Read Pynchon.
How's the sound support this time around? Still OpenAL?
:)
Hopefully the Linux version will have ALSA support this time; I had to add it myself. If you'd like ALSA support (surround sound, good shit!), visit my website and download the new OpenAL driver. Thank you, Open Source
My other car is first.
For those interested, UT2004 is using an open-source codec for voice communication between players. It's also probably the first game to support wideband (16 kHz) communication.
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
UT2004 has a "pixomatic" renderer that is supposed to make the game farily playable without 3D acceleration.
And, by the way, you *can* play UT2003 with Intel Extreme AGP Graphics. It's not as good of an experience as a 9800XT, but it's playable.
I'm not a big fan of the Quake-style deathmatch type games, I much prefer smaller locations, CS/DoD style..
However, the Demo is a LOT of fun. Assault mode is very good, at least it shows off a good map. There's 6 seperate objectives for the attackers to do, and it's fast paced enough to keep it interesting.
Onslaught mode is really good too. I'm not a big fan of the map, but the mode itself has promise. It's basically a sci-fi BF1942, just a lot faster.
And it runs just as well as UT2003. Good programming.
Totally awesome. I beat Halo two nights ago (or so - took roughly 14 hours to beat. now I just want to beat the level designer), and I can tell you: there are some definite vehicular comparisions.
:P
:) I can't wait for Tribes Vengeance. That will rock the house!
:P My brother played it yesterday for a couple hours, however, and said that the network code sucked, even with a low latency: he'd get lag and disconnects, particularly when he was driving a vehicle. Anyone else experience that?
The "scorpion" in UT2k4 is a lot like the warthog, only better: it only takes a single person to drive it and shoot, and you can shoot/aim with your mouse while you steer/drive with the keyboard. maneuverability is a little bit less, but that's not much of a complaint - it feels nearly identical, seriously. Oh, and one more thing: the scorpion definately trumps the warthog, if for no other reason: the retractable 'blades' that pop out with alternate fire. we're talking about a 30+' driving blade. Makes vehicular homicide fairly easy.
The fliers are also quite fun. IMO, the vehicles in general are better than Tribes and Tribes 2... I kept expecting my character to jump higher, and tried to use the jetpack, however - it feels that similar at times.
I've not yet gotten to play the game online - it appears that by the time I was comfortable enough with the 'single player' mode of the demo, you folks slashdotted the servers.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Play more. The vechiles turn fine, you just need more practice. The tank and the big truck both drive and turn slow but rest assured they do turn. IMO the tank drives like it should. It has a very powerful gun and if they made it any faster you'd just kick everyone's ass with no skill. Also once you get used to the hoover thing and the small baja car you'll be flying around. There are limits as to what you can do on a keyboard though. The vehicles are not ineffective, like I said you just need more practice.
This game also runs well and looks great, it performs better than Halo ever did on the PC. UT2K3 did get old and boring because well that's what happens after a while when you have a FPS with not much depth. With the vehicles they've added they have made playing UT fun again. I can't wait to see what the mod community comes up with. Think Wild West with a Horse Drawn Stage coach and a gatlin gun hanging out the back, etc.
To each his own, but I suggest others play for themselves and form their own opinions.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
If you like the multiplayer team aspects of UT2k4, be sure and check out Unreal 2 eXpanded MultiPlayer. It's also based on the Unreal engine, but is completely team oriented. 3 classes of players, multiple weapons, multiple vehicles, power generators, auto-turrets, manned turrets and artifacts (think capture the flag with 4 flags). Best Unreal-based game yet, IMO.
Official Unofficial Site
Some Decent Player Guides
The demo is free (just patch your server list). The full version requires Unreal 2, which can be found for as little as $8 (Target Clearance)
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
There are anti-vehicle turrets that shoot dual lasers, cool. But they don't do any splash damage, have a relatively long fire delay (for gameplay this fast), and is impossible to use against foot soldiers. Not only that, the Tank (I can't remember the name) can destroy a laser turret in just ONE shot, so if the enemy team manages to get tanks on both flanks of your base, you might as well forfeit because enemy vehicles are gonna be running you over in your own base.
This may be a unique problem for me, but like you said, people should play it for themselves and form their own opinions. Just don't expect a Tribes, Battlefield 1942, or Halo type gameplay.