Flybye
11-28-2007, 03:30 AM
I've been pretty quiet about UT3 since it has come out. Been playing it, dissecting it & tickling UE3's feet.
I have screen shots of UT3 dating back to 2005, and I was expecting a LOT. Especially being as faithful as I have been with over 1000hrs logged into ONS in 2k4. The entire community my clan plays with is pretty much in the same boat...we waited 3yrs for this? It took 3yrs to create THIS? Where are the massive warfare maps we were promised? Where are the seamless map changes from one to the other? Did Gears of War have 99% of Epic working on it while the only guy left inside the Unreal Tournament studio was the guy in charge of emptying the waste baskets?
Not only were many promises shot out the window, but a Release Candidate was given to the public. It is evident that it IS a release candidate with the numerous bugs the game has. Constant crashes, weapons firing directly from character's heads, view cameras positioned taller than the character's bodies, Hell Bender without even a charge metre, vehicles with far to low sound effects, server side problems, etc. I could go on and on.
DM, TDM, CTF, and VCTF
I guess there isn't much you can screw up in this department. DM is the same insane speed as it always has been. Grab your gun, walk around & pull the trigger. Same for CTF. All is well here and nothing bad can really be said about them.
Warfare
Oh boy. Here is where my biggest rant is. This is, by far, the BIGGEST newbiefied part of UT3. With an endless parade of messages, I'm surprised they didn't include a message that reminds you to go to the bathroom. Onslaught has been rinsed, spun, rinsed again, and left on the floor to rot from the humidity.
Messages:
EVERYTHING about the messages is completely backwards. Defend the core, defend your node. Defend defend defend. ONS/Warfare is about push push push. Otherwise, how will you complete your objective of destroying the power core? Epic has a far better plan. Camp out at the core while it is under attack and don't worry about taking over the prime node again.
And these messages seem to work. I don't think I have ever seen so many newbs camp the core than I have now!
Orb:
Ok, so we got tired of people not being able to take over nodes quickly enough. Let's design a tool which allows newbs to instantly take over a node!! It's better than the redeemer. I can instantly make it MY node! What is the general tactic here? Protect Orb guy. He can save us.
IMHO, the orb takes the work out of the game. We no longer need to work at bringing down or bringing up the node. Just bring Orb guy to save the day. It almost instantly. I can see why most messages indicate defend defend. Once you finish defending, you take the orb in order to instantly take over the next node without even breaking a sweat.
Node Configurations:
Has Epic learned ANYTHING at all? Every node configuration is a linear pathway. What made maps like Dria and Dawn so great? There were constant battles going on through out the entire map. Constant pushes and constant pulls. It was madness, and it was great. What's the objective now? One big battle at a node. Now let's move the battle over to the next node. Great. We finally reached their core. Oh wait, one of their players reached prime with the orb. Let's do the same so we can quickly get back to killing the core.
And what happened to the massive maps we were promised? Instead, we have been blessed with a large number of tiny maps
Raptor:
Used to be a true vehicle of death. Now, be lucky you don't catch someone behind you because if you do, it will take you 3.2yrs to turn back around to shot them. Might as well continue in a straight line forward. This linearity thing must be catching on. They must have figured the better missiles would compensate for the far worse turning time.
Scorpion:
The simplest of vehicles is now one of the strongest. The fearful basketballs it throws out of its cannon are truly something else. They home in to everything.
Goliath:
In the hands of a veteran tanker, the 2k4 tank actually had a chance of surviving a Manta attack. With it's new turning speed, if you get caught by a Manta, your best bet is to take a nap and wait until the traumatizing moment is over.
HellBender:
The god of sniping vehicles. In the hands of a skilled sharpshooter, the Bender was a formidable defensive/offensive weapon. It was truly a vehicle to fear. Not only has the new Bender's rear turret been reduced by nearly 50%, but we are completely unaware of its charge capacity due to a lack of charge metres.
The slow turning speed of most of the vehicles makes them sitting ducks for the Manta. Except for the scorpion and its new homing basketballs.
User Interface:
What on Earth were they thinking with the UI? 2k4 gave us FULL control of custom cross hairs, large number of graphic options, server favorites, player buddies, server player list, and countless other reasons why 2k4 was better.
So where am I going with UT3? Luckily, UT3 is filled with eye candy. And I LOVE eye candy. :D Many of the teams in my community would have been happy with a prettier ONS. Instead, we were given an unfinished product.
Many of us are already looking into making UT3 actually enjoyfull. I have personally converted Dria, Dawn, Primeval & Frostbite into a 3DS format. And am now testing the import of that file into UE3. I personally have a lot of hope. Hope that I can turn UT3 into something far greater than what it is showing to be.
I have screen shots of UT3 dating back to 2005, and I was expecting a LOT. Especially being as faithful as I have been with over 1000hrs logged into ONS in 2k4. The entire community my clan plays with is pretty much in the same boat...we waited 3yrs for this? It took 3yrs to create THIS? Where are the massive warfare maps we were promised? Where are the seamless map changes from one to the other? Did Gears of War have 99% of Epic working on it while the only guy left inside the Unreal Tournament studio was the guy in charge of emptying the waste baskets?
Not only were many promises shot out the window, but a Release Candidate was given to the public. It is evident that it IS a release candidate with the numerous bugs the game has. Constant crashes, weapons firing directly from character's heads, view cameras positioned taller than the character's bodies, Hell Bender without even a charge metre, vehicles with far to low sound effects, server side problems, etc. I could go on and on.
DM, TDM, CTF, and VCTF
I guess there isn't much you can screw up in this department. DM is the same insane speed as it always has been. Grab your gun, walk around & pull the trigger. Same for CTF. All is well here and nothing bad can really be said about them.
Warfare
Oh boy. Here is where my biggest rant is. This is, by far, the BIGGEST newbiefied part of UT3. With an endless parade of messages, I'm surprised they didn't include a message that reminds you to go to the bathroom. Onslaught has been rinsed, spun, rinsed again, and left on the floor to rot from the humidity.
Messages:
EVERYTHING about the messages is completely backwards. Defend the core, defend your node. Defend defend defend. ONS/Warfare is about push push push. Otherwise, how will you complete your objective of destroying the power core? Epic has a far better plan. Camp out at the core while it is under attack and don't worry about taking over the prime node again.
And these messages seem to work. I don't think I have ever seen so many newbs camp the core than I have now!
Orb:
Ok, so we got tired of people not being able to take over nodes quickly enough. Let's design a tool which allows newbs to instantly take over a node!! It's better than the redeemer. I can instantly make it MY node! What is the general tactic here? Protect Orb guy. He can save us.
IMHO, the orb takes the work out of the game. We no longer need to work at bringing down or bringing up the node. Just bring Orb guy to save the day. It almost instantly. I can see why most messages indicate defend defend. Once you finish defending, you take the orb in order to instantly take over the next node without even breaking a sweat.
Node Configurations:
Has Epic learned ANYTHING at all? Every node configuration is a linear pathway. What made maps like Dria and Dawn so great? There were constant battles going on through out the entire map. Constant pushes and constant pulls. It was madness, and it was great. What's the objective now? One big battle at a node. Now let's move the battle over to the next node. Great. We finally reached their core. Oh wait, one of their players reached prime with the orb. Let's do the same so we can quickly get back to killing the core.
And what happened to the massive maps we were promised? Instead, we have been blessed with a large number of tiny maps
Raptor:
Used to be a true vehicle of death. Now, be lucky you don't catch someone behind you because if you do, it will take you 3.2yrs to turn back around to shot them. Might as well continue in a straight line forward. This linearity thing must be catching on. They must have figured the better missiles would compensate for the far worse turning time.
Scorpion:
The simplest of vehicles is now one of the strongest. The fearful basketballs it throws out of its cannon are truly something else. They home in to everything.
Goliath:
In the hands of a veteran tanker, the 2k4 tank actually had a chance of surviving a Manta attack. With it's new turning speed, if you get caught by a Manta, your best bet is to take a nap and wait until the traumatizing moment is over.
HellBender:
The god of sniping vehicles. In the hands of a skilled sharpshooter, the Bender was a formidable defensive/offensive weapon. It was truly a vehicle to fear. Not only has the new Bender's rear turret been reduced by nearly 50%, but we are completely unaware of its charge capacity due to a lack of charge metres.
The slow turning speed of most of the vehicles makes them sitting ducks for the Manta. Except for the scorpion and its new homing basketballs.
User Interface:
What on Earth were they thinking with the UI? 2k4 gave us FULL control of custom cross hairs, large number of graphic options, server favorites, player buddies, server player list, and countless other reasons why 2k4 was better.
So where am I going with UT3? Luckily, UT3 is filled with eye candy. And I LOVE eye candy. :D Many of the teams in my community would have been happy with a prettier ONS. Instead, we were given an unfinished product.
Many of us are already looking into making UT3 actually enjoyfull. I have personally converted Dria, Dawn, Primeval & Frostbite into a 3DS format. And am now testing the import of that file into UE3. I personally have a lot of hope. Hope that I can turn UT3 into something far greater than what it is showing to be.