Only few hours had passed since the release of UT2004 beta demo, but the servers are already full. A lot of people are playing this game right now, and they seem to like it. I will try to review the demo after playing it for 3-4 hours.
Weapons:
Shield Gun:
The working time for Shield Gun got decreased, and when you get hit by flak cannon right in the face it disappears completely. This will add more dynamics to the gameplay since you are unable to run away with Shield Gun being turned on for a long period of time.
Assault Rifle:
First of all, you are free to pick up this weapon from now on, just like it was made with Enforcers in UT99. The accuracy got increased, meanwhile the grenades became rather useless. Its fire rate got decreased and now they're less random, from now on there will be less spam.
Bio Rifle:
This weapon got tweaked as well. A lot of people believed that it should have been nerfed and so it had. The goo flies slower, and the distance got decreased as well. From now on you're unable to throw the ball through half of the map, and kill your enemy. The damage rate got decreased as well. When you're running with filled goo - a special sound appears so the oponents know your location and the fact that you're running with Goo.
Shock Rifle:
The model was redesigned as well as the effects. The primary fire rate was decreased, meanwhile the ball's flying speed got encreased. From now on the Shock is similar to it's grandfather from UT99. Personally I love the new shock rifle!
Link Gun:
The plamsa shells become more similar to Quake 3's ones, the fire rate got increased as well. The alternative mode finally became useful, if you have enough skill you can own everything and everyone in FFA/TDM/CTF etc. The model was changed as well, just like the effects.
Minigun:
The fire rate got increased, and the damage got decreased. The new minigun simply owns, especially since the sound was changed, from now on it's more pleasant to use.
Flak Cannon:
Flak got cut. The alternative fire rate is slower, and the flak-ball flies slower and on a shorter distance. The damage rate got decreased as well. However this weapon remains the dominant in close combat, and will be used more than others.
Rocket Launcher:
Rocket Launcher remained unchenged.
Lighting Gun:
Lighting Gun remained unchanged.
The switch rate got decreased, from now on it's similar to Quake 3, and slightly faster than UT99. The ammo size got decreased as well.
Armor
The map featured 50 and 100 armor, unlike UT2003 the damage system became similar to UT99 and Quake 3. This means that there will be less spawnrape and the maps will not be dominated by one person once he has the control.
Other items
Double Damage, 100a and Big keg-o-health do not spawn at once, but after 10-15 seconds since the begining of the game. In my opinion this will affect the strategy greatly. You will have to decide which "rules" to pick up right from the start, and attempt to pick it up with your team or by yourself. There will be no lucky spawns anymore, when you're using Double Damage - a special icon appears in the right corner of the screen, it's a countdown.
Gameplay
The dynamics got highly increased, after playing UT2004 for 2 hours UT2003 seemed to be a turtle racing. This will most likely be the reason why a lot of quake players decide to try this game.
Maps
Only one DM/TDM map is present in the demo - Rankin. It's rather big, and seems to be balanced. The only thing that seems rather strange is the rocket launcher being located near the 100a. The tricks system got changed as well, no more boost dodge; and most of them are similar to the good old Antalus hill climbing. I didn't spend enough time playing other maps, so I can't really say anything about them.
Sound
I decided to leave the Music turned on when I was playing the demo for the first time, and I have a statement to make. The music owns, good old UT99 beat is back! The drive is simply awesome, I highly advice you to try it at least once. The weapon sounds were remade as well, and the new ones are a lot better.
Text2Speech, Voice comm
The Text2Speech feature makes its debut in UT2004. I will explain how it works: you are writing the usual text message via say or teamsay thing, and the computer pronounces it. In my opinion this will become useful in TDM, since the binds will be pronounced as well. Such acronyms as LOL and gg are pronounced: laughing out lound and good game. The quality is okay, and the announcer reads the words properly. Well, most of them.
Voice communication - build in voice communication system. You can choose the "channel" in which the talking will take place: Public or Local. The quality is acceptable and depends on your internet connection. The used traffic amount increases while using Voice Communication, so be sure to remember this fact if you play from an internet cafe our your traffic is not unlimited.
Меню
The main menu and in-game menus were redisigned. Personally I love the new changes, everything is clear and easy to use. In-game vote system was added (TTM and MapVote analogue), with this addition the bugs will probably get decreased. Settings menu has a whole set of new options to setup.
HUD
The HUD wasn't left behind and got changed as well. The weapon bar looks better than the one in UT2003, you can clearly see how much ammo and what weapons you have. The in-game timer was added as well; however the size seems rather small. Like I mentioned earler, there is a special DD icon that shows the countdown clock for this item. Each weapon has its own crosshair, but you are free to set a different one.
Graphics, models
The graphics remains at approximately the same level, as it have been in UT2003. The engine got optimized and less demanding to the CPU/Graphics card as a result. The number of static meches got decreased. The player models got thinner, forget about the Gorge models, from now on it's a lot harder to hit a model, or is it just me? The models are still way too dark during FFA, however they're okay in TDM/Onslaught/Assault/CTF/BR etc. If I were pakman, I would not have changed the models, and made the existing ones brighter. The vehicle models are not highly detalized, but that's not required.
Progmer's opinion about UT2003 Demo
I decided to ask top UT1/UT2003 players what they think about UT2004.
Lexx: What do you think about the new UT2004 demo?
 xDk^Varagh^: I like it very much:)
 mTw|CrUsH: It is superb! Ownage 2k4!
 mTw|th0r^: I had just installed it, still playing. So far it's really good..
rK`daddy: It looks like becoming a great Game with a feeling closer to UT1 than UT2k3. I really love everything I have seen so far, especially all the new Gimmicks.
 TAG|Dromer: well I played it for a few hours, but I think it's pretty good.
 lc-astz: I've only played a few games, but so far it feels great. Realllllly looking forward to the full thing! :)
SK|Solo: I love the demo, thats the way UT2003 was meant to be.
Lexx: Did you notice any obvious pros and cons so far?
xDk^Varagh^: Well, seen many of them yet. First of all weapons seem more balanced, and I'm happy with the new link gun secondary since it is a bit more powerful. Flak is made weaker, thats positive too. Although, I must mention, that I still cant view clearly the skins, like with ttm. Oh and nearly forgot, the netcode is VERY VERY cool!
mTw|CrUsH: I only played DM but shock is way better (faster) mini is a bit stronger, the Ling Gun is just ownage like it was in UT99. Flaks peed is reduced to a good level, from now on you can't spam as much as you did in ut2k3, the bio rifle's is way slower as well and it's super cool. The cons are dark models, but that will be fixed with TTM. It's so damn fast uhh, you are unable to dodge rocket shots :DD... Ok you can, but still :D I will test everything tomorrow, right now I am tired of playing 20 maps in DM in a row.
TAG|Dromer: I like the new weapon balance, tho it's prolly a bit early to say if it's really good, and the map included is nice aswell. Also the speed seems a bit faster ,and i like that too. No obvious cons so far.
mTw|th0r^: Fast and really better even without any TTM. Only that 4 grenades still available in TDM which is a bit annoying. We'll see in the next days after some trains with mTw how the things will go :).
rK`daddy: I dont care too much about the weaponbalance because everybody has to shoot the same ammunition. Besides this the gameplay is faster and models are smaller. Time will tell if it is a pro or contra. A definite pro are the new (old) gametypes with assault and onslaught, but the very best is that its simply fun playing the demo.
lc-astz: The weapons seem a lot, lot better. Movement feels a bit weird, but I think it'll turn out to be really good once I get more used to it. The only obvious cons are the dark skins, weapon shaking etc.. I'm sure TTM will sort all that though. :)
SK|Solo: I like the weapon changes very much. shock and mini / pulse are nearly like in ut1 now, I love that. Flak 2nd is also weaker and flak primary feels like a shotgun almost also nice. Moving is bit faster but boosting isn't very usefull anymore need more testing here hehe. Skins are a bit thin and dark but with TTM it shouldnt be a problem. Overall a very nice game I am really looking forward to full version
As you can see all players loved the new demo, and it's a whole new level comparing with UT2003. Well, I am agree with the gamers, and play this game for quite a while, the rest is up to you.
Futures:
|
