Genre: First Person Shooter
Year: 1999
Developed by: Epic Games
Published by: GT Interactive
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS2, Dreamcast
#68
Feeling Like: M-M-M-Monster Kill!
I mean, it was weird. Right? The opening screen was the Unreal Tournament logo and you had to sort of wade your way through drop down menus to get to a match, or the campaign. It felt bare bones, even for 1999.
Any hesitation or complaints end there. Unreal Tournament landed like a meteorite, a multiplayer romp that ushered in the Unreal engine, which lead to Epic Games eventually being one of the richest companies in the world. I could hardly have predicted this when hearing NPCs gun each other down in an abandoned castle, screaming “DIE, BITCH!”
The star of the show are the weapons. Nearly every gun hits like a truck, even the pistol. This joins Halo: Combat Evolved as the only two instances where I’m legitimately excited to use the default weapon. The notion of guns having two types of firing wasn’t ushered in by Unreal Tournament but they sure coined it. The Flak Cannon, Unreal Tournament’s version of the shotgun, became useful at long range as well thanks to the grenade launcher with the right mouse button. The Shock Rifle went one step further; not only could you fire a fast moving laser and a slow moving blob of doom, if you fired into the slow moving blob with your fast moving laser, it exploded into a hugely threatening ball of death. Why aim with precision when you can just mass bomb the opponents with blue flashes of light?
It was all so easy to setup, especially for 1999. Every computer I saw could run it (mostly), despite it having cutting edge graphics at the time. The framerate seemed consistent. Playing over a LAN, or even online, seemed remarkably smooth. There really was nothing like gathering seven other buddies and going to the shortly lived party store on Hillside Avenue where they had a group of PCs set up for birthday parties. Unreal Tournament was a natural choice.
I suppose dad grew tired of us bickering over who got to use the new computer in the study, so he went out and got another one that I plunked into the closet next to the desk. Having Mark over to play Unreal Tournament matches, anytime, was something I never thought I could have in my own home. Was this my first LAN experience?
Speaking of Mark, I can’t associated Unreal Tournament with anybody other than him. He was present in the legendary Unreal Tournament 2004 LAN at the Smith’s, he lived close by and was always ready for a good time. I’ve never met anybody as relentlessly optimistic, or as enormously talented as him. I am honored to have him do a guest post! Here it is!
(Mark)
If you’ve never met Henry in person, know this: He is uncommonly kind, generous, and honest. He is also gregarious, loud, infectiously happy, and hilarious. He’s the kind of person you want to be around. Most of the time. Thankfully when I was casually blowing his head off from a distant geometrical tower, we were separated in real life by several layers of drywall, a couple of planks of BC softwood siding, and a few hundred meters of pure Canadian air. Kindness turns to expletives, happiness to frustration, and hilarity to not a small amount of whining.
Henry and I grew up in the same beautiful neighbourhood of Victoria BC, we went to the same high school and played for the same soccer team (Henry scored goals, and I did my best to defend – Throughout the years, I am not sure if we ever played for a winning team.) Days were for school, sports, and slurpees. When we discovered Unreal Tournament, evenings were spent in the arena.
In 1999, Unreal Tournament was my introduction to online multiplayer gaming and first-person shooter digital combat. We could choose modes like Assault, where teams alternated between attacking and defending a base, and the classic every-man-for-himself Deathmatch. But it was the sniper duels that really got me going. Hidden behind intricately designed towers, with pixelated planets hanging in the backdrop, I would wait for the perfect shot, often hubristically plunging to my doom slipping off a tower while trying to get into a sneaky hidden position.
Evenings playing with Henry was mix of competition and laughter. We’d spend nights trying to master nearly random weapons like the Ripper, which fired wildly unpredictable ricocheting blades, or the super-powerful Redeemer, a mini-nuke launcher that caused massive destruction. We’d toggle “mutators” like “InstaGib” for one-shot-kill matches, transforming the game into a fast-paced, chaotic arena. I loved the low-gravity battles, which would turn those duels into a floating, frenetic dance of dodging and shooting.
And, of course, the regular and inevitable game freezes. Maybe a glitch, a dropped connection (was it dial-up or cable?), or overtaxing a CPU spec that didn’t quite meet the requirements. Oh well, at least we’d get a much-needed pee break (see slurpees, above), and then get right back to the fun, laughter, curses, and pure pandemonium of those early technological marvels.
(Mark’s writeup finished)
It warms my heart to read guest posts from my friends. Not just because they massively upgrade the quality of the blog as a whole, but because they either reinforce my own positive memories, or reveal dormant ones I’d completely forgotten about. In terms of the 500, it’s like opening a brand new present. Any excuse to reminisce about halcyon days in Oak Bay where Mark and I would gather for 4am World Cup Soccer viewings, Canucks playoff games, general shenanigans involving parties or Unreal Tournament sessions without much planning or organizing needed. You don’t get those moments back, so it’s important to chronicle them. Mark was far too kind to me and downplayed his ruthlessness on the Facing Worlds map, but he was absolutely bang on about everything else. Thanks Mark!
Unreal Tournament’s legacy lived on far longer than most competitors in the genre. It received seven sequels, remakes, reiterations and re-kins, not to mention mod support. Most of the screenshots above are not from the original version, but they’re how I picture the game in my head. Karl was still playing this competitively three years later in Bigelow where, to my horror, I realized I was not good at shooting moving targets but opened my eyes to how skilled players could get at an older game.
Still, the female narration felt like she belonged in Star Trek. The controls took what others started with and made them tighter than ever. The modes were plentiful, the sound design was perfect. Scoring a HEAD SHOT(!) resulted in the announcer hollering it so loudly, you’d think Epic’s intentions were to scare the life out of anybody within earshot. The soundtrack was terrific and has been remixed, unsurprisingly, a million times. “Club Showdown” by Big Giant Circles is my favorite from the OCRemix.org catalogue, but “Skyward Fire” has a permanent spot on my playlist for reading, working, or working out.
Unreal Tournament was so good, I still compare newer shooters to it. They often don’t live up to that standard, but then again, they don’t have the advantage of Mark joining me for competitive/cooperative carnage. That’s a high benchmark to match, I must say.
(I highly recommend getting some chocolates from Mark’s company! Check them out!)
The 500 