There shouldn\'t be much confusion about Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict at this point, but given the amount of pure gaming chaos that\'s taken place this fall I\'ll try to clear it all up for you. Epic\'s new Xbox-exclusive game will slam your balls to the wall in a swift brutal move, gib them across the screen, and dance on your bloody parts in gloomy, evil glee.
In short, Epic has re-molded its gib-tastic FPS into a third-person shooter/melee-heavy fighting game. The concept seems a little awry at first. But each time I see it, the more I like it. You can switch the camera from third-person to first-person, and there\'s an enormous arsenal of attacks, super moves, special moves, blocks, and dash-moves. It\'s deep as sin. Built into its core -- and what really ties the whole thing together -- is the speedy ability to bounce off walls at any angle, double and triple jump, and generally zip like a dancing faery of death across the screen at an impressively speedy clip. The result is an enormously innovative action game that\'s going to drive Xbox fans into the gore-tastic heavens.
Originally in the hands on Infogrames/Atari, Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict was going to be published by Microsoft this October. As you can tell, that didn\'t happen. Instead, Midway acquired the rights to publish all Unreal-based games for the next gazillion years, and Epic, now happily away from Microsoft\'s monster FPS Halo 2 is not only happy, it\'s so ecstatic it added Midway\'s very own Mortal Kombat character into the mix (We can\'t reveal him yet, but his name is similar to a Bay Area football team.
Epic\'s single- and multiplayer hybrid enables players to start with seven characters (and unlock seven more) as they progress through the Story mode, giving them established and all new Unreal characters and an enormous 40-plus maps in which to battle. The game features six modes, plus Xbox Live versions of them all, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Nali Shooter, Overdose, and Survival.
The newest mode, shown to us today, is Overdose; an interesting new twist that looks to give Xbox Live fans a nice little shiver down their feeble spines. Designed as a response to the previously introduced "Double Domination," a mode the team felt wasn\'t played all that much because of its team-rich play, Overdose takes the action to the toothless deathmatch pro and gives them a coke-lined mouth-guard.
In Overdose, the goal is for as many as eight players to reach a ball of energy in the center of the map. Assuming you haven\'t already died in the process of getting there, once you\'ve grabbed it, your mission is to bring it to one of two goals; a close, easier one, or a distant, more difficult one. There are multiple catches to this simple game. First, everyone is vying for the ball; second, you gain points for carrying it and for killing enemies. If you just want to shoot and blast away, you\'re free to do it. You can grab the ball and run to the goal. Boom, you get points, maybe some kills, and you feel good.
The biggest catch, however, is for those that like to turn their amps to "11." If you\'re able to stay alive long enough, you\'ll build up "radiation." By maximizing this energy and reaching you goal, you\'ll be bountifully rewarded. And we mean BOUNTIFULLY. First, you\'ll become invisible, you\'ll earn super health and finally, you\'ll maximize all your attack powers. A perfect example of this working to your advantage is that you\'ve grabbed the ball and two pain-in-the-ass goons are wearing you down from behind. You\'re just about to die when you reach the goal. You\'re then transformed into the Unreal equivalent of the Greek god Zeus, and you turn around and blow the duo into a flying mural of pizza parts. You\'ll be the map\'s kick-ass, flesh-ripping beast of unreal ability. That\'s what we all want to do, eh?
On the Mortal Kombat front, UC fans shouldn\'t be too worried about MK sullying their franchise. The MK element isn\'t changing the game by any means; it\'s more of an addition that blends suprisingly well with UC. A not so secret character from MK is in the game (hint: and his name rhymes with "Maiden"). Epic will use this character\'s voice actor to execute all his lines, and an optional audio track spotlighting the MK announcer will appear to boot.
Normally, we\'d go on and on and then show you movies up the wazoo, but our movie capture software went bunk on us, so this is all we\'ve got. Don\'t weep for us though, we\'ll have more soon on Epic\'s gib-blaster in the near future.
-- Douglass C. Perry
>>>Link<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<>>>Pic<<<Looks like so much fun, maybe I will have worn out Halo 2 by then.
Topic: Unreal Championship 2 Update (Read 742 times)