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Overall i have to say i like it. Gameplay, levels and the community are really great in general. It's really nice to be a part of a community of friendly folks playing and developing a solid FPS.
:: GAMEPLAY ::
The game play speed is really good - not too fast, not too slow. Can't say i much care for the "sprint" thing much as it's yet another key to worry about, but i can live with it. I certainly wouldn't want to see the speed increased at all.
The wall jumping is very interesting and really changes the way you can move around a map. It'll take me a while to master that one! Also good is the ability to climb and power slide, both of which, again, change the dynamics of the game in interesting and refreshing ways.
I'm a believer in the KISS approach to game design and it has been proven with HL:CS and CSS that "good" and "simple" can coexist extremely well. The more keys you have to use, the more i think it detracts from the pure fun of it and i think UrT forces the player to use too many keys which, ultimately, detracts from the fun. Luckily the player can choose not to carry a secondary weapon and other items, thus eliminating some of the bulk, but there's still 2 "use" keys (?), keys to cycle weapons (which, strangely, doesn't cycle the knife) and more keys to cycle items. Adding to the confusion is the need to have a certain item selected so that a particular use key does what you expect -- very strange and non-intuitive. I found myself turning to the manual on several occasions to figure out what's what, something i don't think anyone should have to do for a basic FPS and, in fact, won't.
:: WEAPONS ::
I think the weapon/item selection system is pretty well thought out and helps maintain balance, but it seems to me a little tweaking might be in order. For instance, i wonder why 2 seemingly redundant weapons are included with the LR300 and M4, as well as why the same shotgun lives in 2 different categories. Adding to the confusion are identical descriptions for the LR300 and M4, thus leaving the player with no information from which to base a choice.
:: LEVELS ::
I haven't played too many custom maps yet, but i find the default maps to be really well done and visually appealing for the most part. The shortcoming here seems to be maps that are designed for multiple game modes, thus making it difficult, i would think, to design the best level for a particular mode. I think some of the maps have a rather redundant feel and maybe this is why. On the flip is the ability to to join a server based on a particular game mode, rather than cycling through modes you don't want to play.
Speaking of maps, UrT level editors suffer from a common problem: missing textures! Folks are obviously borrowing textures from custom maps that not everyone has/wants and distributing them without including a custom .pak, failing to realize that the only person guaranteed to not suffer from missing textures is the designer. Hint: unpack a shiny NEW copy of UrT in a different directory and use it for editing, making sure to package any 3rd party content you include in a custom .pak archive. Even one of the default maps had missing textures!
One thing that was a bit disappointing regarding the maps was the desire to test my new found climbing ability on things which i thought were climbable, but weren't. Perhaps there's some older maps included that were designed before climbing was introduced?
:: MODELS ::
The player models need much work. The way they move is cartoonish and it looks like their feet aren't connected to the ground. Often i see models "walking" while going nowhere. They also fall far short in the skin department IMO. I question Frozen Sands thinking on wanting to limit user contributions, especially here. I think one of important contributing factors as to why Quake and HL have been around so long was giving the community the option to contribute in almost every aspect, yet Frozen seems to want to limit this in various ways, including the player models, favoring skins that look totally cartoonish and outdated rather than realistic and cool. It is clear to me that if UrT is to survive, it will need all the help it can get from the community to do so and trying to limit what they can and cannot do isn't the way to go. Obviously there must be design parameters in place to differentiate between teams, but RED vs BLUE gets old... really old.
:: GRAPHICS ::
The graphics aren't great obviously, but then again you don't need a $3000 rig to run the game. However, as time goes by and the average machine specs increases, so too will the graphics need to improve and i wonder what the dev's of UrT and ioQuake have up their sleeve in this area. I think the model and weapon skins, as well as the textures, are on the border as it is.
:: SOUND ::
The sound effects aren't bad, but seem a bit unrealistic at times. I'll be keeping an eye out for a custom sound pack (or will make my own). More bothersome is the seemingly lack of ability to determine direction, as though stereo separation isn't wide enough. I found some cvar's for tweaking this, but they evidently aren't supported fully. Then again, i had been used to playing on a 5.1 system and moving to headphones eliminates the ability to tell if a sound is coming from front or back.
:: OVERALL ::
Good, but needs work in some areas. What game doesn't?
It's a blast to play and the speed keeps you on your toes (especially us over 40 folks). For the most part the community is friendly and i found no problem getting in-game help and it was cool that others wanted to share some tips and tricks. I hope to make some contributions of my own at some point.
In closing i'll offer this final warning: the Autonomous, Tactically Offensive Mechanism known throughout the world as A.T.O.M. is here and silently gearing up to wreck HAVOC upon you nOObs... or not
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<---way over 40
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