Reviews VideoGame / Unreal I

Unforgettable

No other shooter game wich came out before is like Unreal and very few, that came out after, are. You don't play this game. You live it.

The amount of impressions attacking your mind here is immeasurable. Just gawking at the Scenery Porn alone makes up for watching a full time movie. The levels are huge but not empty like in MDK athough those are definitely larger. There's always something to discover in Unreal even after you think you combed the location back and forth.

Even though the game doesn't have much of a story I appreciate the subtle way it's conveyed to the player. Through various logs you learn not only what's going on but also various pieces of the world's lore.

The experience differs immensely by whether you play with the music on or mute it. I recommend trying both, it's definitely worth it.

With the music on, Unreal takes you on an epic journey over Na Pali. Every location will evoke a peculiar feeling of familiarity yet also of something completely out of your grasp. It's hard to describe but at time you'll feel that a whole life's worth isn't enough to experience that world. Despite hardly covering one hundreth of the planet's surface the feling of distance travelled is tremendous. Sometimes you'll find it hard to move on thinking that you don't want to leave the place behind just yet, but also will be curious what lies ahead. Too bad there's no way back. Unreal needs inter-level backtracking like salt.

If you decide to mute the music, the experience completely changes and you better have nerves of steel, because some levels will become utter Nightmare Fuel. Especially when there won't be any enemies to fight. The discrepancy between ancient ruins and freaky technology will become utmost unnerving. Suddenly you'll realize, you're stranded all alone on an alien world, far from a place you cold call home. The only things providing you company will be howling wind, noises of swamp vermin and strange otherwordly fauna. Shivers will go down your spine even as a lone nali cow's empty black eyes will stare directly into your soul. And you'll seek a refuge deep inside the dim-lit tunnels of Sun Spire, but find none, as the place is moaning with haunting spooky noises and pupae hissing. In the freaky lab aboard the downed ISV-Kran a pack of blobs of metallic goo will chase you down with an aspiration of assimilating you into their mass. And once the interior of the Skaarj Mothership darkens while all hell goes loose inside, you're gonna shrink into the nearest corner and beg to go home. You're gonna soil your pants, have some coronary vessels burst and it'll still be worth it.

I will not go into describing the gameplay too deeply. It suffices to say it is ballanced, intuitive and actually encourages you to explore and ramble through each level. Even though Unreal is no RPG it puts up a worthy competition.

The way you began with just 30 health points and your bare ass was pretty original for an FPS. What I didn't like though were a few sequences, where you got locked up in an enclosed area and seemingly endless droves of enemies were thrown at you. After a while it became pretty boring. Fortunately it wasn't too frequent.

Now, I know that nowadays games graphics shove Unreal into a pocket, but consider that the game was made before 1998! And it's not just about the graphics. What counts is the whole experience. Hardly any other game will leave such emotional impact. When I beat Unreal for the first time, the ending sequence made me feel a strange mix of triumph and sorrow. I swear the ending soundtrack alone will reduce you to a tearful sobbing wreck.

I'll never miss an opportunity to replay Unreal. Judging by the amount of stuff still lingering to be discovered I'm far from done with this game.