I tend to be the gamer that plays an old game every once in a while. How many people have played Unreal? Not Unreal II, not Unreal Tournament.

If you are unfamiliar with it, Unreal basically is you trying to get off an Alien planet that you crash-landed on. The planet's native inhabitants are enslaved by the Skaarj, your main enemy. But one of the things that I loved the most was its sheer beauty and mesmerizing music. For me, even if a game or movie really sucks, I'll give it credit if its artistry was incredible (being one with an eye for art and music) and this game definitely has me attached. You will go through a range of different environments, from Tribal exotic Nali temples to hi-tech alien factories.

A great play for old-school gamers who don't mind primitive AI. I just wish I could find a CD for it, and install it, though it tends to be unstable on newer machines.

I did play it a little... it came as part of the Unreal Anthology, which includes Unreal, Unreal tournament, UT, and UT2K4. A very good deal IMO. tbh, I didn't like it much. It was just too dated for my taste, but I can see why it would've been great in its day.

I got it in a box set bundle with UT, but UT was so awesome that I neglected Unreal. I fear I would not be able to play the game now due to it burning my eyes. I can do retro games every once in a while, but they have to be games I know and like (XCOM, Railroad Tycoon, etc.). I can't even play Starcraft anymore.

That's a bloody shame - I feel sorry for you, Dark (seriously, I really do man ). But look on the bright side - at least you had fun when you did. I'm always up for old school gaming (not like the days of Pong or Atari, I'm much too young for that). I even still play the oldeis but goldies (like Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Metroid, etc.), although it's only emulated on my comp

Unreal was my first game when I changed my 486DX2 66MHz for a PentiumII 350MHz, and it was bundled with the graphic card (a 3dfx VooDoo), so I have nice memories of it.

I really liked the first part, when I got out of the starship I really got amazed from the plants, waterfalls, the sky and the natural environment in general.

I liked the buildable weapon, some locations were damn good and the background history of the Skaarj enslaving the Nali. I still remember the poor Nali's crossed to the asterisk like crosses (they had 4 arms)...

The gameplay was too plain, however, and the enemies were as half as scary as DooM's ones, so I don't know if I would like to replay it today.

In Return to Na Pali, there is a night time level in which you board a merc ship. In the valley where the merc ship is, far far in the distance is one of those Nali crucifixes. I did target practice on it, and I found that if you relieved the Nali of its suffering, a blue 100 health pack is dropped from the sky in the middle of the valley, seemingly a gift from the gods. But I didn't like Return to Na Pali much.

My favorite levels were all of the Nali levels (where you are not on a ship or something) and the chapel level near the end. One cheat was the Summon cheat (much like placeatpc in Oblivion) and sometimes I would summon hordes of monsters or whatever to one location. Oh, the memories.

Like I said, I mostly liked Unreal for its artistry. But sometimes things can be routine.

Like the way I play DOOM. I play it not because of graphics or anything, but because of the shear fun I get out of just blowing things to smithereens ... Of course that's probably just sick pleasure

If the enjoyment of blowing things up is sick, then 99% of all men are disgusting. Who doesn't like annihilating things?

You're right - I'm not sick. I'm deranged, psychotic, and utterly INSANE!

I can't destroy things without feeling remorse (in some way).
in SC2000, SC3000, SC4.... I can't click on "disaster" for my cicty, because I just don't think it's justified, smashing the city down.

actually I think, to be fair, it's becuse it's not the most economical and logical choice, as it would cost too much to rebuild and take too much time (as far as real-time game-hours, not in-game time) to make the city again.

I guess that's why if I am in a mood where I want to destroy something, it must be in a game and I must have the ability to "save" before hand, so that things aren't really gone ^_^;;
call me strange I suppose...

Oh, sweet Unreal.... my first REAL game experience....
You know, I still have nightmares about that part in the mine, when the lights go out and you're stuck in a corridor, and are about to face your first Skaarj. Man, I almost crap my pants back then (I was 7 ).
I bought it recently, and the feeling was more than just nostalgic. I hadn't played the game in nearly 9 years, and then I noticed one of the things that made it so famous: the music. When you begin in your cell on the Vortex Riker, there's no music at all, only silence, and distant screams. But when you crawl out of the ship (literally), and go out in the sun for the first time, and you hear that sweet, soothing music like you're finally free and find yourself in a distant world.... it's just... priceless!

It did have one downside though. The enemies were WAAAAY too tough (but that's why God invented the Eightball and the Flak Cannon ).

Unreal was my first modding experience, when I learned what actors and pawns and brushes are while using its construction set. My first world was single room that was Nali tribal style, with plants growing from the bricks and stuff. But there was problems with it. Anyway, when I felt like it, I'd open the CS and play music directly from it, but I guess my computers were so advanced for it that it eventually crashed every 5 minutes from "runtime errors". I also modded for Quake 2 using Quark, but I wasn't that successful with because of the lack of tutorials.

Anyway. the enemies were hard, and I couldn't resist turning on god mode. But the game was immersive otherwise, and I liked the sad story behind the main quest, how the Nalis were enslaved. I think they called the skaarj "the god from the stars, that rode to Na Pali on a metal chariot".

Yep, and they said the same thing about the player as well.

What I didn't really understand however was those Mercenaries. It was those guys that could turn themselves into some kind of liquid and not take damage, as well having a machinegun on their right hand. Either they crashlanded or were hired by the Skaarj, but that wouldn't make any sense, because as soon as one of the two met, they started shooting eachother.

Hmm.... maybe time to brush off some dust from my old PC-shelf, perhaps?

They fought each other? I don't remember. But I thought they were hired by the skaarj. It wasn't liquid, it was some kind of forcefield things, but they themselves didn't turn into anything. The lesser ones had shields.

One thing I don't understand are the different Nali places. They seem like a tribal people, but the city island thing in the sky was largely European style. Nalis seem like a mix of primitive Indian/Inca/Jungle style, but whats with the books and castles and stuff on that island?

Funny I came across this topic, as I bought Unreal Tournament III for my PS3 today.

I remember playing it. And I also remember the frightening beginning level, the cool music and the awesome atmo.
My computer was just a tad bit to light at that time, but one thing I really liked was the lighting and the water. My god, I LOVED the water in that game back then.

Skjaar were badass mother**ckers. The first time you see someone dragged away beneath a door, hearing him scream and getting bits of "instagib" back... one classic moment.

I never played the expansion, cause frankly my computer wasn't up to it. And I still went to school so had to really nag if I wanted something improved for" my" computer. lol
Thanks for making me remember.

Thanks to consoles today, I can play it without having to worry if I could play it with full settings.

PS
Unreal was the very first game I was able to play without motion sickness. As to this day I still have no idea why, but I do believe that game set in motion something that let's me play FPS's without being afraid of getting sick.

Speaking of motion sickness, head bob might be a factor too. Bobbing is when the camera shakes from side to side or up and down to mimic real life movement. If you have bad motion sickness it might help to reduce or remove head bob.

YES, I do from time to time, kept 2 old PCs with Windows me & 98 to play death matches, Duke Nuke'm, Doom, Rise of the Triad, Hexan / Heretic, Redneck Rampage, Serious Sam.

Of course I never stopped playing the Thief games, they rule.

One thing most people don't realize is that Unreal took us outside. More of a real feel than all previous games with high walls. Doom almost did it....almost. But not like Unreal, which gave us sky and birds....clouds......small animals.....insects....flowers....enemies that would play possum....
The first vague sighting of a Skaarj in the air vents of the crashed ship got the player's attention, then the fleeting sight of one running away as you opened a bulkhead. Not too much farther along in the game, when the lights went out one by one, leaving you in total darkness made the player's hair stand on end. The action was constant.
Fantastic music that sets the mood. Got the CD of the soundtrack and it happily rides in my Jeep. When I listen to it, I almost expect to see a Skaarj pop out of a Honda and tear into me.

Ahh... Unreal. What an excellent game it was. I remember well playing it on the old 500mhz Celeron system I had at the time.

Good memories...



-MRG

The only version of Unreal I had was the Diamond Edition that came with my Diamond Monster Fusion. Played it a little bit, but I was too much into Heavy Gear I & II, and Mech 3 at the time. And for FPS style games now, the only one I've gotten into is DOOM III (*although I haven't gotten into the mp section of that much....the one or two times I did, most everyone acted like I was a featherweight tossed into an ultra kickboxer match, got creamed every time I turned around!!!!*)