Niagara is now production-ready, with a polished new UI and signficant performance and stability improvements. There are also a host of new features, including the ability to create complex, large-scale particle effects such as flocking and chains, and to have particles react to music or other audio sources—all in real time.
The pipeline also supports tiled rendering, so you can produce extremely high-resolution images directly from Unreal Engine without post-processing. Multiple render jobs can be queued and rendered without user intervention.
The Clear Coat shading model, most commonly used to simulate multilayered car paint, has also been improved; it now exhibits a much more physically accurate response to directional, spot, and point lights. Visual fidelity is one thing, but audio fidelity is also important.
For more immersive, realistic real-time experiences, the Unreal Audio Engine now supports sound field rendering and convolution reverb processing, enabling you to use detailed captured or designed sound fields that spherically envelop your listeners, and sampled reverb impulses that simulate real-life acoustic spaces. These real-world captures are great for visualizing locations, or for putting newly designed elements in context.
The initial version of the plugin was previously made available on MarketPlace; in addition to being included in Unreal Engine 4. So, there will be more new content in UT than in the whole of the previous game. And you get all that in there too. Even our deathmatch maps are our best deathmatch maps ever. Some of the maps in UT lost their way in their desire to show off the graphical clout of the new engine - think of the soaring trees of Tokara Forest and the complex terrain of DM-Antalus.
However, the real killer content for UT consists in the two new team-based game modes - Assault and Onslaught. Basically speaking, Assault pits two teams against each other in an objective-led struggle for domination - Team A attacks a series of objectives and Team B defends them.
The key to its popularity the first time round was the cleverly designed maps, which offered a brilliant tactical atmosphere as attackers advanced and retreated through the choke points, inching in fits and starts towards their objective. This time, the maps are bigger, more dynamic and far more varied in style, at least one actually taking place in space, replete with nimble fighter ships and frenzied dog fighting.
As the attackers you're the humans, while the mothership is manned with Skaarj. In the Mothership level you have to destroy the shield generators while fighting in space, then land in the docking bay. Each of the levels also has one or more secondary objectives. It allows the attacking team to float in through air-ducts as well as streaming down the catwalks, and a stack of conveniently placed crates starts to drift around as well.
In some maps you can create forward spawn points, as in Enemy Territory. Each map has a fly-through tutorial a kind of voiced walkthrough for complete newcomers, while bloody great arrows point you in the right direction during the game. Follow the wisp and you'll never get lost again. The second new game mode added to UT is Onslaught, a sprawling vehiclebased affair that borrows ideas from Battlefield , PlanetSide and Enemy Territory while retaining a distinct flavour of its own.
Of all the new features in UT, this is without doubt the most significant, and Epic is doing its damnedest to get it right. Each team starts out with a power core, and the two cores are linked by a network of power nodes that spans the map.
It may sound complicated on paper, but the Onslaught gameplay ts instantly recognisable in practice. It's essentially just a more organised, futuristic version of Battlefield Instead of running around randomly trying to control all the points at once, you advance gradually from one side of the map to the other, always knowing which point you need to capture next. To capture an open node you simply run across it, after which it will slowly power up to full strength though you can use the alt-fire on the link gun to speed it up , and to take an enemy's node you first have to reduce its power to zero by blasting the crap out of it.
This can be frustrating, but there are at least some cool new weapons to keep you occupied. There are the sticky grenades, which can be stuck all over a vehicle or enemy and detonated remotely, and then there are the awesome Spider Mines, undoubtedly our favourite new weapon.
These little critters are semi-autonomous robots that can be fired at the ground and left to their own devices. If there are no enemies around they'll sit and wait, but as soon as one wanders in their vicinity they'll come to life and launch an explosive kamikaze attack at their face.
Onslaught is quite a departure from the traditional UT gameplay. Without it. UT would be very much a straight expansion pack.
Luckily, we don't have to wait long to find out. We fully expect to have the UK's first review of UT in our very next issue, so tune in then for our definitive verdict. UT features potentially one of the coolest developments in squad-based games in years: voice-controlled Al bots. Put simply, this allows you to forego keyboard shortcuts for commanding Al players, and shout at them through a headset instead.
So, if you're about to make a brave dash for an objective, you could turn to your computer-controlled cohorts and bellow: "Alpha, cover me.
Delta, attack the objective. Gamma, hold position. It works really well. Needless to say, we expect to see more of this type of functionality in the future - not just for giving orders to bots, but Issuing a range of commands to the game itself "open door", "release chaff", "launch torpedo", etc , and eventually, perhaps, having something approaching a conversation with bots.
In the meantime, it's going to save a lot of time spent faffing around with command menus. It's been over a decade since the release of id Software's seminal Doom title, and over that time, multiplayer first-person action has pretty much become a sport itself, just like the FIFAs and NBAs of this world. It was surely only a matter of time then until an astute developer would eventually go and do an EA Sports in an attempt to corner the market for virtual reality combat, with a yearly update of the franchise.
Step forward Epic. Its latest Unreal Tournament game follows directly from last year's edition - and by this time next year, UT will surely be beating on our bulkhead. Which leaves you with one key question to answer: if you bought last year's game, a bit like FIFA , then should you buy this? The answer is a very definite and predictable: "Hell, yeah!
Whereas UT was justified by the obvious graphical and much-needed control improvements over its predecessor, this year's release adds much more meat to the bones. Mildly enhanced graphics, new player models, a far friendlier user interface and some new weapons are to be expected and are heartily welcomed. However, it's the new team-centred gameplay modes - the return of an old favourite particularly - and the introduction of driveable vehicles that make this such an exciting and important addition to the Unreal lineage.
In little over a year, it's not only managed to provide a distinct and enjoyable alternative, but one that in many ways makes these games look at times amateurish by comparison. In the new Onslaught mode especially. Unreal Tournament offers a means to engage in vehicular combat that, though smallscale in comparison to the likes of even Tribes, certainly doesn't feel as such. Rather than flag or frags, Onslaught's currency of import is power - or, to be precise, the flow of it across the map.
Each side, red or blue, begins with a home base, the centrepiece of which is the electrical power core. Lose the core and you lose the match, simple as that.
To keep each side from rushing into the enemy base to secure a swift victory, each side's power core is shielded. The only way to bring it down is to gain control of a chain of power nodes until you have a link running from your power core to that of your enemy.
Of course, the enemy is trying to run a similar link to you too, and with nodes regularly changing hands, life is certainly never dull. The genius of Onslaught mode, though, lies not in its simplicity, but in the design of the maps. Although in some cases these are vast, they always manage to ensure that you're not left wandering around lost and alone.
Power nodes are never more than a minute's walk away either, and if it's under enemy control, simply destroy it and build your own just walk on to the pad. However, if it's already under your control and not under attack, you can use it to teleport yourself closer to the action in the blink of an eye.
Alternatively, you can climb aboard one of the vehicles that will be lying about and travel to the frontline in comfort and style. Though there are only six vehicles available to you in Onslaught plus another three in Assault games , they're all multifunctional, easy to control and most important of all a helluvalotta fun to drive - even if you happen to be on the wrong side of the steering panel.
Ironically, it's the two flimsiest modes of transport which are the most satisfying in Unreal Tournament. First, the Manta, a small hovercraft powered by twin fans which you can use to messy effect to slice up enemy grunts with a timely use of the jump key. It's a tricky skill to master for sure, yet even on the receiving end it's a hilarious way to meet a temporary end as your torso is sucked in and sliced into a fine red mist, leaving legs momentary spurting before crumpling to the ground.
Second, the Scorpion is similarly effective at bringing down infantry with its alt-fire switchblade scythes, which slice enemy troops in two. As satisfying as it is to mow through a squad of troops though, there rapidly approaching blades by running up a nearby hillock and suddenly leaping up as the oversized knives sweep as the much loved sniper rifle from the original game which almost makes the Lightning Gun redundant, but we're not going harmlessly under your feet.
This is especially true if the hapless driver neglects to sheath his vehicular vanes before ploughing into a lamppost and tearing them from their fragile mounts.
To compliment the new mode of play and the various air and land-based vehicles. Epic has wisely seen fit to extend UT's already imposing arsenal.
All the weapons from last year's game make a welcome return, as well to complain. Members Registered members Current visitors New profile posts Search profile posts. Log in Register. Search titles only. Search Advanced search…. New posts. Log in.
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Thread starter karp Start date 13 Dec Electronic Punk willalwaysbewithyou Staff member. Political Access.
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