Unreal

(Epic Megagames, 1998)

This game had been promised for years; at one point, it was to come out "soon after" 1994's Jazz Jackrabbit! Delays went on for so long, many wondered if the Unreal project would be shelved completely. Thankfully, it wasn't! The final product was a revolutionary approach in 3D acceleration, gameplay, graphics, lighting effects, and on and on. Realistic lighting showed haze around lanterns when mist or fog was present. The game even had a nice slice of compassion; innocent aliens were occasionally found, who you were suposed to protect from the killer aliens. Doing so made the saved alien thank you by revealing secret areas, often including super power ups, health kits and ammo stores. This is a big contrast from the prior year's Quake 2, which nearly corced you to kill fellow marines in nearby torture devices, just for dark "humor." ID fanboys will retort by saying that Quake 2 was "obviously" better; I disagree. All I know is, I know what is fun, and what is even more fun, and Unreal was far, far more fun...

Rating : Deep Impact.

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