About Unreal Tournament 2007
Introduction
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Unreal Tournament 2007 (previously codenamed
'Envy') is Epic Games' sequel to Unreal Tournament 2004. Published
by Midway Games, UT2007 is powered by Epic's new Unreal Engine
3, and is due to be released on PC and PlayStation 3 in the second
quarter (April-June) of 2006. Rumors of a future Xbox 360 release
have not been confirmed.
This section of BeyondUnreal will get you up-to-date with the
latest UT2007 developments as we look forward to this latest addition
to the Unreal Universe.
Gameplay
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Unreal Tournament 2007 promises a return to the "feel"
of the original Unreal Tournament. While UT2004's double-jumping
and dodge-jumping will remain, Epic aims to make the game more
fast-paced and less "floaty". Epic stresses that the
aim with UT2007 is to create a whole new - and better - game,
rather than merely a prettier UT2004. In addition to this, old
favorites from the original UT such as jump boots and the ability
to feign death will return in UT2007.
The gametypes present in the new title reflect the blend of old and new. UT2004's Onslaught makes a triumphant return, along with the classic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and CTF modes.
Epic is also introducing a brand-new gametpye called Unreal Warfare, which appears to be verging into MMO territory. This time it's also likely that vehicles will appear in standard CTF gameplay, rather than being included in a seperate Vehicle CTF gametype a la UT2004.
While details of this new gametype are still sketchy, Unreal Warfare maps are set to be potentially as large as three Onslaught maps, with 'Assault'-like sub-objectives and even a limited form of resource management. Players will join one of the eight teams, each with its own unique armour, and wage war across huge territories which change depending on which team is in control.
With Unreal Warfare, it's clear that Epic intends to offer something for the more tactical gamer, with the Warfare mode focussing more on strategy, resource management and teamwork. The gameplay sequence at the end of this CG 2005 presentation shows what a Warfare sub-objective might look like.
As with previous UT titles, players will choose a character from one of the many game teams.
-Nakhti (Egyptians from UC2)
-Necris
-Juggernauts
-The Corrupt
-Iron Guard
-Krall
-Jacob's Team (Marines?)
-"Player's Team" (Unnamed)
Weapons
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The following weapons are confirmed to appear in UT2007:
Rocket Launcher
As in UT2004 and Unreal Championship 2, the Rocket Launcher can
load up to three rockets at once.
-Flak Cannon
-Redeemer
-Link Gun
-Shock Rifle
-AVRiL
Expected to appear in all vehicular gametypes (Onslaught, Unreal Warfare, CTF), expect the Anti-Vehicular Rocket Launcher to be similar to its UT2004 predecessor.
Sniper Rifle
Expect something similar to UT2004's Sniper Rifle rather than UT2003's Lightning Gun.
Dual Enforcers
The favorite from the original UT makes its return.
Impact Hammer
UT's mining tool turned melée weapon returns in UT2007.
Stinger
First seen in the original Unreal, then later in Unreal Championship 2, this Minigun-replacement fires shards of deadly tarydium at your opponents.
Canister Gun
Incorporates the Sticky Grenade Launcher, Spider Mine Layer and Bio Rifle. Fires different projectiles depending on the ammo available to the player.
Target Painter
Epic plans to allow the Target Painter to control level-specific hazards in UT2007.
Vehicles
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All nine 'Axon' vehicles from UT2004 and the ECE Bonus Pack will be back in UT2007, with a few changes.
Scorpion
The Scorpion buggy now fires rockets instead of the energy web seen in UT2004. The vehicle also features new XMP-style rocket boosters.
Goliath
Epic claims that the mighty Goliath tank should handle more like a tank and less like a brick in UT2007.
In addition, there will also be an all-new selection of nine 'Necris' vehicles.
Community
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Epic plans to use UT2007 to bring more and more people into the
Unreal community, with strong community integration out of the
box. In-game lobbies are planned for the Unreal Warfare mode,
and game stats integration will allow you to find similarly-skilled
opponents via the UT2007 server browser.
Also planned are a global rankings system to allow clans to compare scores, as well as a system for viewing community and clan pages in-game.
UT2007 mod teams will, of course, be able to take advantage of
the improvements in Unreal Engine 3's UnrealEd content creation
tool, including the new UnrealKismet scripting environment, visual
material editor and UnrealCascade particle engine.
Technology
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Graphics
The most visible technological improvements in UT2007 come from the move to Unreal Engine 3. Environments are now alive with rich shaders, and per-pixel lit. As such, a DirectX 9 compatible card is a must. Expect the minimum spec graphics card to be an NVIDIA GeForce FX or ATI Radeon 9700 level card. If you're looking for decent performance however, you'll need to aim a little higher. At E3 2005, Epic's Tim Sweeney suggested an NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra level card for decent frame rates at 1024x768 resolution.
AI & Voice
UT2007 will bring major advances in the artificial intelligence that controls UT bots, as well as the way in which players communicate with them. UT2007 players will be able to give bots specific orders using their own voices. Whereas in UT or UT2004 you'd use the voice menu to tell your bots to "attack", you can now give orders like "there's a sniper on the tower, go get him". Bots will also respond to particular questions. For example, if you asked "is there anyone in the cave?", they might reply "no, the cave is clear".
UT2007 bots' personalities will also make them better suited to different in-game tasks.
