Alien Swarm
It's nice that Alien Swarm popped up out of nowhere. I say this because my friends and I were at one point working on a Smash TV mod for UT2004, gave up when we realized we couldn't script for crap and disbanded it. While Alien Swarm isn't quite like Smash TV, it shares the same perspective and the same "Kill everything that moves" attitude, as long as it's not your buddy.
It's the love child of Smash TV, Starcraft and Aliens as you attempt to survive in overly dark environents dripping with suspense. What makes the mod so unique is the classes and abilities assigned to your squad. Certain soldiers can only use certain weapons, while their class also limits them to certain special skills such as first-aid and slicing open doors. Whats better is that it's also 8 player co-op which brings back great Sven-CoOp memories, only on a much more frightening level. It's hard to explain the suspense generated by the game as it's really just something you have to experience.
Sl1p Says: <3 <3 <3
Jailbreak 2004
By far, the most professional mod so far for the Unreal community, Jailbreak takes the classic formula of deathmatch with inprisonment and combineds it with all the best aspects of the game over the years. Jailbreak 2004 is the definitive version of this timeless mod.
If you've never played Jailbreak, heres the basic rundown. It's played as team deathmatch essentially. The big difference is that once you frag someone, they are sent to your jail until they are freed, which is accomplished by a member of their team invading your base and hitting the switch to free his team. Thus, a jailbreak. The team to capture all member of the opposing team into their jail wins and the round restarts, but not before the execution and victory dance of course.
Jailbreak is a mod that should have just came with UT to begin with. It's structure and presentation fit in so seamlessly with the rest of the game that it almost feels as if Epic made it themselves. Most definetly a must-have.
Sl1p Says: You download! you download!
Red Orchestra
It's the incredibly hyped World War II mod that so far is sweeping Atari's Make Something Unreal contest. While it did have it's time on 2003, not many people really bothered with it until a few weeks back when it had it's UT2004 release. Anticipation was high, as of course was the excitement as hundreds of players (Myself included) snatched it up and hopped online to pop some Nazi's.
Within the first 10 seconds of a game I stepped off a little hill not 2 feet high and broke my legs. Welcome to war! It is indeed Hell!
Maps that are completely biased towards snipers, overly open maps that squelch any sort of tactics that dosen't involve sniping and unbelievable physics (Along with the lame leg breaking, this game is slower than Halo) keep this far below the quality that WW2 mods like Day of Defeat have been known to show. It really leads me to wonder who is actually judging the Make Something Unreal contest. Apparantly, citizens from the planet Gravitron Percieye IV.
Sl1p Says: BARF!
Checkmate
If there was ever a yang to Jailbreaks yin, this would be it. In Jailbreak you play in a team deathmatch with the objective being to kill the other side without them amassing a defense. Checkmate on the other has both teams gunning for just one person for the win on the opposing side, the King. It's still essentially team deathmatch, but it is class based and very frantically paced.
You start out as a lowly pawn, living a life of 50 health points and a measly assault rifle. Taking a queue from Counter-Strike, when you frag another player you earn points to upgrade yourself to a new class. These classes not only offer you more in the way of health and weaponry, but also special abilites. A pawn for example can act as a suicide bomber, blowing himself up and causing massive damage to anyone in his wake. Another example, as a Rook your special ability is much more defense oriented as you instantly warp yourself to wherever the King is to provide him with support. It's really all very unique and well done. Much like Jailbreak, no one would have been surprised if this were a pack-in mod.
Sl1p Says: Grade A!
Air Buccaneers
"Starboard!" I yelled to my mate, loading up the cannon as I went. We had 2 enemy ships locked onto us but we weren't going down without a fight. Our cannon whizzed shots through the sky in our desperate moments of survival. One more hit and we were goners- I started thinking of saving myself. Before the final blow could be dealt, I took a blind leap the ship, complete with stereotypical ball of flames behind me as I sailed through the sky. In one of the luckiest moments ever, I landed directly on top of our enemies balloon. I made my way down and onto their platform and made like Go-Go Yubari on the captain of the ship. By the time his mates had realized they had no pilot, I was already standing atop a nearby church tower, mocking them with my hips of thrusting.
And that is why Air Buccaneers is one of the best mods I've ever played.
Sl1p Says: omfgugottadownload
(Later, after playing it a bit more)
I just got done playing some Air Buccaneers and I must say, it is one of the most wildly fun online games I've played in a long time. My crew was awesome! They knew exactly what roles to play and how to play then. We had 2 guys on the cannons aiming, one guy loading them up with cannonballs while I stood between them and lit the fuses. We sang pirate songs into battle and made land lovers out of all who opposed us.
It's so relaxing and so exciting all at the same time.
Yo hoho says I.
