Game Review #2

Alright, it's been over a year since I've posted a single entry, and I figured it was time for a post so here it goes: The second Game Review!

Now, with the upcoming release for Fallout 3, I thought I would review another deep difficult survival genre game.

Welcome to: The Unreal World!

I can hear you ask, The Unreal World? Isn't that the popular First Person Shooter?

That's where you're wrong my friends, let me educate you on this little gem. With some hard facts:

The year the project started: 1990
That's right, this game comes from the days of DOS!

Number of team members when started: 1
Another amazing fact, this game... for over 15 years, was done by 1 person! To me, this is amazing, especially for the level of detail the author has put into this game.

Now, when I say details, I'm not talking about graphics and such... that's not this games strong point. I would say the graphics are functional and show you exactly what you need to know. No extra fluff. In fact, I've played this game in it's DOS days, and I still play it as the author with a new programmer to help, has now made it working in Windows XP and Vista. The bitmap images... are the same. I think they were updated with higher resolution images... but they still look the same. Why change something when it works right?

No, the details I'm talking about involve the gameplay. This is a turn based game. In that every move you make is a turn. But the way the game is designed, this doesn't feel turn based. There is time to the game. Every action takes a different amount of time, so a turn can be short, or long.

Now, what can you do in The Unreal World? Well, here's where the details take over. This isn't your average quick starting game. You have a steep learning curve. I'll guarantee that you'll die... many, many times while you learn all of the controls.
Now, this game is different... there's no story, so Sami made this game very very open ended and realistic. You actually have to live to survive. Especially at the start, this game is not for the faint at heart, this will try your nerves from day 1. First thing you'll want to do is find yourself a decent spot to lay camp.
Camp? Yes, camp. This isn't a modern day game, nor medieval. Think of this as a game based on a simple Age of mankind. A day of Nomads and small villages and the world was still wild.
And how do you make camp? Well, first, you need wood... so go chop some trees down, next with enough wood, you can build yourself a shelter.
Next, get more wood. How do you expect to cook your food? With this wood, make a pile on the ground and light it. Tah-dah! You have fire! There a basic shelter is ready, remember to keep feeding wood to the fire or it'll go out. I tend to pile my wood, and light it once I'm ready to cook.

Next, food? Your character is human after all... he needs to eat and drink. So, you have many choices on food. Hunting, gathering, fishing, planting, trapping... the list is various. Choose your method and have at it. This is what usually kills me still... not enough food.

From here... what can you do? Well, you can build stuff. That's right, you're not going to survive the wilderness with the clothes on your back and... maybe a knife. You'll need to gather materials and make your own tools. Don't you feel special when you make that first stone axe? Now you can cut down larger trees that your knife wasn't up to the task for.

Tools, clothing, food... heck, you can build your own House! And Cellar/Smokehouse! That's what I call detail.

Now, I've been told that you can marry and have a family... but... never survived long enough to find out. Heh eventually.

What else can I say? Hrmmm... sounds? They sound the same as they did in the DOS version, same as the graphics, they're functional. That's all I care about, as long as it plays well, I'm a happy camper.

Alright, in a nutshell... if you like hard RPGs and are up to the challenge? Try The Unreal World. Believe me, if you give it a chance, and look deep, you'll find a rewarding experience that'll make you want to keep coming back for more.

For more information about The Unreal World visit: http://www.jmp.fi/~smaarane/urw.html