Unreal Championship

Shooters and Star Wars

Today we've got a quartet of shooters to share with you, and a peek at Bioware/LucasArts' upcoming Star Wars action-RPG title, Knights of the Old Republic. Alex handles the shooters, while Jakub used his Bioware ins to sneak into the Lucas booth for that peek of KOTOR.

Unreal Championship

Being developed by Digital Extremes, Unreal Championship is a brand new Xbox exclusive iteration of the popular PC franchise (that has been making the rounds on the next gen consoles as of late). UC is set 200 years after the events from Unreal Tournament. Earth has been conquered by an alien race that has taken the established death match sports to the next level by setting up entire planets (six total) for the purpose of the hunt. Digital Extremes has used this addition to the story to help build character development of the participants. Unlike UT, which had a paltry four character models, UC will have a whopping 24 models for players to choose from and do battle with. DE is hoping the extra models and settings will help drive the single player experience.

Quake 3 ish

Foliage!

Effects and Vehicles

DE then launched into various tech demonstrations, showing off all of the nifty Xbox modifications done to the "Unreal Warfare" engine. These included realistic shadows, lighting, and particle effects, used in combinations we had never seen before. One area had steam rising from a vent, as a fan overhead cast rotating shadows, and distorted lights filtered through from behind. This effect was taken one step further when projectile weapons were fired into the billowing mists, cutting through it, and then closing back in around the hole. The next stage shown was one of their larger terrain maps. Initially I was skeptical of this style of map (especially after the horrors that were the Team Arena terrain maps) but DE seems to have it working well so far. This map also had the addition of a "hover skiff" vehicle for getting around quickly. DE also mentioned other vehicles, including two player tanks (one to drive, one to shoot) but didn't have any ready at our showing.

Look at the shadow

Facial detail

On the weapons side of things, UC will come packed with an 11-gun arsenal, many of which should be familiar to Unreal veterans. These range from the default assault rifle, to rocket launcher, to Star Wars style blasters. DE also stressed their interest in more "combo oriented" weapon combinations, similar to the shock rifle's regular/alt fire maneuver from UT.

Big guns

The gun is as big as he is

Although only four months into development, UC already has a polished look and feel to it. DE still has a lot in store for UC, however, including full multiplayer broadband support, built-in voice communication technology, and a firm commitment providing the best controls yet seen on a console FPS.

Is it hard to run in that?

Incoming

Boom