Clive Barker's Undying ...

[ST Dragon]

I found Clive Barker's Undying at a shop for 10Euros (12$) brand new.
I'm an old school FPS fan... My favorites are:

Alien Vs Predator 2
Doom 1, 2, 3, ROE
Duke Nukem 3D
Heretic & Expanion
Hexen & Expanion
Hexen II & Expanion
Unreal 1

So based on this info, is "Clive Barker's Undying" worth spending the time & money for it?
I read that it's using the Unreal 1 engine which I really liked back in the day. (Awesome lens flares & effects)
But how good is it game-play wise & music, which is very important in my book.
Is it a long game by the way? I hate short games.

Thanks in advance.

[Dewclaw]

Damn yes it's worth getting...that game scared the hell out of me when I played it a few years ago. It's creepy and has a great horror movie feel to it. Going through that mansion in near blackness and being surprised by a ghost or a vision(your character has the shinning) was awesome. The gameplay was competent but nothin spectacular, but presentation can carry the game a long way.

[Bar81]

It's supposed to be the shit. I need to check it out.

[Acid King]

I loved it. I think it's criminally underrated. They were supposed to be a whole series of games but Undying was a commercial flop, which was blamed on the complete lack of multiplayer.

[incognoscente]

...is "Clive Barker's Undying" worth spending the time & money for it?
I read that it's using the Unreal 1 engine which I really liked back in the day. (Awesome lens flares & effects)
But how good is it game-play wise & music, which is very important in my book.
Is it a long game by the way? I hate short games.

I believe the game is easily worth 10 EUR.
It uses a lightly modified Unreal (1) engine with a basic LOD structure for meshes, particle system, and a couple more pretties here and there.
Gameplay is going to be subject to taste, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Use weapons with [defaults] left mouse button, magic with right mouse button. Switching weapons and magic is easy. Some fights can get a little tricky as I recall, but I found nothing cheap or unfair. Atmosphere is key for a horror game and the game does not disappoint in that regard.
Music is typical, but butts out for most of the game. Not singable, really, but it suits the scene. Sound effects (more important to horror than music, in my opinion) are good, if not quite Eric Brosius good :)

I think my first time through took maybe 10-12 hours? As the game managed to keep my attention and paranoia up for that long, I'm pleased with the length. I think added length might have added more down-time.

While the settings are vastly different, if you want a longer experience with a horror (mix-genre) FPS, you might want to look for System Shock 2. 20 hours long or so, great atmosphere, stunning sound work (Eric Brosius), good music to boot. :)

[captain ahar]

its great, albeit a bit slow with some of the fighting. still haven't beat it yet, but hell, i beat hardly any games i buy.

[ST Dragon]

Will it work under WinXp SP-2 by the way?

Thanks.

[incognoscente]

Ooh. Haven't tried it. I'd assume so.

I'll try to double-check if no one beats me to it.



edit:
Yes, it works fine in XP-SP2.

[ST Dragon]

Thanks.

Yeah, I all ready completed Doom III & ROE (Awesome games) & need to roast more hell spawned bastids!

By the way, is the gameplay linear like Unreal 2 & like the newer FPS games, or does it involve a lot of exploration like the old school Doom 1 & 2, Heretic, Duke3D, Unreal 1, etc...
Or even better does it have the Hub level system (Like Hexen I & II) where you have to revisit levels when a door has opened for example...

I like exploration, a lot of secrets, multiple paths & hidden locations in a FPS game, something most newer ones lack tremendously.
Where as, linear mindless blasting FPS like Unreal, Halo, etc… left me highly unimpressed.
So I would like to avoid something like that.


Thanks in advance.

[incognoscente]

Not quite as open as Unreal 1 (specifically Nyleve's Falls/Level 2 and Bluff Eversmoking if you know them), but more than some newer games. Also a bit of optional reading if you like that kind of thing.

Hub level system - yes, though on a technical level some of the Mansion maps are seperate files (same layout/texturing) each time you pass through.
exploration - check
secrets - yes, including some amusing easter eggs (gigantic sheep)
multiple paths - not quite the way you might want
hidden locations - most are required in the game, secret rooms aside.

[ST Dragon]

Not quite as open as Unreal 1 (specifically Nyleve's Falls/Level 2 and Bluff Eversmoking if you know them), but more than some newer games. Also a bit of optional reading if you like that kind of thing.

Hub level system - yes, though on a technical level some of the Mansion maps are seperate files (same layout/texturing) each time you pass through.
exploration - check
secrets - yes, including some amusing easter eggs (gigantic sheep)
multiple paths - not quite the way you might want
hidden locations - most are required in the game, secret rooms aside.

Actually my favorite Unreal 1 levels are:

5) Sacred Passage
6) Chizra - Nali Water God
7) The Ceremonial Chambers
10) Terraniux Underground
11) Terraniux
12) Noork's Elbow
13) Temple of Vandora
15) ISV-Kran Deck 4
16) ISV-Kran Decks 3 and 2
17) ISV-Kran Deck 1 (ISVDeck1) - I think this one had the best & most revealing Story Logs, if ,memory serves right.
32) MotherShip Lab

Also in the Expanion:

The level where you fight the marines on the roof of UMS Prometheus, is just poetry! A perfect example of guile & tretchery, as they beam down to kill you once you played your role!

Unreal 1 consisted of 38 levels! No wonder it felt so long & more like an epic adventure movie. Almost double the levels of Doom3!
They don't make them that good anymore...

Even the expansion, "Return To Na Pali" was 17 levels long!
This cool Unreal site has all the levels:

http://www.unrealsp.org/gameguide/walkthroughs.html

How many levels is Undying by the way?
Does "Unbdying" deliver anything similar as the above?

[incognoscente]

Undying is hard to count levels, as you can go back to many of the areas. From memory (playing again would be cheating for this kind of count ;) ), about 8 unique areas of varying size (the Mansion hub is about 5 maps large as I recall). The design is generally more focused than Unreal (less variety, less volume). The two games barely play alike though. Undying is a horror game principally, while Unreal was an action adventure.

Given your list, you might not find Undying labyrinthine enough for your tastes. I don't recall much in the way of "find button that opens door" progression in Undying, either.

If you need more justification for a 10 Euro purchase you are probably better off not getting it. ;(


edit:
http://files.filefront.com/undyingdemoe ... einfo.html
http://www.fileplanet.com/58369/50000/f ... dying-Demo
http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=332

[zlk]

Undying is one of the best PC games of all time. Buy it!