Unreal Photon Review

Unreal Photon

review by Cameron T. Noakes

You wander through the foggy labyrinth with every nerve on edge, the flashing lights and odor of the fog machines heightening every last drop of adrenaline as you creep through darkened corridors. You duck behind a small outcropping jutting from one of the alien towers, hoping to view the enemy before he spots you. There's one! And you squeeze off a few shots and hear the satisfying sound of three successive hits as your enemies helmet lights go amber, and your helmet plays the appropriate confirmation sounds to you after each shot - music to your ears. Suddenly, the booming music gives way to shrill alarm as the sultry female voice warns you over the loudspeakers, "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" You dive for cover just in time to notice some poor half wit on the other team with the same idea going for your spot, so you make short work of him and proceed through the foggy labyrinth once more when the coast is clear. A few more meters and you come into an open area, but it is through here that you must venture if you are to reach the enemy base and score the big points. Off you dash like a madman, with enemy silhouettes popping up seemingly everywhere, and continuously you squeeze the trigger, your helmet sings victory, and your opposition fades back into the shadows displaying the amber lights of defeat as one by one you expertly deactivate their equipment. And finally you are there! The base light shines down upon you in all it's glory, and as luck would have it not an enemy in sight. As you raise your phaser for the kill you notice several enemy helmets pop up just above you on the upper level, and you hear that dreaded sound of being hit and deactivated - AMBUSH!

If you have never played Photon, the above may not mean much to you. But if you are a veteran of the game, you will remember with great fondness the game as it was played when Corporate Photon was young, and spread it's centers around the country. Now you can relive some of those great times in Steve Mavronis' incredible Unreal Photon - a deathmatch level modeled to scale after the popular Photon Alpha field. The level is designed using the Unreal Editor, which allows anyone to make their own maps for use in the 3D game Unreal Tournament. The game uses one of the most advanced 3d graphics engines available for 3dfx gameplay, and Mavronis puts the advanced lighting and texture features to good use in Unreal Photon.

As all you Photon veterans can tell from the screenshots, this model of the Photon Alpha field is extremely accurate in detail and atmosphere. This might be because Mavronis used the original Photon Alpha field blueprints to design it. If you used to play this game on this field, you will have the creepy crawlies as you wander through the dark mazes once again. I can't tell you how many memories were sparked of games long past and forgotten, of local heroes who in one night set a new all time scoring record or who helped their team to victory and final glory. You will also notice that the music is ripped straight from the official Photon Soundtrack, used in the big arena's during the actual game as it was played.

Surpassing his previous efforts (he has a similar level for Doom2), Mavronis has gone to great lengths to ensure the Photon faithful will find this offering to be the genuine article. Alien towers in both team colors soar overhead, ramps and catwalks are accurate and detailed, and the various niches and inner corridors are all there. The only things missing are the laser display (an expensive option at few Photon Centers - we had one in Houston), fog machines, and ofcourse the sultry female voice warning of "Intruder Alert!" Since Unreal Photon is in BETA development stages, there might be a few bugs as of yet - but these are being addressed as they are found. There are also no power ups or weapons other than the default pistol you get when starting the game. I found this rather refreshing, since you go until you die with minimal stuff. Bot paths are also immature at this stage, but they are still deadly enough in the close confines of the arena. Probably there will be additions to the map to give gameplay more variety, but as it sits it is just about perfect. If you want to adventure into the world of the first, best laser tag game, it would be hard to beat Unreal Photon.

Please disable all download programs (Getright, Gozilla, etc.) before attempting to download these files.

DM-Photon20Beta - Steve is back, and also a map update! This newest beta has completed bot pathnodes, for improved single player action. Weapons are being completed, and should be finished in an upcoming version. Stay tuned for more, I'm sure Steve will be working on an even better version with the release of the up and coming Unreal2 Engine.

DM-Photon504 - older version, but includes the lobby and parking lot. This map is to scale, but the characters cannot often fit into certain doorways and play may seem slightly cramped compared to the newest map, mainly due to the limitations of the Unreal Engine. Overall, probably the best map if you just want a walk-through and aren't worrying about deathmatch. You MUST view the README to get installation instructions, as this map has three portions which must be extracted into the correct folders.

Download Photon Doom - if you have Doom 2: Hell on Earth, you can also play Steve's original Photon Alpha level called Photon Doom. Check out this article about the doom wad.

Steve Mavronis Photon - the man, the myth, the legend. :) His site includes map updates, photon history, and other goodies. Still being completed, good to have you back Steve.

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