More UT 2003 Guns and Game Modes

Rocket Launcher - In UT it was possible to load up and fire up to six rockets in a horizontal or vertical spread. In an effort to reduce spamming, now you can only load up and fire 3 rockets at a time in UT 2003. Also, the secondary grenade launcher feature has been removed (it’s on the assault rifle now), so secondary fire on the UT 2003 rocket launcher is a Quake-style “instant rocket” where the missile fires with no lag.

The Sniper Rifle - One of the cheesier aspects of the original UT was hiding up in a good spot and firing off headshots one after another. Since there was no way to tell where the shot was coming from, usually there wasn’t much need to move around. The sniper gun in UT 2003 is a long range lightning rifle. You still get a hitscan shot from long range, but you can visibly trace the lightning shot back to its source, like the laser rifle in Tribes. It’s also worth noting that when the lightning gun hits a target, three bits of lightning chain out randomly from where it hits, making it a useful weapon to fire into groups.

The Translocator - UT’s Translocator was one of that game’s most original ideas. It was a gun that would shoot out a little receiver piece with the primary fire. Hitting secondary fire would warp you over to that spot, so it was a useful little piece of hardware for getting up to high places or getting over the top of walls. In UT 2003, there is now a rechargeable stack of five translocation receivers for each player (it recharges slowly over time). The limited stack makes it so that players cannot just warp themselves repeatedly across the map in cheesy fashion.

Secondary fire for the translocator is a camera mode where the little receiver piece becomes a remote camera that players can spin and look around in place with. The clarity of the image from this camera degrades the farther away the player is from the receiver piece. If you shoot a camera that a player is currently spying with, it shocks the player, damaging him slightly.

Ion Cannon Targeting Laser - Replacing the Redeemer guided missile in UT 2003 is an ion cannon targeting laser. You paint a target on the map with it for a couple of seconds, and a satellite-mounted Ion Cannon vaporizes any player within a certain radius of the shot. It is so powerful that enemies caught in the central radius of the shot literally turn into skeletons. At a larger radius, players caught within the blast take severe damage, but don’t get completely fried.

Bombing Run

Of the new game modes included in UT 2003, the one Infogrames is most excited about is Bombing Run. The concept is relatively simple. Two teams, each with a base, and a scoring area. One bomb spawns in the center of the map. The bomb is like a football of sorts. The ballcarrier must deliver the bomb to the scoring area either by running it in, or by passing (throwing) it into the scoring area (worth less points than a run). The ball can be passed like a football from one teammate to another, but while it is in the air, it can also be intercepted by an opposing team member. An added twist is that the ball carrier cannot shoot his weapons but does have a faster rate of health regeneration. He also glows brightly on the screen to make his position obvious.

With all the new twists in weapons and new game modes like Bombing Run, we at FS are excited about getting our hands on UT 2003. There will be about 50 detailed character models (truly different ones as opposed to the few models available in UT) and about 30 maps. As of now, the game is pretty much finished, and the final polishing touches are being put on it before it ships this summer.