Games like Unreal 1?

[Meshugger]

I was digging through my old games library and found myself playing this gem again for the Xth time. While i do appriciate the experience again with the graphics, soundtrack and the sense of exploring an unknown and varied world, i couldn't help wondering if there is any FPS that has captured the same feel and atmoshere as this one did. (I played it with the latest patch and the high-resolution textures installed)

 

Are there any similar ones, or was this game just a fluke among vast wasteland of FPS games? And no, Unreal 2 doesn't count, that game failed miserably on almost every level.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I haven't played Unreal 1 (only the Tournament games), but that type of sci-fi horror shooter is all but extinct. Even on the rare occasions they get made they tend to suck.  

 

Doom 4 might come eventually and Wolfenstein: New Order is about as close as you're going to get.

 

The old shooters tended to be very straightforward run and gun affairs, today there are a ton of practically obligatory mechanics that get in the way. Painkiller and Serious Sam were the last two good entries in the genre which has been colonized by military based

[Guest Slinky]

Unreal wasn't really a sci-fi horror shooter, it was more like a atmospheric first person exploration game in an alien planet with awesome graphics and even more awesome soundtrack than a FPS. There was enemies to shoot at, but there weren't that many of them in those large levels.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Well that's even less likely to pop up nowadays.

 

I stumbled on this interesting article:

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EricSchwarz/20130415/190441/BioShock_Infinites_Combat_Mechanics_Regression.php

 

Its a long but well written explanation on how shooter's became dumber (through BS Infinite). This pic made me lol.

 

Edited April 26, 2014 by Drowsy Emperor

[Keyrock]

Serious Sam is a different animal altogether, it's the FPS equivalent of a bullet hell shooter.  As far as games like Unreal 1, sadly, I can't really think of anything even remotely equivalent since then.  Half-Life 1 & 2 is the closest I can think of, just to give you an idea of how far off even the closest thing I can think of is.

[Humanoid]

Not really advice, but brings back memories of the hyped Quake-killers of the late 90s. I think the big ones were meant to be Unreal, SiN, Prey, Half-Line and Daikatana. Unreal and Half-Life obviously did pretty well, SiN somewhat less so, and Prey had an almost Duke Nukemish development cycle and released in 2006. Daikatana is just a punchline.

 

But yeah, I'm not much use since the last FPS I can honestly say I genuinely enjoyed was NOLF2.

 

 

EDIT: And some old news headlines from 1998 verify my recollection: http://www.bluesnews.com/archives/jan98-3.html Some familiar names on the page there, heh.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Humanoid

[Keyrock]

I liked Prey, though I kind of forgot about it.  That may be the closest game to Unreal 1 since.  Maybe not in terms of overall quality, but in being a somewhat similar type of shooter and letting you explore a weird, alien environment.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Keyrock

[sorophx]

What about Halo: Combat Evolved? I remember enjoying it.

 

and Doom 3

[Endrosz]

I think the Far Cry series has strong exploration and atmosphere.

 

I you can stomach the Doom-style graphics, System Shock 1 is one of my favorite exploration games. There are many secrets and interesting stuff off the main path. Entire levels are optional.

 

System Shock 2 is awesome, but it's entirely inside a spaceship. Also, RPG mechanics.

 

Half-Life 1 is pretty good as a sci-fi exploration game. There are some railroaded parts, but also some big open parts. When it came out, it was labeled "the thinking man's shooter", and I think that fits well.

 

Half-Life 2 is a very-very carefully disguised corridor shooter. I like it very much regardless, but it's very linear, just tries hard not to look like that.

[Meshugger]

Yeah, i forgot to say that i have played Far Cry 1, System Shock 2, Half-Life 1 & 2, Doom 1-3 and Halo: CE. Of those, System Shock 2, while being awesome as ****, was not really the same experience, more like a horror-survival. The Half-Life-series were a complete dissapointment, especially since everyone said that they were like 4000 times better than Unreal....eh no, not by a longshot. The closest experience is the original Halo, i would say. Great soundtrack, sense of mystery, great A.I. and fun gameplay in an unknown world that you want to escape from.

 

Judging by your comments, It seems like there are no new games in the last 10 years that have remotely captured the same feel. Meh

[Oner]

I can't think of anything that you could call a strict Unreal clone either. Shame really.

[Lexx]

Unreal 1 was a great game. Though, I somehow never finished it. If I remember correct, it was highly overshadowed by Half-Life. And then with Unreal Tournament, that whole franchise changed and I don't think there was ever anything like Unreal 1 again.

[Azdeus]

SHOGO Mobile Armour Division?

 

STALKER; Shadow of Chernobyl?

 

It's been a long time since I played SHOGO MAD, but from what I remembered they filled those criteria your OP mentioned, but I can't remember the soundtrack.

Stalker, while in this world and with many of our weapons still have a world and landscape for you to explore with care. Anomalies and A-life mutants spice it up nicely, and there are plenty of mods.

 

Otherwise, No One Lives Forever that was previously mentioned is a blast aswell.

 

If you want more oldschool stuff, Kingpin; Life of Crime possibly?

[Meshugger]

Unreal 1 was a great game. Though, I somehow never finished it. If I remember correct, it was highly overshadowed by Half-Life. And then with Unreal Tournament, that whole franchise changed and I don't think there was ever anything like Unreal 1 again.

 

For me, it was the other way around. I played Unreal first, and HL afterwards and was hugely dissapointed due to the hype telling me that nothing was close to its magnificance. I still haven't to this day understood the appeal with it.

 

Azdeus: STALKER was pretty good actually, but too same-y with it's post-apocalyptic setting. But i agree that it was a step into the right direction.

[Azdeus]

I can agree with that, some little more environmental variation would'nt have hurt.

 

If you don't mind mission based games, the Rainbow Six series is pretty neat, though quite damn hard. SWAT 4 was pretty fun aswell.

 

Otherwise, if you're not in a serious mood, you could go for Giants; Citizen Kabuto. If you crack a rib from laughing, I will not be held accountable!

Edited April 27, 2014 by Azdeus

[213374U]

Have you played Chrome? It's sci-fi and IIRC maps were large enough that there were some vehicles, but I played it so long ago that I forgot just about everything else about the game. Might be up your alley.

 

Of course, there's also the excellent Riddick games, but those are more stealth than shooter.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Riddick games are indeed excellent.

[Serrano]

Shadow Warrior is actually a surprisingly good modern 90's shooter. It has colour keys, map backtracking and waves of enemies and it's just about shooting things, there are no vehicles or cover or weird gadgets beyond your katana, it's just you shooting lots of enemies with a wide variety of guns when you aren't hacking them to pieces with your katana. It has modern touches too like weapon upgrades, special sword moves and passive rpg upgrades but overall it captures the feel of games like Quake, Doom and Unreal more than anything I've seen since, well, Quake, Doom and Unreal. Lasts around 15 hours also for what that's worth and I think there is a demo on steam. Nobody bought it on release sadly but it's brilliant, it's probably what Duke Nukem Forever should have been. 

Edited April 27, 2014 by Serrano

[Rostere]

That's funny, I also replayed Unreal 1 the other week.

 

I'd say there are very few modern games which fit you criteria, if I were you I'd rather go further back in time.

 

Ergo, play Doom 1, Doom 2, Blood and Shadow Warrior. None of these have either the soundtrack or the "alien planet exploration" themes of Unreal, however.

 

Possibly also Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 1 and 2 - when I think of it, Jedi Knight:Dark Forces 2 is probably one of the most similar games to Unreal 1 I can come up with, both with respect to level design and sci-fi theme. If you don't want to play more modern games, you might want to try Undying. That game has a rather good level design, and you really get a feeling of exploration.

[Oner]

Sooo Unreal 1 is one of the most unique games ever? That would be kind of cool if it didn't leave us without good clones.

[Rostere]

I've been thinking more about this, and Gunman Chronicles is IMO somewhere in between Half-Life and Unreal 1 in terms of both gameplay and atmosphere.

[Meshugger]

I've played Undying as well. It had was damn good until the eternal autumn-levels.

 

It seems like it was a fluke in terms of the FPS-genre. Oh well, maybe we will have the same discussion again in 10 years

[Katphood]

This maybe?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IlAdO5ijuE

Edited April 29, 2014 by Cat Food

[Mamoulian War]

I think both Hexen games from Raven could be pretty close to what you describe, with the difference, that they are not sci-fi. They both are last games in their genre as well.

[Helz]

I loved the Hexen games.  Preferred them over Quake/Q2.  They were a bit earlier then Unreal though.  Here's a shot in the dark: Battlezone 2.  It's a hybrid of RTS and FPS, but it had cutting edge graphics like Unreal, there were alien worlds, and it received critical acclaim but no sales.  Probably not what you're looking for, but it was a great game.