"Up For Some Urban?"
Those words get an automatic smile from me whenever I hear it. Of course, I'm talking about Urban Terror, the mod for Quake 3.
It all started back in 1995 with Quake 2. My friend Nate and I would play Quake 2 online, just simple deathmatch. Then we found the glory of mods. Action Quake 2 to be exact. We played the hell out of that game. And then there was the Weapons of Destruction mod for Q2, which I still haven't found a replacement for. Laser tripwires and 9 types of grenades. We'd stay up all friggin night playing that mod. And then came along Quake 3 and Urban Terror.
When I first saw Urban Terror, I was only looking for a mod with real world weapons for Quake 3. I tried a mod or two before UrT, but the designers' focus on "reality realnism real real" kinda messed the whole thing up. The other mods took realism to a new low. Guns so inaccurate I swear you could almost shoot yourself when you had the crosshair on a target. Falling damage from 2 foot high ledges. Endurance meters so inane running felt like camping.
Urban Terror brought back the feeling of Action Quake 2 - the speed, the simplicity, the FUN. While imparting some realism on the mod (can't snipe with a shotgun, endurance meter drains whilst sprinting, jumping off a skyscraper will kill you), the developers kept the balance between real and playable/enjoyable.
I've been playing UrT since version 1.xx and though it sounds a little odd, it's become an integral part of my life. I almost demand anyone who lives with me for any length of time to play it on a regular basis. They get hooked, but that's just a side effect. Because I usually played versions 1, 2 and 3 with bots along with only 1 other person at a time, UrT 4 iis reserved for any online endeavors or Capture and Hold. Capture and Hold only because I modified as many maps as I could in UrTs 2-4 to have only 1 flag for CAH, making it more of a king of the hill feel.
Urban has inspired many a project for me on my downtime. I went through each map for UrTs 2&3, taking screenshots and seeing if bots were supported and what gametypes were supported, compiling it all into a huge Word document. Then for a few months I was trying to figure out how to play recorded movies back in spectator view and finally pulled it off using Q3SDC. Then I took a few months to figure out how to get a log parser to handle Urban Terror, and I found AEStats works perfectly (http://aeons.planetquake.gamespy.com/aestats/). Presently, I just finished up playtesting an Urban Terror CCG (yes, laugh if you must) in which I tried to keep it simple and fun instead of bogged down with "tap mana deal +-5 damage to artifact lands, untap herbivore carrions". Some may say it's an obsession but I refute their words, saying it's a labor of love.
There's a lot to be said about Urban Terror, but I'll stop here. Check it out if you haven't done so already - www.urbanterror.net. Try to get UrTs 2 and 3, as well. I'm pretty sure you can find the installers on Gamespot. The maps for 2 and 3can be found at http://urt.utca.hu/maps , http://www.eviltwinkies.net/maps/ and http://urbandepot.koroded.net/ . My friend Chuck recently showed interest in starting a clan, so we got one up on www.clanbase.com -BloodGasm. We need 2 more members to compete in ladders, so we'd be glad to have you aboard. No drama or pretentious "officers" to deal with, either.
And for god's sake, if you post a question on urbanterror.net's forums, ignore what woekele says if it's not pertinent or helpful. He just seems like a bitter$#*hole. Someone posted a server question and his response was something along the lines of "if people don't know TCP/IP they shouldn't be starting servers. Ever." Never helpful. The person asking the question did get a proper answer that resolved their problem, though. Just beware.
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