BobtheCkroach
03-25-2006, 08:46 AM
I'm not sure if anyone has heard of this title (I know I hadn't!), but I saw the demo listed the other day and thought, what the heck - i need something new to try!
http://files.filefront.com/Utopia+City+Demo/;4901140;;/fileinfo.html
The basic premise of the game is very odd. In the future, someone has created a virtual Utopia. This person (referred to as "The Mastermind") allows easy joining - you can just call a number, come in and they will hook you up. This is accomplished by downloading your spirit/mind/soul whatever and storing it as digital data. The catch? Your physical being ceases to exist. Once you enter the Utopia, you can never come out.
Originally, it's done as an experiment and is considered highly successful. After a while, though, there are some many people flocking to the utopia that the physical world is going into disarray. The government creates a special organization focused on stopping the Utopia. This team enters the Utopia and helps bring people back; however, the only way to get someone's data back is at the exact moment of their virtual death in the Utopia.
The entire team has gone in and is now missing, leaving the entire mission in your hands (go figure :rolleyes: )
Very weird.
Now then. The gameplay is something in the vein of Deus Ex. You have the option to go in guns-a-blazing. Quite often, though, it's not your best option. For instance, in the opening level, you cannot get through a door. You can go find the keycard and walk through undetected...or you can blast away the receptionist and use her computer to open the doors - your choice. Of course, the latter will bring in a flood of cops.
Since you're all in a virtual world, anything that you do that is observed is immediately known by all. So if you shoot some guard in the face when you're all alone, the whole world goes code red on you for a little while. You have to wait for it to die down. There's a little floating ball (and an icon in the upper right) that lets you know when it's safe.
One really cool note - violence does not go unrewarded. You start the level with just a pistol. As you kill more people, the government warps in, or downloads, or something, more guns to you. One message came as "you're a pretty cool dude. You need a gun with a faster rate of fire. We're sending you the Tornado (machine gun)" Pretty nifty. Also, since people can only be saved @ the point of their death, killing civilians is not only acceptable, it's downright noble of you! Shoot the crap outta them - they count in a positive way towards you goals! Wowza!
Throughout the game you'll collect artifacts that will allow you to have special powerups. The one you start with is a force field. You also have an amount of energy, which can be assigned however you want - 50% to ammo, 50% to regeneration, or 100 to one or the other - whatever you want.
The graphics are fairly nice looking. I ran the game fairly well, actually, on 1024-768 w/ AA and AF cranked all the way up - I'm not sure how that's possible, but that's what it says. Perhaps those menus aren't actually working @ this point - who knows? There were a few oddities - there was water in one spot, but I apparently walked on top of it - no sinking down, or splashing or anything.
The sound didn't seem at all spectacular - just run of the mill.
The AI wasn't overly intelligent - most of them simply tried to gun me down. Several times when I was on red alert, they would open a door a know I was there (as they would stand there and stand there and stand there) but they won't attack until I moved to where they could see me.
Overall, the game is nothing amazing. It has some nice graphics with some nice details (my shadow was fairly good looking, and moved pretty nicely with me) The gameplay is what really intrigues me about this title. As a fan of the Deus Ex series, this is obviously something I can enjoy. The original concepts make the storyline and gameplay a bit new and fun.
I recommend the download! :thumbs:
http://files.filefront.com/Utopia+City+Demo/;4901140;;/fileinfo.html
The basic premise of the game is very odd. In the future, someone has created a virtual Utopia. This person (referred to as "The Mastermind") allows easy joining - you can just call a number, come in and they will hook you up. This is accomplished by downloading your spirit/mind/soul whatever and storing it as digital data. The catch? Your physical being ceases to exist. Once you enter the Utopia, you can never come out.
Originally, it's done as an experiment and is considered highly successful. After a while, though, there are some many people flocking to the utopia that the physical world is going into disarray. The government creates a special organization focused on stopping the Utopia. This team enters the Utopia and helps bring people back; however, the only way to get someone's data back is at the exact moment of their virtual death in the Utopia.
The entire team has gone in and is now missing, leaving the entire mission in your hands (go figure :rolleyes: )
Very weird.
Now then. The gameplay is something in the vein of Deus Ex. You have the option to go in guns-a-blazing. Quite often, though, it's not your best option. For instance, in the opening level, you cannot get through a door. You can go find the keycard and walk through undetected...or you can blast away the receptionist and use her computer to open the doors - your choice. Of course, the latter will bring in a flood of cops.
Since you're all in a virtual world, anything that you do that is observed is immediately known by all. So if you shoot some guard in the face when you're all alone, the whole world goes code red on you for a little while. You have to wait for it to die down. There's a little floating ball (and an icon in the upper right) that lets you know when it's safe.
One really cool note - violence does not go unrewarded. You start the level with just a pistol. As you kill more people, the government warps in, or downloads, or something, more guns to you. One message came as "you're a pretty cool dude. You need a gun with a faster rate of fire. We're sending you the Tornado (machine gun)" Pretty nifty. Also, since people can only be saved @ the point of their death, killing civilians is not only acceptable, it's downright noble of you! Shoot the crap outta them - they count in a positive way towards you goals! Wowza!
Throughout the game you'll collect artifacts that will allow you to have special powerups. The one you start with is a force field. You also have an amount of energy, which can be assigned however you want - 50% to ammo, 50% to regeneration, or 100 to one or the other - whatever you want.
The graphics are fairly nice looking. I ran the game fairly well, actually, on 1024-768 w/ AA and AF cranked all the way up - I'm not sure how that's possible, but that's what it says. Perhaps those menus aren't actually working @ this point - who knows? There were a few oddities - there was water in one spot, but I apparently walked on top of it - no sinking down, or splashing or anything.
The sound didn't seem at all spectacular - just run of the mill.
The AI wasn't overly intelligent - most of them simply tried to gun me down. Several times when I was on red alert, they would open a door a know I was there (as they would stand there and stand there and stand there) but they won't attack until I moved to where they could see me.
Overall, the game is nothing amazing. It has some nice graphics with some nice details (my shadow was fairly good looking, and moved pretty nicely with me) The gameplay is what really intrigues me about this title. As a fan of the Deus Ex series, this is obviously something I can enjoy. The original concepts make the storyline and gameplay a bit new and fun.
I recommend the download! :thumbs: