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Every once in awhile, some smart people take a step outside of the box, and have a moment of perfect clarity of thought. This is the case with Atomic Pop, on the surface simply a music label with an edge and a keen eye toward multimedia development. Their idea, beginning awhile back with the singleplayer maps (SPs) Panic (for Quake2) and Panic II for Unreal, was to transcend the music genre and to expand into all forms of pop culture, creating a true '21st Century Entertainment' company. If you've played Panic or Panic II, you'll know why were all excited to bring you this brand new Atomic Pop / PlanetUnreal exclusive - DMPanic!
DMBarracks
DMAttack II
Click on images for fullscreen view
DMPanic consists of two maps, DM Barracks and DM Attack II, as well as two Atomic Pop texture files that help create the unique look to their Unreal maps. I spoke with Jim Evans, Creative Director at Atomic Pop, and asked him to describe these levels for you:
The DM Barracks level is a modification of the
Panic II barracks level. The fighting environment
includes sleeping quarters, lockers, showers, a discotheque
with a flaming stage, and lots of subliminal LED message boards.
Also, a giant laughing skull with algorhymthic
texture mapping. The world maps are fully customized with
lots of custom textures. It's set up so that it's heavily loaded
with weapons, ammo, and special items for the player to pick up.
The second level is called DM Attack II. It is located in an
underground compound beneath a non descript wooden building.
This level is much scarier to get around in. It comes equipped with
a high speed elevator, is surrounded by acid pits, and features a
drop of death bottomless pit. It contains equally as many special weapons
and pickups for players as DM Barracks, and the walls are covered with Japanese Anime
graphics.
Both levels come with cross teleportation for full access to any place
on the level.
How Do I Install And Play DMPanic?
- Make sure you have the 225f patch installed (available here).
- Download DMPanic here.
- Unzip the files into a temporary directory on your hard drive.
- Copy/move the 'DMBarracks.unr' and 'DMAttack2.unr' files to your c:/unreal/maps folder.
- Copy/move the 'biggun.utx' and 'panic.utx' files to your c:/unreal/textures folder.
- Start a BotMatch and select either DMBarracks or DMAttack2 as the level you want to play.
DMBarracks
DMAttack II
Click on images for fullscreen view
I playtested these maps over the course of the last several days, and found them to be very entertaining, especially online. Both levels are big enough for 10-16 players, and do not require top-end systems to make them playable, as Atomic Pop has done a good job with the textures, poly counts, etc. There's an eerie 'Big Brother Is Watching' feeling in DM Barracks, as the subliminal messages get the job done. Item placement in DM Barracks is very good, and the layout lends itself well to surprise attacks.
The main room in DM Attack II (the one with the 'Big Gun' sign) turns into a real bloodbath. Good snipers will especially enjoy this one, having the opportunity to perch on one of the outside towers and rain death down from above. Botmatch was easier than in most good user levels, but that can easily be fixed by cranking up the bot intelligence a bit from the "Configure" menu in Unreal.
NOTE: Atomic Pop ceased operations in 2000.
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