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Limited ammo. No health packs. No powerups. Nowhere to hide. This, in its essence, is Rocket Arena UT - Game of the Year Edition. Bring your skills, or perish!
In the grand tradition of Rocket Arena for the Quake engine, RA:UT sets the stage for one of the best ways to measure your pure fighting skills against one, two or a clan arena full of opponents. You think you 'got game'? RA:UT will provide a fine measuring stick by which to gage your abilities.
Everything is configurable via a nice mod menu provided by the author, Mike 'Mongo' Lambert. (It should be noted right here that Brandon Reinhart, formerly of Epic Games, now with 3DRealms, was the originator of the UT version of this project, made famous by David 'crt' Wright over on the Quake side of the world.) You can setup defaults for # of rounds per match, self damage, team damage, starting weapon and weapon configuration, # of bots (although you'll not want to play with bots in this version, more on that later), male or female announcer voice, as well as the normal UT configurables. You'll also find some new keybinding options in 'Preferences' for various things. Once you get into a Rocket Arena match, but want to change arenas, just hit 'Escape' and you'll see a new dropdown available to you from the main UT GUI.
Ok, we'll get the bot thing out of the way right here. Frankly, playing against bots is ridiculous; far too easy. Yes, it's improved from earlier versions, but even in version 1.60 (which is the GotYE version, plus new maps), RA:UT is not really bot-friendly, and you'd be better served playing regular UT or another mod if you don't have good online access. Mongo is aware and open about the bot issue, so don't be surprised here. RA:UT was designed for you to be playing online, and it does that very well.
Let's concentrate on the far more numerous appealing aspects of RA:UT! A definite strength this mod are the great maps that come with it. Here's how it works - generally speaking, each of the map authors have a 'pickup' map, a well-known level where you just join a team and get 'picked up' for the next round, and then adds four more arena levels to it, completing each arena pack. For example, Ebolt 'picked up' DM-Turbine, and added four 1on1 maps to it. Most arena 'packs' have a castle-themed map, but it varies pretty much beyond that. Here's the complete list of levels and designers (note: some of these are not on the GotYE CDs; you'll have to download the latest version from the RA:UT site:
- RA-Akuma - Richard 'Akuma' Eastwood
- RA-Clawfist - Sidney 'Clawfist' Rauchberger
- RA-CliffyB - Cliff Bleszinski
- RA-DavidM/DavidM2 - David "DavidM" Münnich
- RA-Ebolt - Eric 'Ebolt' Boltjes
- RA-GE][ - 'Pagan' Pete Simpson
- RA-Heiko - Heiko Dreyer
- RA-Inoxx - Cedric 'Inoxx' Fiorentino
- RA-Outworld - Cooper 'BigBird' Faust
- RA-Qwerty - Brad Ridder
- RA-Revolver - Yordi 'Revolver' Malawauw
- RA-Shinigami - Heikki "Shinigami" Laube-Pohto
- RA-Warren - Warren Marshall
A few words about the 14 maps / 75 arenas themselves, before we get into gameplay. Each of them is quite clever in design, and well-suited for arena gameplay. Whether it's the surreal look and feel of RA-Shinigami, the simple precision of RA-Clawfist and RA-GE][ or the painstakingly detailed RA-DavidM2, each of these works brings something special to UT, and demands the very highest level of gameplay from you. Also, since there are no items to drive you around the map, the level designers were careful with the layouts to ensure the action flows smoothly and quickly. Not a simple task, but most of these maps fare very well in that aspect.
You can also play RA:UT with standard maps, by selecting the 'Rocket Arena - All Maps' gametype. This is fine, but keep in mind that regular maps only have one 'arena', and the RA maps are pretty sweet, so give 'em a try.
Upon entering a Rocket Arena server, you're greeted with the now-familiar 'Welcome to Rocket Arena, soldier'. There are no weapon, ammo or health pickups to be found, nor will you see any powerups. You start (using RA:UT defaults) with every weapon, a limited amount of ammo for each, and at least 100 armor and 100 health. You can select from various arenas within each map, many 1on1, some 2on2 or a free-for-all Clan Arena. Select an arena, create or join a team for the multi-player arenas, then enter the arena.
You'll see your playing position in the lower left corner of the screen (on deck, waiting to play, etc.). Once in the arena, you'll spawn to a 3-2-1 countdown, unable to shoot until the 'Fight!' command is given by the announcer. Be ready, because you can be sure your opponents are!
This isn't called Rocket Arena for nothing. One of the most important techniques to learn is 'Rocket Jumping'. Basically, you charge up your Rocket Launcher with a number of rockets, then fire at the ground. Don't worry - unless it's been configured to damage you (very few RA:UT servers are), you'll not sustain any self-damage. You'll be propelled high in the air, with your normal air control to guide you to the landing destination of your choice. One extremely useful technique is to rocket jump, and fire your shots while in the air. While it makes it harder to hit your opponents, they'll find it nearly impossible to hit you.
Other important moves in RA:UT (and regular UT, BTW) are circle strafing and dodging. Circle strafing is running to one side, while turning to create a circular motion, with you facing the center. Hopefully, you've placed your opponent in the middle of this deadly circle. Dodging is simply tapping a movement key in any direction, which will move you quickly in that direction. Visually, to your opponent, you will be doing flips and some pretty deft movements side to side, making you more difficult to hit while you stalk your opponent.
All of the weapons can come into play, depending on the map you are playing. Some are rather large, so if you're adept with the Sniper Rifle, go ahead, fire away. The Flak Cannon is useful to methodically weaken your opponents when you have the chance to get close, fire, and disappear. The Shock Rifle is always potent, especially the combo shot (secondary fire, then blow that up with primary fire). Hardcore arena players also run an Enforcer Arena variant, leaving your survival to your Enforcer and wits alone.
I found RA:UT to be an excellent way of improving my fighting skills. Things you'll learn after playing RA:UT for a while include when to fight and when to get into a more advantageous position, learning how to dodge and circle strafe effectively, shooting while on the run (actually, running in all directions), and how to work with a teammate in those (far too few) 2on2 arenas.
There are still a few minor bugs in RA:UT, but they are just that - minor. Occasionally, you'll find that you don't respawn properly, with the ability to fight. I've never figured out why I sometimes respawn with 150 health instead of 100 health (unless this is due to a 'Flawless' victory). With the attention Mike has paid to the mod over the past year, it is reasonable to believe that even these few bugs will be eliminated, and some new features may be added.
As it stands right now, Rocket Arena for UT is simply one of the best and most popular mods around (check out the addition to your UT Server Browser). Nothing comes close for straight-up, me against you gameplay. If you're like me, hiding your average skills in CTF matches, be ready for a rude awakening once you start playing RA:UT online. Oh, and don't be discouraged. You should be surprised at how quickly you improve! If you're already an elite player, well, there's nothing out there that will allow you to show your stuff quite like RA:UT does!
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