The original Unreal is a FPS developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, released for PC by GT Interactive in May 1998. A playstation port was in development by Pterodactyl Software with new exclusive levels and weapons, but it seems that Infogrames decided to cancel the project for some reasons.
In may 2009 Leo from the Beyond Unreal community was able to get in contact with Kagle, a developer that worked on Unreal PSX: Kangle decided to share some unfinished maps from this unreleased game and Leo edited the original files to make them to work with Unreal PC. Those files can now be downloaded in here, to be preserved and played by the fans!
Here’s a little description of the 2 beta levels:
In the first level, you break into an archaeological excavation where they are digging out a giant alien ship that was buried millenia ago. In part 1, you run across to the ship and turn on its main generator. The generator activates a laser that was removed from the ship and lets you blast through to the elevator shaft to the lower level. In part 2, you have to activate an umbilical tube to connect to the ship, which lets you reach the bottom of the excavation, where you can get inside.
In part two, you enter the ship, which is an alien universe, to contact the alien (I think his name was J’Rath). In part 1, you find yourself in a 3D maze. You have to travel to the end of the maze by removing the barriers blocking you. Each barrier can be removed by going to one of the small pocket worlds and throwing a switch. In part 2, you have to reach the heart of the ship, a pulsing sphere. You follow a short path, fighting tiny monsters and turning switches, until you can get inside. Inside the heart is a series of chambers you have to swim through until you get to J’Rath’s chamber (he appears as a giant eye). The second set of levels is rougher than the first.
These two missions (broken into two pieces each) were set to be played at the end of the second of three acts in the game. Since these levels were so late in the game, they were designed to be difficult for the player to complete.
Since these levels were designed for the PlayStation 1, the levels had to be scaled down to fit into the existing hardware. The limitations placed on the levels were quite draconian and included: a maximum of 3000 polygons per level, low number of visible polygons per room (STAT FPS), a maximum of 3 monsters per room and fewer in rooms with high polygons.
With such restrictions in place, I agreed to create levels with a less combative and more puzzle-oriented approach. In order to avoid large-scale combats, emphasis was placed on jumping puzzles. Levels were organized so the player would have to return to the same locations repeatedly to save space and give the impression of longer gameplay.
Huge props to Leo and Kagle for preserving these lost levels and sharing them with the community!
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