Page 12 - Unreal II: The Awakening

Unreal II: The AwakeningNew in our benchmark suite is Unreal II -The Awakening. The reason we include this software as a benchmark is again related to driver-optimisations. Compared towards Unreal 2003 it's not commonly used as test-software and therefor excellent to test products with.

You play John Dalton, an ex-marine now working as a space marshal for the Terran Colonial Authority. Dalton leads a rag-tag group of fellow ex-marines and one alien navigator aboard the ship Atlantis, charged with the task of patrolling the outer-reaches of space to quell any trouble that may crop up on any of the scattered colonies on his patrol.

Another plus is an incredible graphics engine capable of producing some of the most glorious and breath-taking graphics to date. This engine is put to good use with some inspired level designs of vast proportions, many filled with intricately designed structures and endless beauty. Character models here have a roundness and human warmth in their textures and coloration that make them almost leap off the screen. They're more cartoon-like than photo-realistic, although they have a peculiarly vivid presence that tops anything we've seen. They also don't have those bulky "Quake hands" sported by every human and humanoid denizen of a first-person shooter since 1996, so bonus points have to be awarded for that aesthetic alone.  

A few technical improvements in Unreal II include texture compression, alpha blending, distance fog, advanced particle physics with forces and particle collisions, and per-poly collision detection for characters. The 9800 is doing really good numbers.