In the last year we've seen several game developers try to introduce and element that has been missing from games for a long time.  The scare factor. Last years Nocturne was the first to attempt to really mix in the elements and atmosphere of horror films followed by the Blair Witch trilogy just recently. While the Nocturne engine games were close to their mark their lack of player control and ability to interact with the game put most gamers off.

Story
The story is set in 1943 in Ireland with you in role of Patrick Galloway, a man known as "The man with endless occult knowledge". Dispatched by a letter from an old war buddy, Jeremiah Covenant, whom once saved your life now needed your help.  His family is under some sort of curse due to some dabbling in the supernatural Jeremiah and his siblings performed years ago reading from a sorcery book of his late fathers near the standing stones near their estate. Now all of the siblings are dead but are said to be haunting the estate and Jeremiah fears they are coming to get him.  Though uneasy about your task, you do owe Jeremiah your life from the war, so you must do what you can to help your ill friend.

Don't let the fact that Undying uses the Unreal Tournament engine fool you into thinking this is just another mixed genre shooter. Undying to me was more like an adventure game with a good solid combat system.  All of the elements that make a great game are included right in the box: Great story, great characters that are both charismatic and believable, great visuals, great audio including sound effects and soundtrack. What more could you ask for.

The Journal
Undying uses a modified Unreal Tournament engine and like others that have used the engine (Dues Ex and Rune most notably), shows how adaptable the engine is. The most noticeable modification is the Journal which stores all the clues you find along your quest and keeps track of your current goal. Any time you find a new clue, weapon, spell, etc., you can always go back to the Journal and read up on it.  You will also find lots of pages of clues along your journey such as diary entries, letters, and the like which are always accessible in your journal so you can go back and see if you missed a clue.

Weapons
When you start the game you are armed only with your trusty revolver and the Gel`ziabar stone which you took of a shaman back in the war.  The Gel'iabar stone gives you several powers including amplifying your spells and giving you an indication when you should use your Scrye spell to see the past. Other weapons include Scythe, Tibetan War Cannon, Shotgun, Speargun, and Molotov Cocktail.

Spells
Throughout the game you will also have various spells to aid you in your journey and battles.  While most spells are self explanatory, lightning shoots lightning out of your fingers, the spell that will prove to be the most useful is Scrye.  You begin the game with the ability to cast Scrye which will allow you to see and hear past events that happened where you are standing as well as illuminating the area around you and makes your enemies glow a blue color so they are easier to see. Other spells you will learn along your journey are Ectoplasm, Dispel, Lightning, Haste, Skull Storm, Shield, and Invoke.

NPC
Interaction with non player characters you meet along the way are one of the most impressive elements of Undying.  The NPC's are usually in the form of a scripted sequence with some of the best looking models I have ever seen in a 1st person engine.  The voice acting is great and the characters look absolutely fabulous and they do a wonderful job of seamlessly bringing the whole story together.

World
The level design in Undying is unparalleled with fabulous level design and architecture that is so realistic and believable you feel like you are there. There is a rotted monastery that parts of it are collapsed and falling apart that is just really detailed not to mention the luxurious mansion where the game begins which has the detailed ceilings and paintings on the walls. Most of the rooms in the mansion for instance are furnished and some of the furnishings such as chairs and tables and lamps and such are very detailed and look marvelous.

Graphics
The graphics in Undying are top notch and will keep you in awe through most of the game.  If you are running an older video card such as the Voodoo Banshee or several other older 16 Meg cards however you may be out of luck so check the system requirements to make sure your system can handle the game.

Another benefit of the UT engine is that fact that its renderers support all the major API's giving you a choice between Direct 3D, Glide, or OpenGL. The Direct 3D renderer has matured quite a bit since the early days of UT and works remarkably well on the GeForce 2 now as compared to older builds of UT.  I ran the game most of the time at 1280x1024 32bit color and it was smooth as silk on my Over clocked Celeron running at 850 Mhz.

If you own Stereoscopic 3D Glasses this is a great title to take advantage of them.  I played most of the game using my Eye3D PCI glasses from 3-Qubed and was totally engrossed in the 3D environment.  Things literally pop out of the screen at you and give you a real feeling of the depth to the world and architecture around you. With the 3D Glasses it is possible to get so engrossed in the game it may be hard stop for things like sleep and work so use them with caution.

Control
A key element to any game lies in the controls.  If you don't have control then you are not going to get sucked into the game. This is another advantage of using a well known engine such as the Unreal Tournament engine as most users will be familiar with the controls and the fell of the games navigation and combat. The interface for selecting spells and weapons is very intuitive and easy to use and can be used quite easily while on the move.

Audio
Another area that shows a good amount of attention is the audio.  The whole horror film feel to the game couldn't come off well without the fabulous sound effects and mood setting soundtrack.  The sound effects in areas are very well thought out as you would expect from a film maker.  In the cellar of the Mansion for instance, you hear water dripping but if you listen closely you will also notice a banging in the distance as well as the creaking of the floor above along with several other little nuances in the mix.

Hear the fierce grown of the Howlers just once and you will know the sound that will scare you to deal on a constant basis.  No to be outdone the monster sounds in Undying like everything else are incredible and scary. More often than not the sound of the creatures will come before you see them and when you get engrossed in the moody environment the bassy growls and shriek screams cut through you like a knife and add to the whole experience.

Multiplayer
Undying doesn't feature multiplayer out of the box, however word on the net is that there is a multiplayer patch in the works.  This is another area that will really shine due the UT engine as it has proven multiplayer.  Hopefully there will also be a SDK release (Software Development Kit) so we can see homemade Undying Maps as well as maybe some free add-on mods to extend the life till Undying 2.

Conclusion
In all I think Clive Barker's Undying is one of the best adventure games I have ever played. It sucked me in and scared me half to death keeping my stomach in my throat most of the time. The only other game to send chills down my spine like this was Half-Life though that can't even compare the scare I got with Undying.  Got get a copy and take it home and load it up late at night in the dark while everyone else is sleeping, turn the head phones up loud.  I dare you to.  Bud don't forget a change of shorts.  Undying gets a solid 9 out of 10 losing points only because of the linear story and getting my recommendation as 3D Gaming Worlds Editors Choice.

Review by: William Gall
Date: March 5, 2001