A Tribute to Baltimore Photon 1986-1992
"The Ultimate Game on Planet Earth"
Anyone can become a Cyber hero in the Photon field.
Neon lights begin pulsating, and eerie,
pounding synthesizer music envelopes the room.
Then after a countdown,
"Five-Four-Three-Two-One", the two sides engage
in combat, seeking to hunt down
and zap their opponents with Phasers.
Unreal Photon review by Cameron T. Noakes
You wander through the darkened labyrinth with every nerve on edge, hoping to view the enemy before he spots you. There's one! And you squeeze off a few shots and hear the satisfying sound of three successive hits as your enemies helmet lights go amber and your helmet plays the appropriate confirmation sounds to you after each shot - music to your ears. Suddenly the booming music gives way to shrill alarm as the sultry female voice warns you over the loudspeakers, "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" You dive for cover just in time to notice some poor half wit on the other team with the same idea going for your spot, so you make short work of him and proceed through the foggy labyrinth once more when the coast is clear. A few more meters and you come into an open area, but it is through here that you must venture if you are to reach the enemy base and score the big points. Off you dash like a madman, with enemy silhouettes popping up seemingly everywhere, and continuously you squeeze the trigger, your helmet sings victory, and your opposition fades back into the shadows displaying the amber lights of defeat as one by one you expertly deactivate their equipment. And finally you are there! The base light shines down upon you in all it's glory, and as luck would have it not an enemy in sight. As you raise your phaser for the kill you notice several enemy helmets pop up just above you on the upper level, and you hear that dreaded sound of being hit and deactivated - AMBUSH!
If you have never played Photon, the above may not mean much to you. But if you are a veteran of the game, you will remember with great fondness the game as it was played when Corporate Photon was young, and spread it's centers around the country. Now you can relive some of those great times in Steve Mavronis' incredible Unreal Photon - a deathmatch level modeled to scale after the popular Photon Alpha field. The level is designed using the Unreal Editor, which allows anyone to make their own maps for use in the 3D game Unreal. The game uses one of the most advanced 3d graphics engines available, and Mavronis puts the advanced lighting and texture features to good use in Unreal Photon.
As all you Photon veterans can tell from the screenshots, this model of the Photon Alpha field is extremely accurate in detail and atmosphere. This might be because Mavronis used the original Photon Alpha field blueprints to design it. If you used to play this game on this field, you will have the creepy crawlies as you wander through the dark mazes once again. I can't tell you how many memories were sparked of games long past and forgotten, of local heroes who in one night set a new all time scoring record or who helped their team to victory and final glory. You will also notice that the music chosen complements this level well, with almost a Photon melody at times in the background (the track is one that is used in regular levels in Unreal).
Surpassing his previous efforts (he has a similar level for Doom2), Mavronis has gone to great lengths to ensure the Photon faithful will find this offering to be the genuine article. Alien towers in both team colors soar overhead, ramps and catwalks are accurate and detailed, and the various niches and inner corridors are all there. The only things missing are the laser display (an expensive option at few Photon Centers - we had one in Houston), fog machines, and of course the sultry female voice warning of "Intruder Alert!" Since Unreal Photon is in BETA development stages, there might be a few bugs as of yet - but these are being addressed as they are found. There are also no power ups or weapons other than the default blaster you get when starting the game. I found this rather refreshing, since you go till you die with minimal stuff and the blaster emits a bolt of energy that you can dodge if your quick. Probably there will be additions to this to give gameplay more variety, but as it sits it is just about perfect. If you want to adventure into the world of the first, best laser tag game, it would be hard to beat Unreal Photon.
Thanks Cameron! Please visit his NightStormer's Classic Photon website too.
