UT99: Gaming Nostalgia

Unreal Tournament, with the original one often known along with the year 1999 or with the Game of the Year Edition addition to name (UT99 or UT:GOTY) was one game which changed our gaming concepts, a very long time ago. Coming from Epic Games and Digital Extremes, this was the second release from the franchise, and managed to make all the impact by revolutionizing the gaming idea with its arena first-person shooter mode which involved playing against computer as well as other human players in multiplayer mode. I remember this game as the first one which I played online with friends during the early years of the new century.

The game’s domination mode which involved the capturing of control points and defending them, was my favourite during the time. During the lock-down period, I did spend enough time playing the game through LAN, along with Age of Empires 2: Conquerors and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. It was a nice refreshing of those good old days for me. I would play Unreal Tournament’s original version any time again, and Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 which came after this game were not that effective in comparison, which makes this version the one game which I might never forget. Remember that there is also a fine background story to this adventure which involved a lot of shooting. There is nothing that matches a perfect head-shot with a sniper rifle or the heated shrapnel launched by a Flak Cannon.

This pyramid level arena has us fighting for our lives in space.

A Gothic model of an arena will have us fighting hard.

A graveyard level is special for Halloween and the inner horror.

The level set on a galleon had some fine moments with visuals.

Sometimes, a few head-shots which a sniper proves to be the best.

This arena map called DM-Hyperblast has been a crowd favourite.

This is an arena which reminds one of hell & those Doom games.

Nothing suits Unreal Tournament 99 like the blood-red colour.

Another level in space means another chance for defying gravity.

DM-Morpheus map is the arena of suicides by falling into space.

***All images are from my game-play with Unreal Tournament much earlier.

<— Click here to go to the previous post.

TeNy

Advertisement

Grand Palace of Movies

Varikkasseri Mana is one of the oldest traditional Brahmin houses of Kerala, located at Manissery, a small village in Ottapalam, within the district of Palakkad. It is the place where two of the most loved movies Devasuram and Aaraam Thampuran were shot, along with Rappakal, Drona, Simhasanam, Sufi Paranja Katha, Thooval Kottaram, Rudra Simhasanam, Valliettan, Madambi, Manthrikan and the most recent one which specifies the name of the place itself, Pretham 2. As far as Malayalam movies are concerned, the place is something special, and no movie lover from Kerala is to fail to identify it. There are other common locations too, but this one stands taller. There is more than one path to take while traveling here from Cochin, and it will be a tiring journey if the trip is during March, April or May. It is better to have some milk shake or juice in between. Without the movie setting, the place might seem to be lacking something, but for the small entry fee of Rs. 20, it is worth the journey.

*The photos on this blog post were taken by me on my Asus Zenfone Max.

Tomorrow Rarely Dies

*This story features the major characters from the two movies John Wick and Hitman (one of the most admired video games of all time, and one of those games which had me very interested in it for years – I might still give it another try). The two assassins here are John Wick a.k.a. “The Boogeyman” and “Agent Codename 47” from the respective movies. The story takes place after the movie John Wick, and also after the movie Hitman even as nothing much of his past is mentioned in this tale. 

John Wick wandered around with his newly found companion dog. He had finished the revenge on the Russian mobsters and was now spending his time in peace in the memories of his dead wife and that lost puppy. His new home was away from the city, in the countryside with his house surrounded by nothing, but trees.

Shave at some point of time, John Wick. Being Boogeyman doesn’t need a beard.

All of a sudden, a gunshot was heard. He felt something touch his hair on the way and as he looked at where it was headed, he saw a bullet mark on the tree on his left. He quickly took his gun from the pocket and started shooting without any stop in between.

A clean shaven face emerged from behind the trees and took one shot which hit John on the shoulders. He recognized the face. “Agent 47” he said. “Damn you assassins. Can’t you stop it now. Everyone is dead because I killed them. It has been a long time, and there is nobody to pay you for my head. It is so difficult being a retired asssassin” complained John.

“You are mistaken. I don’t do this for money. I do this for fun. You were killing people just in the name of a dog, and therefore am I not better? I do this as my special Christmas entertainment. I am a predator and I am trained for it. That old man might have died, but the offer was never closed and it still stands. I am doing this job free of cost, and I also miss Miss Perkins. This might even inspire another video game and a movie franchise like Alien vs Predator. Hitman vs Boogeyman; sounds fair” said Agent 47.

Agent 47 meant business as he always did. I doubt if anyone can find an occasion when he faltered. As John tried to make another attempt, Agent 47 retaliated with another shot which hit him on the other shoulder, making it almost impossible for him to target. John rolled away with his injured shoulders and made it into his house with Agent 47 waiting outside with his favourite weapon, AMT Hardballer.

“Is there space for a well groomed face in your house? I have never seen you under my bed. Aren’t you the one afraid of razors, Mr. Boogeyman?” Agent 47 asked loudly.

You don’t mess with Agent 47 – look at the confidence of having shaved 😀

John took his Gillette Fusion razor and started shaving, as gunshots were firing on the outside. Agent 47 was breaking in. But John had shaven now, gaining his confidence and has put his assassin’s suit on, as he is ready as he loaded his Heckler & Koch P30. With the bullets having only scratched him and having taken painkillers, he is back to doing what he did the best, as the fiery Boogeyman. The real battle starts now as the assassins in suits, separated only by the hairstyle and the colour of the ties, stood behind two pillars.

*Moral of the story: Shave for the best, and do your job with confidence.

*The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of John Wick and Hitman: Agent 47 movies of 2014 and 2015 respectively. I’m tagging some of my blogger friends for the same activity: Sucheta, Ada, Anita and Mahesh. Please don’t forget to mention that you were referred by me in your post.

This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette.

Here are the themes for your blog post-
Topics for Men:
Opportunities – Stories or instances where you missed out on an opportunity because of a ungroomed look.
Luck or Confidence? Will you leave your fate in the hands of destiny or will you step up and say yes to a well- groomed face to be at your best everyday? #WillYouShave?
Topics for Ladies:
An instance when a stubble came in the way of a man’s chance to make a good impression.
An instance when a well groomed look ensured that they struck gold on an opportunity given to them.

TeNy