UnrealSP.orgThe Déjà Vu Story
Here is how the story is presented in the read me file:
J. Brie, Personal Log, June 21st 2253, 11:14 hours.
“Gryphon – they’re sending me back to Gryphon. One visit to that damned planet was enough. I said as much to Commander Pearson, but he was having none of it. ‘This is a very important mission to Inuit,’ he said. ‘As a survivor of the ISV-Kran, your experience of the planetary environment and hazards makes you the only man for the job.’ Yeah, great… I’ve escaped from that hellhole once before, so now I get to go back. Hardly seems fair, but Inuit’s intelligence insists that the Skaarj are no longer in operation on the planet’s surface. I sure hope so…”
June 21st 2253, 16:23 hours.
“My ETA puts me in Gryphon’s orbit in twelve minutes. Once I reach the landing site, I am to set down and travel to the retrieval point with minimal interaction with the Nali people. Commander Pearson was very clear on that fact – I guess he doesn’t want the liability of them knowing about my mission. When I have the artefact, I am to return to my scout ship without delay, and return to Inuit sector control.
“Wait… what was that? A blip on my scanner… but it’s gone now. I’d swear something was there; I sure hope I’m not being followed.”
June 21st 2253, 16:25 hours.
“Bastards!" There’s a Skaarj ship on my tail. They’re gaining on me… they’ll be in firing range soon. I’d better enter combat readiness mode.”
June 21st 2253, 16:27 hours.
“I’m under heavy fire… *crackle*… shields holding, but those damn Skaarj won’t let me go, and my weapons are no match for theirs.”
June 21st 2253, 16:29 hours.
“SHIT! They fired some weird energy torpedo – blasted a hole right through my aft shields *crackle*. I’d better head to the escape pods; my ship can’t take much more of this. The mission’s a bust – I can’t risk the Skaarj finding out the location of the Merc weapon; If I let it fall into enemy hands, Inuit will have me crucified… *crackle* Now, I just have to rescue my own ass…”
*End of File*
Obviously not much to go on, considering that “the artifact” isn’t playing any role in the game. The authors seem to have wanted to preserve some of the original Unreal story, where you are marooned on the alien planet Gryphon, with only one desire: to find a way home again. This is a familiar setting for us players, but not exactly original.
You learn nothing more about yourself, or your role on the planet, but follow the stories of other travellers, who unfortunately are all dead by the time you find them. There are several wonderful sub plots in the game, like for instance the Krall riot in the cellars of E’Nara, Carpathus tragedy, Caruthers on the run, and a number of translator messages concerning the life and thoughts of both Nali, Krall and Skaarj. All this is well and good, but we can’t help feeling that the main story is missing! You know that you are supposed to go from a to b in order to advance to the next level, but there is nothing that really drives you onwards.
You might say that all the above would also be a fitting description of how the original Unreal game was built up, and yes, you are probably right, but it has been done over, and over, and over again and does not do it for this pack.
When we first played the 2.0 version we were truly excited when playing Usp- 03. Up to that point there were no alterations from the original story, but suddenly you were in the mist of an ongoing rebellion that was described so well, and enhanced by technical solutions in a way that glued us to the screen. Hooray!!!! Déjà Vu has finally got a fresh approach! Right there and then we were so excited that we would gladly given a top grade for story. But alas: along came USP-04. Story wise it’s the biggest anti climax in the pack, and a superb crash course in how to wreck a perfectly good mood. Unfortunately we carried on thinking that this was a one time occurrence, but it happened several times more.
The apparent lack of a “thin red line” leaves no room for a good story grade. This is an insult to those who’ve really worked hard on their stories, and given it all they’ve got. As individual maps there are several maps that would easily have gotten scores above 8, but this cannot be reflected in the overall score.
At times it was a fun and entertaining journey, but story wise it was nothing spectacular. Not even close.
Here is how we compromised:
| Factor | Score |
|---|---|
| Main Storyline | 3 |
| The Subplots | 7 |
| Final Score | 5 |
Individual stories would range from 2 to 9 in scores, but would most likely have gotten an average score of 7.