eXpanded MultiPlayer

Template:Game guide eXpanded MultiPlayer (XMP) is a multiplayer expansion to Unreal II developed by Legend Entertainment. XMP contains just one game mode that is similar to Capture the flag but requires more sophisticated tactics.

File:Islands in EXpanded MultiPlayer.jpg

The scenery of the map 'Islands'

Development

Unreal II: eXpanded MultiPlayer was developed by Legend Entertainment for Atari to deliver on the original promise to extend the original single player game Unreal II with a multiplayer functionality. The first playable version was released and made available for download on December 9, 2003. Almost nearing completion, the development of the game was suddenly halted by the unexpected close-down of Legend Entertainment on January 16, 2004.

Gameplay

XMP is a team-based game, where the players are split into two teams, red and blue. Both teams have a base with an Artifact Node. Each Artifact Node initially contains two Artifacts. The main objective is to steal the enemy's Artifacts and then register them at the Artifact Node belonging to the player's own team, but a team can also win by capturing and holding all generators, effectively draining the enemy team's energy.

Hacking

Some of the items in the game can be hacked to be owned by the hacking team. The two most important things to be hacked are Energy Generators and Deploy Points, but the player can also hack panels of some doors and lifts. The speed of hacking items depends on the player class and the actual personal energy reserve. However, if the player's personal energy supply is depleted hacking and treating will take significantly longer.

Energy

What makes XMP different from typical CTF is Energy. Energy is required for almost everything in the game: weapons, vehicles and even the player's advanced movements. Autonomous mechanical defenses (so-called "Deployables") consume the most energy. Without energy, registering the enemy's Artifacts as their own cannot be done. Each map has a number of Generators which can be hacked by each team to provide energy.

There are two separate supplies of Energy a player is concerned with: their team's Energy supply (the tall blue bar to the extreme lower right of the HUD) and their personal Energy reserve (the short yellow bar to the immediate left of the team energy bar). The personal Energy reserve is depleted when performing any of the 'advanced' functions of the game; i.e. hacking an object, deploying a turret or a mine, healing a teammate or activating jump jets. Some things, however, draw directly from the team's energy reserve, such as deployed turrets, or driving or firing from a vehicle. The player's personal reserve is refilled from the team's energy bank; therefore, if every team member 'spends' their energy frivolously, the team will soon find itself without defenses, vehicles, or even a place to register stolen artifacts. For this reason, a player should handle their energy responsibly, at least until their team has enough Generators under its control to support multiple energy-intensive activities.

Deploy Points

Throughout the battlefields are deployment points at which players can spawn after being killed. Most deploy points can be hacked like generators and hence taken over by the opposing team.

Classes

In XMP, players can choose to spawn as one of three character classes. The classes have several different attributes, such as speed, armor and weapons.

All classes have a stamina bar and the ability to sprint; sprinting roughly doubles the player's base speed (determined by their class) and depletes their stamina bar at a constant rate. In vehicles this is represented instead by a turbo bar, activated by the driver with the same key. The player's speed is represented by a tall blue bar to the lower left of the HUD and an abstract value next to it; stamina is represented by the short yellow bar to the immediate right of the speed indicator.

Vehicles

XMP has three vehicles: Raptor, Harbinger and Juggernaut. Like the player classes, each vehicle type has specific advantages and disadvantages over the other ones, like speed, armor and weaponry. Driving a vehicle or firing a vehicle weapon uses energy from the team's reserve.

Weapons

Deployables

Deployables can be deployed by a Tech or a Gunner. The Tech can place automatic, and force fields. The Gunner can place place mines.

Unreal Tournament: Expanded Multiplayer

Unreal Tournament: Expanded Multiplayer, or UT XMP, is an Unreal Tournament 2004 port of eXpanded MultiPlayer.

External links

• 'Unreal II: eXpanded MultiPlayer' at MobyGames
• Unreal Tournament: Expanded Multiplayer The official website

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