Unreal II: XMP Preview

The XMP tutorial gives you an introduction to XMP gameplay. This section of the tutorial introduces you to the three XMP classes.

Put simply, Expanded Multiplayer is a class-based multiplayer team game. In an XMP game, players fight for control of resources in-game, and ultimately posession of all four artifacts required to win an XMP match. A simple concept, but success in an XMP game relies on so much more than simply shooting the guy wearing blue, and taking the artifacts from his base. In an XMP game, the battle over control of energy, vehicles, turrets and other resources is just as important as having control of the artifacts. As your energy levels increase, so does your team's potential for destruction. Turrets, force walls, mines, vehicles; they all use energy, and without it, your war machine grinds to a halt. Each team starts the game with a limited supply of energy, however if you want to take advantage of your base's vehicles, and place items such as mines and turrets, you'll want to start claiming generators to boost your energy reserves.

In addition to your team's energy bar, which governs the comodities that you team can use, each player also has a personal energy bar, which slowly recharges over time. Energy needed to place mines and turrets, hack items, use your jet pack, place health and ammo packs all comes from your personal allotment of energy.

To take control of all four artifacts and win the match, you must steal both of your enemies artifacts, while protecting your own. Artifacts are stored in your team's 'artifact node', which is generally located at the heart of the base. To steal an artifact from the enemy, you must run through their artifact node, and carry the artifact back to your own artifact node. When you're holding an artifact, you'll leave a colored trail wherever you go, making it easier for enemies to target you. You'll have to work as a team if you want to safely transport artifacts back from the enemy base.

Many items in the game world can be 'owned' by either one of the two teams. These can include switches for doors, power generators, or spawn points. You can claim these items for your team to use by 'hacking' them (walking up to them and holding down your 'use' key). Once an item is hacked to your team, it will change color, and only members of your team will be able to use it. For example, if a member of the blue team is trying to get into the red base via the front door, they will first have to hack the door panel to take control of it for their team. If the red team wants to use this door again, they will have to hack it back to their team. This adds yet more depth to an XMP game -- when you're planning on raiding the enemy base, it's important to have a path cleared out of there, as you won't want to stand around and hack doors when you have enemy pursuers on your tail.