XMP-SunsetBeach's Giant Cannon

XMP also includes several stationary turrets which can be controlled by either team, providing they have sufficient energy. These come in many shapes and sizes, with varying firepower, range and re-fire rates, but are all equally important when it comes to taking control of a strategically important area, or laying siege to the enemy base. Each of these turrets can be controlled by finding its VR control pod, usually located near the turret itself. While the turret itself will eventually be destroyed if it sustains enough damage, the control pod is significantly more vulnerable, and so it's important to keep this in mind when using a turret. The huge firepower of most turrets can be used in a whole range of different situations.. perhaps you'll take control of an enemy's turret and use it to soften them up before the arrival of an attacking party, or maybe you'll use them to take out enemy attackers before they get to your artifacts. The choice is yours, and it's choice like this that really makes XMP stand out as an involved, and quite literally expanded multiplayer game.

And so we arrive on the subject of maps. There were six of them in the build that we played, and Legend aren't ruling out the possibility of adding more before the release of XMP. The detail and 'wow-factor' of the levels is nothing less than we could have expected from the makers of Unreal II. XMP games take place in a range of beautiful outdoor environments. You'll be fragging in asteroid belts, over stunning mountain ranges, shimmering coastlines, arid deserts and mysterious alien marshlands. There's no getting away from the fact that XMP feels like Unreal II -- certain maps have hints of Sulferon, others of Na Koja Abad and others of the TCA base on Avalon. It's the perfect compliment to the single player campaign. As you'd expect, the red and blue bases are located at either side of most maps, with resources such as turrets, generators and spawn points scattered in the space between. Many of the game's maps play very well with both large and small numbers of players, however it's with 12 or more players that XMP really shines, with players taking on different roles throughout the map; sniping, hacking, ambushing enemies, and fighting for control of resources and turrets.

Fortunately scenes like this won't bring your system to its knees.

Unreal II is famed for its ability to bring even the meanest systems to their knees, resulting in mediocre frame-rates for most people. Legend have made a clean break from the Unreal II code-base in XMP, meaning that the game doesn't become bogged-down with unnecessary textures, models and code. While the game's still only in the beta stages, many of the XMP beta testers have reported framerates equaling or beating those of UT2003 on their systems. It's too early to discuss specific system specs, but as a guide, if your system can run UT2003, you'll be able to run XMP without any problems.