I've Got A Present For Ya!

Hmmmm, what does the 'X' stand for?

C&C Renegade: the name alone brings me back to my earlier years, when I had just started to truly get into the realm of PC gaming. I will always remember Renegade as one of the first PC games that I had ever played religiously for much longer than a couple of months, and for good reason too, as it provided me with years worth of fun and enjoyment. The game, much like Red Alert: A Path Beyond, pitted two unique armies against one another in all out warfare, with each one sending tanks, helicopters, and the like to bring in the pain. The main difference between the two games (besides the completely different armies), however, was the faster pace of Renegade that made players on both sides react to situations much quick than they would in APB, since the maps were much smaller in comparison. Once a match in the game began, it would not take very long for the action to pick up.  Five minutes into the fight, and both armies would already be sending their vehicles of destruction to deal all kinds of mayhem to each other. That was the greatest thing about Renegade: there was almost always a battle taking place during a match, right until the last building is demolished.

With that being said, I suppose you are wondering about the significance of the "Renegade X" picture shown on this post, well then allow me to make sense of my madness through the use of appealing visual aid. To that end, I will now show two videos; the first one depicting an attack performed during a match in Renegade, with the second depicting a rather different take on a similar performance.





There is quite a difference between the two videos, is there not? As shown in the second one's title, the game being featured is none other than Renegade X, a professionally made recreation of the original C&C Renegade, produced as a large-scale modification for Unreal Tournament 3.

The game itself takes everything that made Renegade so enjoyable and brings them into the modern era in every possible aspect, all the while keeping the fast paced warfare-styled gameplay that got me hooked so many years ago largely intact. As one could tell from the videos, the graphical appearance of Renegade X makes its predecessor look old and feeble in comparison. Everything from the maps to the characters you play as look absolutely stunning, thus it is easy to tell that the people behind the graphics took their sweet time in getting their work done just right. The sound is also heavily improved, with a combination of classic sound-bytes from the original game along with brand new bits of audio that give Renegade X an epic yet nostalgic sound that is pleasing to the ear. Last but most importantly, we now turn to the gameplay at last. As mentioned earlier, C&C Renegade's gameplay was left practically unchanged when brought into its remake. For those of you who have read my APB post, the premise is very similar: two teams blow each other with weapons of war until one's base is completely destroyed. Thankfully though, this has proven to be an interesting blessing, as the people who have played the original game will feel right at home in Renegade X, while those who have never played either game before will not miss out on the fun so easily. All in all, I have found this game to be a rather enjoyable experience, and a worthy successor to C&C Renegade.

Before I give out links (for those of you who are actually interested) though, a warning should be given to the readers who may own old computers. This game is can be quite intensive on computers with lower end graphics cards, so if your system has a graphics card with Intel in its name for example, expect slow downs as those cards were not made with high-end gaming in mind! It should also be noted once again that currently, Renegade X is a modification of Unreal Tournament 3, therefore you will need to have said game installed and fully patched up before installing the mod in question.

With that being said here are the all important links:

Renegade X's Download/Forum Location
(click on "Download The Latest Build" to obtain the mod)

Unreal Tournament 3's Latest Patch