Unreal Gold is a collection of the original Unreal (U1) and Return to Na Pali (RtNP), its commercial expansion pack. Having played through the collection in sequence, I must say that my opinion of Unreal Gold soured considerably as soon as I started playing RtNP. However, that's not to say that I was enamored with U1.

Of all the old school first person shooters (FPSes) that had legendary status among fans of the genre, U1 was perhaps one of the more underwhelming titles I played. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly better than low-ranking FPSes like Isle of the Dead and even respected but dated FPSes like Wolfenstein 3D. For one thing, Unreal looked incredible for its time, and took a bold step by putting a big emphasis on environmental exploration - which is not to be confused with searching walls in a contrived manner for hidden doors or invisible hallways.

Someone described Unreal as Myst adapted as an FPS, and I think that's largely an apt description. As with Myst, there's a big emphasis on environmental visuals that were stunning for the time, and on a vague and unobtrusive sense of plot that you can uncover by way of memos. However, as with Myst, the game isn't necessarily fun to play all the time.

I enjoyed playing U1 more often than not, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The main reason for this is that many of the enemies are absolute bullet sponges. The fact that there isn't a great variety of enemies doesn't help, but to U1's credit, the Skaarj foes that occupy most of your combat time are very adaptable and pose considerable challenge. They not only do they roll and lunge forward for melee attacks, but they dodge to the side to avoid your shots. I was blown away when I saw similar reactions from Halo's minions when I played that game circa 2002, but I think U1 may have been the first FPS title to have such adaptable artificial intelligence.

Speaking of enemies, the plant-like ones that appear on ceilings and shoot thorns down onto you are annoying - not just because it's always awkward to aim up at such high degrees to take them out, but especially because they make a horrible and unfitting sound as soon as you end up in their line of sight. And since I brought up aim, it's worth mentioning that the sniper rifle that appears in this collection is horribly inconsistent when it comes to letting you successfully pull of head shots. I can't count the number of times I zoomed in a far-away enemy and pulled off perfectly aimed head shots, only for that same enemy to just start running at me a moment later.

The other major reason why I didn't like U1 as much as I expected to is that some of the levels are just poorly designed in the sense that they're easy to get lost in. Halo was much, much worse in that regard, but it's worth noting nevertheless.

Speaking of level design, it's especially poor in RtNP. That makes sense, seeing as how the expansion was reportedly made from maps that had been discarded from U1. However, I did enjoy playing through the second half of RtNP much more than the first, and the main issues I had with it weren't its lackluster maps: they were new enemies and weapons. I consider them to be of low quality, but I actually prefer the projectile-spewing spiders to the spider-like enemies that would lunge at you in U1. The latter still exist in RtNP, but you're much more likely to encounter the former.

The character you play in U1 and RtNP's campaigns is a female, but unlike today's woke garbage from Hollywood, western governments, and even some video games, that fact thankfully isn't the focal point of the game or its reason for existence. Having said that, you can give the people responsibility for this game credit for creating a credible hero, albeit one lacking much of a discernible identity or personality. She's a lot like Samus from the original old school Metroid games in that regard.

If you want to play Unreal Gold, I recommend doing so by using the OldUnreal patch. However, this collection can no longer be purchased because the publisher (Epic) are trying to erase their past. That's a shame, but moreso when it comes to the original Unreal Tournament and Unreal Tournament 3. I consider both of those games - as well as Unreal Championship 2, which is an Xbox exclusive - to be the pinnacles of the Unreal series, and some of the best action-oriented FPS games I played.

TLDR: I do recommend Unreal Gold, but not by much. My recommendation is primarily based on my experience of playing through the base game, not the expansion pack.