I didn't expect much from Unreal: Return to Na Pali assuming it wouldn't be too spectacular, I was correct. Return to Na Pali starts out very nicely with real-time cutscenes that have spectacular graphics, as only the Unreal engine can deliver. The story begins with a large ship which is set out to capture prisoners, one of which, being you, is chosen by the high command to explore a planet and find a crashed space ship called the Prometheus. Having been chosen due to your knowledge of the surrounding terrain it begins with a scene of writing an entry into a log with the accompanying sound as he reads his entry aloud.

I was very dissapointed with the level design in Na Pali; seeming very unprofessional, the levels lack innovation. The original Unreal had better level design and it seems in Na Pali they are attempting to repeat the original design and success of Unreal, yet fail. Unreal was extremely impressive when it first came out and Na Pali has very similar level design to Unreal. However, when I buy an addon I expect it to be totally innovative and different from the original game or at the very least make the game somewhat better, otherwise I don't want to waste my money.

The sound effects in Na Pali are quite impressive. The door shutting sounds are loud and do not close instantly, causing you to jump from the tension. The sound FX are used at the right timing and play in co-ordination with the level. Although environmental sounds are good, I can not say the same about gunshot sounds. They are harsh and sound nothing like a real gun, as is the case in the original Unreal. Unfortunantly they have kept some of the old guns that the original Unreal had which is a downside, as they were not that impressive.

Despite keeping some of the original weapons, they added some new artillery in Na Pali with them being more modern day rather than futuristic, which I like. One problem with the guns is that they don't have a realistic gunfire blast, being the worst blast I have seen in any 3D FPS game. What occurs when you fire a gun is a "Star" type shape with an orange color that ejects from the barrel. Even the original Quake had better gunfire effects.

Some new models they added are quite nice. For instance, the skins and models are designed very well yet their animation isn't quite that respectable. Gore effects are well done with point damage in the game, meaning if you shoot something in the head it does more damage than if you would shoot it, let's say in the leg. Even though they added new models in Na Pali, some enemies look the same from the original Unreal. Na Pali also has a very dark enviroment as is the case with Unreal levels that make you go basically blind. One thing I also noticed is that monsters miss rarely, another downside in my opinion as they should act more life-like and not perform like machines with no misses.

My final thoughts are that this addon is certainly not worth your money, its basically just a bad attempt to keep up with the original Unreal and I believe that the original was much more impressive and innovative then the Unreal: Return To Na Pali add-on.