Unreal Tournament (multiplayer) (PC) > Reviews (178)

"Have you played UT yet?" he asked again. Just as he'd been asking for the past 4 months. My friend was trying to convert me to Unreal. I wasn't taking much notice of him - I hadn't heard too many people shouting about Epic's latest fps - I was too busy with Half-Life. Then when I walked into WHSmiths and saw it for a tenner, I bought it and realised that this was one of the PC's most misunderstood games, cruelly - no, brutally overshadowed by Quake 3 at its release. I now know better, and now to tell you about this game which could easily fall into the 'classic' category.

--The Game--
Well, it's set in the future, where human fights to the death are entertainment, offering untold riches. Epic has organized these various contests into a tournament ladder that culminates in a battle against the boss. Thus you, the player, are launched into the Tournament.
First is the character creation screen, which lets you choose a character, gender, appearance and team. You also choose the difficulty level here. The next screen is where you choose a particular section of the Tournament ladder. At first you can only choose the bog standard Deathmatch, but eventually three other, team-based modes appear (Domination, Capture the Flag and Assault). Each game mode has a tutorial level to ease you into the different types of action.

--Modes of Play--
The variations on the if-it-moves-shoot-it deathmatch are excellent. In all team modes you can issue orders to your teammates, telling them to guard the base or go for the flag in CTF. You can even get them to cover you. If you don't command them, they choose their own courses of action, so no worries for new players. Domination is what I would call spinning plates with bloody great guns. You have to try and dominate by touching three separate points across the level to change them to your colour, then keep them that way. In Assault, you have to infiltrate the enemy’s base and go through a series of objectives, such as breaching the entrance, exploding door controls etc. You have a limited amount of time to get in through automatic turrets, snipers and the like. If you complete the objectives within the time limit, the tables are turned and the enemy has to try and beat your time. The assault mode is my personal favourite, as it involves a certain level of tactics so frequently missing in deathmatch-style games.

--Weapons--
The array of weapons offered in UT should suit all player's tastes in many areas. The excellent feature of this game is that every, yes every weapon has a second function. From the lowly pistol (2nd function more rapid fire less accurate held sideways Friday-style) to the lovely rocket launcher (doubles as 2nd function grenade launcher).
The melee weapon does not exist -instead we are treated to the Impact Hammer. It can kill but only at close range. All classic weapons are present and correct, the pistol, shotgun, minigun, rocket launcher, sniper rifle (zoom function is excellent, if you've played IGI then you'll know), and of course what game could live without one ludicrous huge weapon.

In this game it's aptly named the Redeemer. It launches a huge nuclear explosion so don't fire it at anything close by (or if you do, run fast away from it). There are many more weapons, but in the interests of space, you\'ll have to play it :)

--Challenge--
Should you make it through every single level of all four modes of play, you are awarded not only with shiny rendered trophies but an extra, Challenge mode. This consists of a few very difficult levels, ending with the final battle against Xan. Unfortunately I still haven't beaten him so I don't want to talk about it :(

--Statistics--
Accurate statistics are logged at all times, either to your own computer or, if playing online (highly recommended!) to a remote statistic server for the world! You can check just how good you are compared to all the other players on the planet.

--Conclusion--
All in all I rate this game very highly. In terms of competing with other games in its genre it stands up very well indeed. In terms of gameplay, if not graphics, it is a Quake 3 with different modes of play. I can't see anyone not extracting some form of enjoyment from this game, so I whole-heartedly recommend this game to others.