What makes a good first person shooter? At the most simple level, raw
polygon-churning 3d power seems to help. I mean, Doom was cool in 1991,
but today its sprite-based creatures just won't cut it. But there was
something that set Doom apart from its competitors back then, and
something that set Quake (and later, Q2) apart from other games in its
day. Call it an X factor, but whatever you call it, it's the thing that
makes or breaks a game.

Whatever it is, Unreal Tournament has it.

Sure, I could go on and on about the great game engine, the technical
specifications, or any number of bits and pieces of information about UT,
but none of that would really capture how genuinely FUN this game
is. There's just something about this game that brings me back time and
time again--to fight my friends, to fight the bots, to fight complete
strangers across the net, whoever.

Some particulars I like about this game:

Great level design. The variety of deathmatch levels alone is a credit to
the level designers, but that would ignore the Capture the Flag maps, the
Domination maps, and the Assault maps that also come with UT. Maps of all
kinds come packaged with the game, from tight, cramped maps with loads of
twisting passageways to wide open outdoor maps covered with sheltered
campgrounds where industrious snipers can practice their craft.

Good AI, with lots of skill levels to choose from. Perhaps the most
important thing to consider when adding non-human players to your game is
the skill level the bots will play at. Too low, and they're just frag
fodder--human players will pass one another over in favor of the
defenseless bots. Too high, and human players are just trying to scrape
along without being spanked by the computer. Like Goldilocks, it's
essential to get it just right. For instance, in my playing group, if we
don't have enough human players to fill up a particular map, we make up the
difference in bots that are skilled enough to hold their own, but not good
enough to seriously compete with the human players. UT provides that
option not only by building a quality AI for their robots, but by allowing
the players to select from a large number of skill levels (8 or 9, if
memory serves).

Great gameplay. Game controls are quick and responsive, with no delay,
looseness, or sluggishness. Contols are relatively intuitive, as well, and
it doesn't take very long for a complete newbie to feel comfortable at the
controls, even in unfamiliar environments such as low gravity, no gravity,
or underwater. The UT folks went out of their way to make the game
customizable in this respect, too. Don't like the fact that the rocket
launcher fires when you release the mouse button, not when you press it?
You can turn that off. Speaking of weapons, there are ten weapons, each of
which has a main and an alternate mode of fire, providing enough
flexibility for any style of play you want to bring to the game.

Also as a part of gameplay, don't underestimate the effect of game
features such as killing sprees and multi kills. Broadcasting to everyone
in the game when you go on a spree (or a rampage, or a domination, etc.),
and then announcing to everyone when your spree ends (and at whose hands)
is a really simple addition that adds quite a bit of fun.

UT also comes with the ngStats package, which is essential for LAN
parties. Basically, it takes server log files and builds HTML files from
them, allowing you (or anyone, if you set up a web server to do this) to
browse through the statistics for your session. ngStats is, I'm told,
completely skinnable, so you can customize its looks for your particular
needs. In the group in which I play, the group session postmortem is an
honored tradition.

If deathmatch isn't your thing, UT offers numerous other play modes,
including Capture the Flag (self explanatory), Domination (teams capture
and hold "control points" on a map, scoring over time for
each such point held), and Assault (one team plays offense, trying to
accomplish map-specific goals while the other team tries to stop
them. When they succeed or if time runs out, the teams switch roles and
play the same map again). The bots play these games fairly well, too, but
human players are pretty much required for full fun points. And, of
course, ngStats can process and post data from log files for these games,
too.

So, is there anything bad about UT? Well, it's very hard to sit in front
of a machine with UT installed on it and do any real work, for one
thing. And it's very hard to resist installing UT on every machine you
come into contact with.

Problem is, UT won't run on just any machine. To get the full experience,
you're going to need some pretty serious hardware. A 3d video card is not
optional here. I've been playing on a Pentium II 450 with 256 MB main
memory and a Viper 770 video card. It's also probably worthwhile to turn
down the screen resolution and the environmental and character texture
detail to improve performance.

Final verdict on UT? It's the first person shooter to beat right
now. Quake zealots: wake up and try this game out; it is, at least for
now, the new king.



Recommended: Yes