Unreal is very good, but it isn't great. And, I know that some folks would disagree, but Unreal is not as good as Quake. There are many reasons why I am saying this, and I'll spell some of them out in this review.
First, the sound effects don't impress me all that much. I've got an Altec Lansing Power Cube and a Sound Blaster PCI 128 card powering the sound. The movements (e.g., the footsteps) and the general environment sounds are pretty good. But, the sounds of the weapons are not up to par. A Whoosh! here, and a Bzzz! there don't cut the mustard. I want kickin' stereo reverberations and thunder. I want to make the neighbors upset with screams and intense explosions! I'm sorry to say this, but Unreal has nothing as cool as the simple shotgun blast in Quake...
Second, I was disappointed in the visuals. Again, I know that some folks would not agree, but the renderings, movements, colors, and contrasts aren't that effective. I have a 19" Optiquest monitor (which I reviewed here at Epinions), powered by a 32 meg Diamond Viper video card. I also have 256 megs of RAM and a Pentium III 450 MHz processor. I have plenty of horsepower. Yet, the game doesn't really seem to capitalize on this. The contrast is relatively poor. Everything is way too dark (even darker than Quake!). The Bot movement is jerky. No frame skips, just visual "jerkiness". Often, it is very hard to monitor enemy movement.
Third, the controls are a pain in the butt. I had to repeatedly configure the controls to get things set up in a way that didn't get me toasted. It isn't easy to move, switch weapons, and concentrate on taking down monsters or Bots all at once. You need to concentrate on one or two things at a time since the controls are not easy to use when multitasking. For experienced game players, these complex activities won't be a problem, but novice players better plan getting killed...often. (By they way, the Bots in the Deathmatch are particularly good at wiping folks.)
Summary: Plenty of people are going to disagree with me, but the game isn't super great. It is good, but it didn't change gaming as we know it. At least not if you ask me. And, for the record, I like the Quake visuals, sounds, and controls better.
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