This is one of a new generation of games written with online multiplayer action in mind. The idea of the game is quite simple - take the deathmatch mode from 3D blasters such as Doom or Quake, and turn it into an entire game. The key advance here is the addition of bots - computer generated players - who take the part of the normal cannon fodder. There are several different modes of gameplay - simple Deathmatch - first to 30 kills; Capture the Flag - team based flag catching; Domination - team based again, with a little more plot - first your team has to capture a base, then defend the same base, each time against the clock, and finally Domination - each level has three keypoints - your score ticks up for each moment you occupy one of the keypoints. These play very differently, and provide great entertainment. Single player has a simple plot - you are a contestant in a contest, and must fight through a series of increasingly tough levels.

The level design is fantastic - all of the levels are well put together, and the ideas are fantastic - there is an underwater base, a D-Day beach, a battle set on a speeding train, a castle, Quake like dungeons, and many more. Graphics are great, sound is good. The weapons are fantastic - the best I've seen, and far better than any of the Quake games - my favorite fires either a green beam or an exploding ball of plasma that can be detonated with the beam to create a bigger blast.

Perhaps the best thing about this game is that it is so very easy to expand. There are thousands of downloadable levels, some of them easily as good as the ones in the game, but best of all it is possible to download dozens of modifications, ranging from the simple, such as a mod that allows you to use a weapon in each hand, to the complex, that add dozens of new weapons, character classes, experience points and level advancements! Even better, these are incredibly easy to install, coming as UMOD files, which work as sell installing programs - simply double click and wait for a few moments. The only downside is that there is not easy uninstall option, so your hard drive will get very full very quickly.

The most disappointing aspect of the game for me has been the online multiplayer option, meant to be the heart of the game. First of all, there is a major design problem - it seems to insist that all the computers involved have all of the same modifications - I have hundreds of megs of mods installed, so that took some getting around - there is a way, but it's quite well hidden. The bigger problem is that with a normal dial up connection, I could not get the game to work at all - playing against a friend in the same country, if on a different ISP, contact was established, but then always lost the moment the net had one of it's go-slow moments - normally within a couple of minutes of starting. This eventually ended my interest in this game, although only after a couple of months of addicted play - the single player game is great fun, and the moment I get a faster internet connection, I'll be trying again.

Recommended: Yes