Yes, Unreal Tournament is better than Quake 3, so help me God.
Written: May 16 '01 (Updated Aug 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Still the most enjoyable single player and online multiplayer shooter.
Cons: Single player game so good, I don't always have the desire to play online.
The Bottom Line: Best instant gratification single & multiplayer game out there.
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| grimjack2's Full Review: Unreal Tournament for Windows |
This game rocks! It came out almost a year and a half ago, and I'm still playing it regularly. I did that with Doom2, Quake and Half-life, but those were primarily because of add-on Mods from the gaming community. It is truly a mark of its greatness that I'm still enjoying Unreal Tournament after all this time based upon its initial release.
I was playing on a P3-500 with a Voodoo2! Within the last month I replaced my Matrox G400 and Voodoo2 with a Hercules Geforce MX, and the game plays pretty much the same. Unreal was written back when the Voodoo3 and the TNT2 were the high end competing cards, and doesn't seem to need the horsepower of the Geforce2's to play smoothly. I also have a cable modem, but I consistently read that a 56k modem plays just fine.
The graphics are top notch, even by today's standards, and the multiplayer code is pretty smooth. But, it is the gameplay that really keeps me coming back to this game. In order to get online, you don't need to use anything like gamespy because a similar interface is built right in. This is a plus to the casual gamer, but I had been used to Gamespy from back in my Quake days, so this wasn't as big of a deal to me.
What makes the game so much fun in single player mode, is the simple fact that the bots (computer controlled players) behave so much like humans! I mean, they 'learn' a map, and can adapt to how you play. On some maps they will have ideas of places you will keep coming back to, and will actually guard it, or lay in wait there for you. I've seen bots running to get your flag, but then the message comes across that someone has grabbed their flag, and they know enough to balance their priorities just right. Another powerful feature is the ability to modify a bot's behavior, by telling it to prefer different weapons or techniques. You could play a map with bots who will always try to find and use the Sniper rifle, and prefer to camp out rather than run around the map looking for you. I know some people who have various types of bots they like to play against specifically so that they can pretend to be playing against specific online players they know.
Aside from regular death match, where everyone tries to kill everyone else for points, there is also Capture the Flag. This is almost as common as death match, ever since the first mod for this was created using Quake. Here you have teams, and each team has a flag they want to guard, and the opponents which they want to capture. When they have captured an enemy flag, they want to run back to their base with it
One of my favorite Capture the Flag maps has two large towers across an open hill. This is a sniper's paradise, let me tell you! One of my favorite experiences on that map is when I've got the enemy flag and am running over that hill back to my base dodging right and left because I can hear and see bullets hitting the ground around me from a sniper high in the tower behind me. I still hold my breath every time. And it is even more fun to play the role of the sniper trying to aim for that critical head shot as an opponent is trying to run over the hill back to his base.
Assault maps are also a great addition. Here one team of bots tries to take over a specifically designed base by doing various things such as flipping a lever, shooting a chain, or just entering a certain area. If they succeed, then the roles are reversed, and the defending team now becomes the assaulting team, and must do the same. I don't know anyone who has played the train level and hasn't realized that they are experiencing a true moment of greatness in video game design.
The weapons are varied and balanced, all with an alternate fire mode (unlike Quake 3). The bots are configurable and strike just the right balance between being too good and too bad to seem, well, human. The graphics and sound are well above average.
I cannot think of anything this game needed to be better, and that is a rare thing to say about a game these days, indeed!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
grimjack2
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Location: San Rafael, CA, Marin County
Reviews written: 181
Trusted by: 124 members
About Me:
Film is my favorite art form. I live a life of constant amelioration.
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