Unreal Tournament, A Top Notch Multiplayer Game
Written: Dec 19 '01 (Updated Jul 22 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great multiplayer
Cons: single player is lacking, newer fps out shine this one.
The Bottom Line: Only 3 stars because its an older game and single player is weak. Still is a great multiplayer experience.
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| yarrick's Full Review: Unreal Tournament for Windows |
Yes this is a top-notch multiplayer game and while it may not be the newest of games it still has plenty of servers with plenty of people duking it out on them. This may be the 305th review on this product but I thought I would review it anyway since a lot of the better reviews were done when the game first came out. This game doesn’t have the basic w, a, s, d set up so many of your fps fans may have grown accustomed to of course you can always change it to that setup which I did.
Gameplay: 7/10
The game was game of the year and is a top-notch first person shooter. So if the game is top notch and was game of the year than why am I only giving it a 7 out of 10. Well the simple answer to that question is that there is basically no single player or plot. Basically you’re killing just for the hell of it. In the single player game you start out with one level and one game type your basic deathmatch and as you win you open up new characters, gametypes, and levels.
Another factor is that their are also a lot of newer and maybe better first person shooters out that can give you the single player game to. While I don't own either Red Factionor Return to Castle Wolfenstien from what I have heard and seen they are both great fps's. The only reason I don't own them is because my computer can't support them so I am left with Unreal. Of course Unreal is not a bad thing to be left with an since I am looking for the multiplayer experience not the single player I am fine with this game.
I guess you would consider the game to be set in the future it has some basic guns like sniper rifle, pistol (gun you start with), rocket launcher, and it has some odder weapons and devices like a teleportation device, a flax cannon which is almost a automatic kill at close range, a ripper which shoots blades about the level that bounce of walls. Some of the weapons are unfair like the flax cannon and the sniper rifle. The sniper rifle can be a one shot one kill if you can get the “Head Shot”. Also the Rocket Launcher is a weapon you can dominate with.
Practice Session is nice since you can put in I think up to 15 computer players. Now you can have a fun time if you don't actually have an internet connection it gives you a similar effect as an online game depending on what difficulty you have the bots set to.
The real thing this game is for though is the multiplayer. If the single player wasn’t so bad I probably be giving this game 4 stars and gameplay a 9 out of 10. There are thousands of servers you can play on and even more people playing. You have your basic modes included in multiplayer are capture the flag, deathmatch, team deathmatch, last man standing, assult in which you try and complete some objectives with your team, and domination where there are three symbols that give you points when your team controls them. In order to control a symbol you just need to touch it, you do not need to guard it though you may want to. While the multiplayer is fun it is also difficult. For the experienced fps player this may be a good game for you.
If your not so experienced then you may not want to get on the multiplayer right away or you should stick to domination because it is the easiest to earn points in. I am not the greatest person in this game and I’m haven’t really played all that many first person shooters. To tell you the truth I pretty much get dominated in some of the servers. Just being able to squeeze out 5 frags or for you fps illiterate kills. One problem with the multiplayer is that some people cheat. They use this thing called an aimbot, I have not been playing on the net to long so I am not positive what this does. What I have gotten out of what I have heard is that it basically hits a person in firefights every time they shoot. In case you were wondering I am known as Sly_Marbo at this time and I normally play at Fraggalonia Sniper Arena. I used to be known as George Bush but I decided to change it so that people would no longer be sniping the president.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are very good in this game especially if you consider it is several years old. Its always hard to comment on the graphics of a computer game because it really depends on your graphics card. I just recently got a new pc with a nice card and the whole game has changed. The levels are very well designed and appear to have no flaws but really it depends on the map. You see there is a nice utility called Unreal Editor that comes with UT that allows you to make your own maps. Plenty of online tutorials out there if you would wish to try your luck a t map making. The characters don’t have the best faces but they are decent as long as you’re not looking at them to close up. Well when I said the previous statement my graphics card was crap while some of the characters are a little blocky they can be very nice depending on your card. The guns look good and you can even see the bullet shells depending on what gun you are using. I enjoy sniper games because you get to see a person get their head blown right of the shoulders and then there body slump to the ground. And of course when you shoot people blood does spurt out but I don’t think it is overdone like some other games.
Sounds: 9/10
The music of the game is pretty good and has a nice beat though it does get repetitive after awhile. Firing sounds good you get sounds like you think the gun would actually sound not just some type of ping or whatever. Also you use commands to have your character say some things. Some are team oriented like defend the flag, cover me, and others are just to annoy others like die b*tch and you suck. The taunt comments do get annoying after awhile but luckily the people on the server I play on don’t use them too much normally just at the end of games.
Replay Value: 7.5/10
This was a hard section for me to rate because it really depends. If you have no internet access well than this game would have a pretty low score in this category. While it does have allow for a great multiplayer experience with tons of servers to experiment with like I have said before the single player gaming just isn’t up to par. Of course Max Payne was the exact opposite and it was still popular. Maybe you could get Max Payne if you’re in the mood for single player and this game if you want to get down and dirty in a multiplayer game. Don’t buy both unless you have cash to fling around though. Well this game goes for $10-15 now so it really is a deal. Also as far as the replay value goes if you have an internet connection lets see I have been playing this game consistently since before I originally published this review. Thats over 6 months. Now that could be a downside because for awhile I must admit I spent to much time playing, but man if you get pretty good this game is really fun.
Personal Experiences
Okay I had to add this section in because when I first installed this game I had some problems. When I installed it I did everything it recommended and for some reason or other when I loaded the game up it was talking in English but the writing was all in Japanese or Chinese or something all I know is that I couldn’t read it and therefore I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do. Of course I did find a way to fix this. It turned out that there were to options for graphics or something and I tried switching it to the other an low and behold the writing was in English. In order to get to the option of trading drivers or whatever it was I had to close it improperly (I believe I used control alt delete) and the next time it showed up it asked if I would like to run it in safe mode, play, and one of the other ones I don’t remember which allowed you to change the drivers you used. I don’t remember for sure how I did this stuff and I tried to get back to the menu so I would be able to tell you but it didn’t work. Luckily only the in game stuff was written in another language so I could figure out what to do. I now know what you need to do if you have my problem. Try changing your 3D video device which is one of the options you have.
Also your first few games on multiplayer may not work out so well. I remember my first I was at like negative two or something when it ended. There are some really good people playing on the net so it will be hard at first. Another problem I tend to have with multiplayer is that it tends to get laggy, especially at the start of a game. I have a 433, with 96 MB ram, and a 4 MB agp graphics card which actually for this game is above recommended device. Yeah I may not have the fastest system but I should be able to run a game that came out several years ago.
Overall: 8/10
This game is overall fun and is a good game as long as you are not looking for a single player game. This does offer a good multiplayer but unless you don’t have all that good of a computer you may want to get a newer fps that has a better single player game. If your like me and you don’t have all that powerful of a computer then this may be the perfect game for you. As for the requirements and price I would list them but this is a burnt game so I don't have them. And its late and I am not in the mood to research on the net. I hope this review helps maybe you will even add it to you Christmas list if you have one.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
yarrick
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Member: Matt
Location: Baltimore, MD
Reviews written: 70
Trusted by: 137 members
About Me:
It is that season again, MIDTERMS. Look for more reviews when I have time again
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