20 Years of Gaming and This One's on Top!
Written: Aug 15 '02 (Updated Aug 15 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Awesome graphics/sound, online multiplayer is the best & most efficient I've seen
Cons: No real storyline. Creating maps can be daunting without much research and time.
The Bottom Line: NO DOUBT!...The BEST game I have ever played! Beats every game in every category for the 3D Action Shooters genre!
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| ralabama's Full Review: Unreal Tournament for Windows |
UNREAL TOURNAMENT:
This article is to give you a run down on the latest and greatest from my perspective...a personal perspective...as objective and subjective as possible. Thus, I'm going to break this one down into both viewpoints to give you a good rundown. This article will cover Unreal Tournament in all it's glory.
OBJECTIVE VIEW (JUST THE FACTS):
Unreal Tournament is a multiplayer game by nature. Much like it's competitor, Quake III, this game offers multiplayer combat whether or not you are connected to the internet, LAN, direct-dial, direct cable, etc. If you are playing offline, you can insert as many bots (computer-controlled players) into the game to play with and/or against you. You may set their difficulty level to match your own with an adaptive setting that will compensate when the computer is waxing you in the start or you are kicking butt yourself. However, you may set the skill level to make them consistently hard or consistently easy. You may also define what your player character looks like, from the body type to the head, from the gender to the color of the uniforms, and you may choose from at least a couple of different voices, depending on whether you are female, male, or other (I'll cover this in a minute).
Unlike your typical first person shooter, there are several different types of game you can play (not counting other mods being developed out there). You have the ability to change from a Death Match (DM) game where it's every man/woman for himself/herself, to a Capture-the-Flag game, to a game of Domination (hold as many position nodes as long as you can to win), to a game of Assault (one team tries to prevent the other from reaching it's goal within a timeframe, and then they switch responsibilities to see who's better at it). Each type of game has many different maps to choose from...and if that's not enough, there is an Unreal Editor that comes with the game to allow you to make your own...albeit a very daunting experience.
In the so-called single-player mode you can just go through the tutorial level and then move on to various tournament scenarios. If you win the tournament, you will release a *new character* which you can use as your standard player representation.
SUBJECTIVE VIEW:
I find that this game is one of the best I've ever played...ranks up there with Quake I/II (I don't like III) and Half-Life. It's in a class of its own in that it provides you with a level of playability you didn't quite get in other games, in that you can play online or offline and almost never tell the difference. I have to say that the artificial intelligence astounded me in that it is quite elusive and cunning. Although the most experienced players still might not feel quite challenged enough, certainly go online and kick some butt! Here's a play-by-play rundown on various parts of the game:
Graphics: Astounding speed through my Voodoo Banshee despite my 56K connection and wonderful eye candy. Lots of smoke, explosions, gloss, and detail. The players look quite realistic. I now have a GeForce256 Pro (Creative Annihilator Pro) and it screams (once I worked the kinks out).
Sound: Doesn't get much clearer. I have read bad reviews on the music, and I don't like cheesy music, but this music I found quite appropriate and well done.
Playability: Just as in Unreal, you can set the game speed, but I generally don't feel the need to set it higher than 105%. Quite smooth and very enjoyable. Using my Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (optical mouse) I find that on the rare occasion that I actually use the mouse, the game gives me no hassle. I mainly use the keyboard (I know, what the R%@??!!), and find the game easily played. The game is very replayable in that you have five different types of game (excluding any other mods out there), but I feel that it gets rather boring without other human players to challenge. On many maps, there are lots of places to hide, snipe, defend, and attack. Much better than Unreal multiplayer, this game's got it down pat!!!
Network: Doesn't get much better than this. Low-lag, good built-in server search (I don't have to use Gamespy for this one), and quite smooth with a 56K. Fast & furious!
Weapons: With each weapon, there is a primary and secondary fire. Here is a list of weapons and what they do:
- The Enforcer or pistol (primary = peashooter, secondary = faster peashooter), of which you can have two if you manage to grab someone else's.
- The Rocket Launcher (primary = rocket launch, secondary = grenade launch), which if pressed once, will release a single rocket/grenade and if held down for a length of time will release up to six rockets/grenades at a time. Very useful, can be dangerous to you if not used properly (ie. don't fire at a wall you are close to, etc).
- The Flak Cannon (primary = flak shot or shrapnel, secondary = explosive lob--like a grenade). Good close-up and far away shot (primary), but the secondary is only good at a short distance. Don't shoot straight at a wall that you are close to as it will come back to spank you.
- The Pulse Rifle (primary = single pulse fire much like a laser, secondary = a single pulse fire much like a torpedo). This weapon is unique in that you can fire the secondary first and then hit it with the primary to produce a bigger explosion!
- The Ripper (primary = disc shard which can be ricocheted, secondary = explosive shard). This one is good for around-the-corner shots. Be careful with this one as it may cause you to behead yourself.
- The Sniper Rifle (primary = three shots and your out!, secondary = used to increase zoom for scoping out your prey)...quite the favorite for...well, snipers! You can get really annoyed at users of this weapon.
- The Redeemer (primary = nuke, secondary = steerable nuke...you get to steer it from it's perspective...be careful as someone can walk up to you and shoot you while you are doing this and you'll never know it until it's too late)...need I say more?
OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
If I could say this game was better or as good as Half-Life I would (except that you can play against the built-in bots as though they were real). I would say in terms of multiplayer enjoyment, I like it better than Half-Life. In terms of eye candy and sound appeal, very much the same quality. However, it lacks the intricate story-line and length of single player game that Half-Life has. This does not mean that I haven't been playing it and not much else for the last three or so months that I've had it. I thought Kingpin had my heart until I got this one under my belt. Therefore, I have to give this one a number 2 rating amongst the games I have listed on this site so far. Out of the hundred and thirty or so games that I have, it's one of the absolute best!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ralabama
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Reviews written: 4
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