Unreal Tournament

I didn't play Unreal Tournament when it was first released, because I had a relatively low-tech PC at the time. Later, though, when I got a better computer in November 2001, my brother introduced me to a game he had installed on his PC (which used to be a lot better than mine). That game was Quake III: Arena. It was different from older shooters in that it didn't revolve around huge, complex labyrinth missions. Instead, Q3A's focus was deathmatch play. Not only were the graphics lovely, but the game itself was very enjoyable. To be honest, I didn't really like the "labyrinth" shooters that well, so Q3A was a breath of fresh air for me, and renewed my interest in the shooter genre.

Not long after that, I stumbled upon some reviews for a game called Unreal Tournament, which I had never even heard of before then. Q3A received great marks from reviewers, but UT's were slightly better. Upon reading the reviews, I discovered that UT revolved around deathmatch play, like Q3A did. Expecting an experience similar to my first love, Quake III, I put Unreal Tournament on my wish list. I ended up getting the Totally Unreal pack, which included Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, plus Unreal Gold, its expansion pack, and some other extras. Although Unreal Gold didn't really hold my interest very well, I found Unreal Tournament to be even better than Quake III.

Being that UT is based on the Unreal engine, it should be expected that the game has gorgeous graphics. That sounds pretty accurate to me. The game has a lot of detail, and still runs at a consistent framerate. Although the game could use more character skins, what's there is great. Another important part of this shooter is the gore level. Even though there are options to tone down the guts, true shooter enthusiasts will want to play this game to its maximum bloody potential. The blood doesn't look as good as Quake III's, but the body parts, called "gibs," are better. The gibs bounce more than in several other games, and when you use a super weapon like the Rocket Launcher or even the almighty Redeemer, they go flying.

Oh... I almost forgot about weapons. UT has a wide variety of different weapons to use, each with their own primary and secondary functions. The Hammer is a close combat weapon, but when fully charged, can instantly kill opponents. The Pulse Gun can either shoot rapid beam spurts, or a solid energy beam. The Redeemer can only be used once, and is very hard to find, but it can devastate groups of enemies. There are lots of ways to frag opponents, and players can even choose special "mutators" to alter the normal rules of combat.

The sound is also top-notch. The music is a lot more important, and it really gets you in the mood to blow other characters into oblivion. Characters also spout taunts whenever they kill opponents, and each taunt is accompanied by its own voice clip. These phrases range from unoriginal ("You suck!" and "Loser.") to humorous ("I'm sorry, did I blow your head apart?" and my personal favorite, "You be dead!")

UT is also accompanied by different play modes. It includes the traditional "Capture the Flag" game, but also introduces new modes. In "Domination," two teams fight for control of three areas of each level. While a team owns an area, they also make points for having possession of it. The opposing team is also trying to steal control of the opponent's areas so they can make points from that particular area instead. It's a little confusing at first, but gets easier to understand. "Assault" is a series of objective-based missions between two teams, sort of like games such as Goldeneye 007.

In the end, UT is a shooter fan's delight, and is also one of the best PC games ever released, bar none. The sequel, Unreal Tournament 2, is currently in the works, so here's hoping that it will improve on this game's success!