Unreal Tournament
FPS game : 1-4 players : PS2 Memory Card : Analogue Dual Shock : Multitap : Infogrames / Epic
Result : 6 - Like the PC version, only...
 | Graphics: 7 - good speed, slightly blury |
| FMV : 6 - amusing |
| Sound : 8 - pounding |
| Music : 5 - er, think I turned it off |
| A.I. : 7 - simulated smarts! |
| Lifespan : 5 - variable |
| Gameplay : 7 - another brutal FPS |
| Adrenaline : 6 - thought required |
Unreal Tournament, game of the year 1999 and the non-purists choice for FPS action on the PC/Mac. Yes it's another First Person Shooter, yes it is very similar to Quake 3: Revolution and TimeSplitters, so what's different? Well realistic settings and maps, Assault mode! the best Capture The Flag game and varied weapons (secondary fire modes too). The fluff has some TV game-show blood bath fighting game of the future, all you need to know is run and shoot, with some thought if you want to win the non-deathmatch gametypes.
The Graphics are good. Nice levels, good textures if a little blury, and well animated skins. Has the usual lighting features - shadows, coloured, reflections etc. Better than my iMac, but not as good as Q3R in all it's beauty. It also suffers the way quake does in 4-player mode, things get a little small and indistinct.
Sound is up there, weapons are excellent, music less so. I like the announcers comments (Unstoppable! Killing Spree!) although this is slightly contentious on the web.
UT is very playable, and it's best modes are the non-deathmatch ones. Assault, which has objectives to complete in a time limit, then you swap sides. CTF which is excellent with the less deadly weapons and better levels, and Domination which has control points. The DM levels suffer a bit from not being as smooth as Q3R's. Unfortunately for a game which boasts superior AI and bots you can order, and follow them! You are rather limited in their numbers. I think it's about 6 max in 1 player, and only 2 in 4 player. Add to this that some levels need a min of 8-10 to be playable....
And this is where UT on the PS2 suffers. While Q3R is a god game when compared to it's PC counterpart, UT adds nothing new, and you are only left with whats missing. Just a little more thought and this could have been a winner. As it is one player FPS is probably Q3r, while 4-player goes still to TimeSplitters. UT sits in the middle, and while single play is good (did I mention you can use a USB mouse and keyboard?) it isnt quite as good. So depending on your style and how many mates you have UT is solid, but a little disappointing - maybe Unreal 2 will give the punters their fix?
Cheats/Hints:
none
