Unreal Tournament Review
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Publisher: Atari Developer: Epic Games System Requirements: Pentium 200 MHz Windows 95, 98, Me, or NT 32 MB RAM 100 MB hard disk space (450 MB recommended) CD-ROM drive PCI local bus video card Windows 95-compatible sound card Network and Internet play via TCP/IP |
Unreal Tournament screenshots |
This is the only shooter other than Command and Conquer: Renegade I play. My friend got me into this years ago and I still occasionally load it up to relieve some frustration :) This game has pretty low system requirements for the graphics, which are still pretty good looking today. All the controls are configurable thankfully because I don't like the standard settings. It's pretty useful to hotkey your favorite weapon to a key you can get to quickly if you need it.
UT adds some interesting features to the first person shooter genre. Almost every weapon has a secondary fire, basically doubling the weapons in the game. Special attributes are also present. Shoot your opponent in the head with the sniper rifle and they will die instantly. Hit them in the neck with the ripper and they will be instantly killed as well. My favorite of these specials is the shock rifle; when you fire the secondary, which shoots a ball of energy, then shoot that ball with the primary you release a powerful explosion killing almost anything nearby. The redeemer amazes me, it's nice to play with nuclear weapons!
You can protect yourself from these attacks by gathering special items. Health vials will add +5 health each to your health meter. Armor will reduce damage done to your body but it wears down. There is also the all-powerful shield belt - 150 points of shielding that leaves you invulnerable until the shield collapses.
Some things just can't be protected against however, Take a direct hit from the mighty redeemer and you're dead no matter what protection you have. It can be interesting when you hear the explosion and leap behind a wall just as the shockwave reaches your location, barely escaping death. A close-up shot from the flak cannon will leave you aching as well.
A plethora of maps and map types are available on which to engage your enemies. Standard deathmatch maps aren't really anything new, but the maps provided are mostly cool and well designed. Domination maps have you struggling against an opposing team to control key points on the map, accumulating points from each point you control. Teamwork is required to have any success at this. Capture the flag puts you on a team raiding an enemy installation attempting to steal their flag and return it to your own. Assault maps are very interesting, your team is given a list of objectives that need to be accomplished, sometimes, in a certain order. You will play the role of attacker attempting to complete those objectives then the enemy team will try to complete it faster than you did. Again, Teamwork.
The game gives you the feel that you are the leader on maps that you have bots on your team. It is important to use the ability to command your allies. You can order your teammates to guard the base, attack, freelance or cover you. Each bot can be given unique commands in case you want, say, 3 bots to guard the base and one to join you assaulting the enemy's.
The game's sounds do their duty just fine. Explosions sound great, and there's nothing quite like hearing the redeemer in the distance and seeing a whole list of people killed by it appear on your message console. The announcer, present on all maps, is just awesome. He will growl "Killing Spree!" when you get 5 kills, followed by a new pronouncement every 5 kills thereafter up to 25. Get multiple kills rapidly and you are also so informed, fire off the redeemer and kill 4 enemies at once and you will hear "ULTRA KILL!". He really adds some atmosphere to the game and you'll find yourself striving to hear "godlike!" and "multi-kill!" more often.
The many difficulty settings allow you to enjoy this game even as an absolute beginner. Start on novice and the bots will be very very dumb, move it up a notch and you'll notice they shoot a little more and get better at dodging. Play through the entire game on the first or second difficulty if you are new, get some practice, and start a new game on a higher difficulty. You'll see your skills improving eventually and want to move up to multiplayer if your internet connection is fast enough. My 28.8 just doesn't cut it :P I have had a cable modem at a time though and that is when I got most addicted to this game, playing it over tcp/ip with a friend.
Plenty of maps and weapons will keep you busy for quite a while. The TCP/ip multiplayer options and being able to play anyone on the UT server will satisfy you when the bots just can't anymore, though that will take a while. I easily give it an 8/10, the score reduced by me having it for a few years and being a strategy gamer in general. Buy it here.
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