Unreal Tournament 2004 – Demo

Unreal has without a doubt been a PC gaming staple since it’s first incarnation hit shelves. It was the first to really take advantage of the 3DFX chipset to deliver a colorful first person shooter with seemingly dynamic lighting, shadows and an original, creative story. Technologically speaking it was a milestone and a benchmark, not only for hardware developers, but for gamers themselves. Then came Unreal Tournament, the Quake killer for it’s time. UT combined the lush environments of Unreal with the all out run and gun of Quake against human players in online or LAN games. It introduced new weapons that no other game had like the Shock and Sniper rifles, and of course, the Redeemer.

Several iterations later has brought us to Unreal Tournament 2004. The title may not be original, and the gameplay may be nothing new, but the game is solid and a lot of fun. UT2K4 has added elements from a combination of other succesful first person shooters and created a team based or free for all game that easily fills the void left waiting for Halo 2 or Half Life 2. We played the demo currently available on all the major file mirrors across the net. Early buzz was that it was simply ripping off other games of it’s kind, but that’s only partly true. The demo lacks any real single player content, like a story, but it’s not meant to have one. This is a tournmanet, read multiplayer, that is strictly about getting into an arena and blasting everyone else away or completing objectives or holding key positions, depending on the mode you’re playing in. Throw in some vehicles, a la Halo, and some very new weapons, and you have a unique game born from other unique games.

Previously, UT games contained standard deathmatch and capture the flag modes, which should be self explanatory. Later versions added a unique mode, known as Bombing Run, which was sort of a brutal soccer/basketball game. Players passed a bomb (ball) back and forth while attempting to infiltrate the opposite base and chuck it into a pre-designated target net. While holding the ball, players had no way to defend themselves. This mode returns but takes a back seat to two brand new types of gameplay. Brand new at least to UT.

Onslaught places players in a very large outdoor setting. Each of two teams has a primary base with a core reactor that provides power and resources, namely vehicles. It is the job of the player to take control of key power nodes, by constructing and defending them. Power nodes are linked, so that a node cannot be taken by any one team unless it is linked to another node that has been previously captured. This strategic element, oh so similar to Battlefield 1942 and it’s mod, Desert Combat, forces teams to really work together. Once a team takes control of all the nodes in succession, leading back to the opposite base, they can attack it’s core, ultimately winning the match.

A second mode, Assualt, features ‘historical’ battle recreations and are more goal oriented. Teams take turns defending and attacking. The demo includes a map that recreates the attempt at recovering stolen missiles from a moving convoy. Attackers must complete specific objectives before ultimately reaching the goal, such as opening doors, or moving platforms into position. Defenders, well, defend, attempting to prevent the individual goals from being achieved by the attackers. Mounted turrets and other weapons assist both sides with either goal, and after a time period or when the final objective is reached, teams switch sides, preventing the Terrorist/Counter Terrorist arguments that often plague Counter-Strike.

New modes aside, veteran players will notice two additions right away: new weapons and vehicles. Battlefield 1942 on the PC and Halo on the Xbox redefined their genre by adding more realistic weapons and vehicles to the mix, changing the game almost single handedly. Now players could hop in a jeep or a tank and use the mounted guns or simply run over their opponents on the path to victory. UT developers saw that this was going to be a necessity in order to have a succesful game and went above and beyond. Nine vehicles scatter the landscapes, both land and air, and can carry between 1 and 5 passengers. Passengers aren’t just carted around either, like BF1942, but even the 5 seater Leviathan (not available in the demo) has a gun for every man on board. A few vehicles are clearly taken from Halo, but suttle nuances have been added. For example, Halo’s 3 seater Warthog is copied, almost identically, and shrunk into the Scorpion, a single seater dune buggy whose primary gun fires a green plasma netting that spreads wide and attaches itself to infantrymen to inflict damage. The Scorpion is fast and it’s secondary fire benefits greatly from it’s speed. Razor sharp ‘wings’ spread from either side of the buggy and literally mow down foot soldiers like a scythe to corn. The reaper cometh on 4 wheels, baby! Jumping over cliffs and living or firing missiles to blow aircraft out of the sky will earn you voiced praise from the computer and quick stats, a la Insane Stunt Bonuses from Grand Theft Auto.

Ultimately, a soldier is only as good as his weapon, and UT2K4 has plenty. 17 in all, chosen for the particular map or mode you play. Old favorites are back, like the Shock Rifle and the devastating Redeemer. Developers threw in a few new ones though. Grenade Launchers fire a sticky grenade of sorts that stays dormant until the alternate fire blows anything in the immediate vicinity. The Mine Layer spouts tiny little, automated spiders that come to life and skitter toward their targets when they get too close. An alternate fire mode allows one to laser guide the little suckers to a target, rather than waiting for an opponent to wander into their path. The most impressive new weapon is the AVRiL, or Anti Vehicle Rocket Launcher. This personell toted mega-bazooka not only locks onto it’s target and can easily destroy a tank, but it does it so beautifully as to make one want to cry before presenting the smack talk that goes along with the kill. Thick gray smoke is emitted as the rocket finds it’s intended using volumetric calculations. That means the smoke looks incredibly realistic, so much so that you expect to choke on the fumes. It has to be seen to be believed.

Other additions and changes have been made. Voice chat has been added, giving players the option to speak in either a public ‘room’, a team room (if teamplay is valid), a local room, or to one another individually. On screen menus make them easy to switch with just a few button presses. A new text to speech option does it’s best to simulate speech by translating in game text message into a pre-designated voice. Stats tracking and a web based server admin return from previous versions as do the audible and animated player taunts. The full version promises to include literally hundreds of maps, including familiar maps from previous games. CTF players will be happy to know that Facing Worlds will be making its comeback in this version.

To sum it up, grab this demo. It’s easy, 200 megs later you’ll be online and watching the body parts fly (plenty of blood and dismemberment). My hope is that the full game includes the ability to use vehicles in CTF and deathmatch modes, not just Onslaught. Regardless of a few other minor flaws (sketchy voice chat, buggy network code) the game will be one to pick up later this year. For further details, check out the official site at http://unrealtournament.com.