Unreal Championship update

A new playable build of Infogrames' Unreal Championship for the Xbox was on display at Infogrames' editors' day. For the most part, the basic aspects of the game haven't changed since E3, though we did get to try out one of the new maps that was recently integrated into the current build of the game. This particular map is part of the capture-the-flag mode in Unreal Championship--there are two fortresses separated by a maze of caves, tunnels, and even bridges surrounded in lava flows. If you look up into the sky, you can see a heat-wave distortion effect off the volcano that looms ominously above the map. There are plenty of different weapons available in the map, including the chaingun, the flak cannon, the bio-rifle, and the rocket launcher, just to name a few. Each of these weapons has a secondary fire feature that can be accessed by pressing the left trigger on the Xbox controller.

There is also an item called adrenaline scattered across the map. When you retrieve a certain number of these tablets, you'll be able to perform special attacks by executing Street Fighter II-like fireball motions on the controller. In addition, by performing these moves you increase your adrenaline even further, so if you constantly use them, then theoretically your adrenaline will take a much longer time to decrease. There's also a cool little sidestep move that can be done by tapping either direction on the analog stick, and if you're good enough, you can even turn this move into a pseudo wall jump and bounce between the walls of a narrow passage.

As far as features are concerned, Unreal Championship will support a number of different gameplay modes, including regular deathmatch, capture the flag, domination, bombing run, and team deathmatch. The development team also plans to include full support for downloadable content, so you'll be able to download new weapons, skins, maps, and even vehicles.

The game will have support for up to 16 players on the Xbox Live service and through a LAN. There is a split-screen option as well. Unreal Championship is scheduled for release this fall.