Perhaps the best FPS ever created.
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Pros:
+ Brutality: Most FPS games are fairly violent, but I've never played one that was quite as savage as this: so much as touch an enemy, and you'll send giblets flying! More than just the gore though, you really do feel the power of your weapons and their effects on others, which is always a plus.
+ AI: This game set the standard for AI, and you can customise the bots to be anything from confused idiots to merciless killers. They can reliably take orders from you and show a good degree of strategic sense: much like me, you can never play it online and you'll still have a brilliant time.
+ Content: There's such a massive amount of maps, game modes and mutators, that you can play it for years on end and you'll never be stumped for things to try. And that's not even mentioning the community content available online...
+ Imagination: Some of the level designs and weapons were really novel at the time, and still hold up well today: the variety on offer is unparalleled.
+ Feel: There's just something about the movement, speed and action in this game that feels perfect and cohesive, and no other FPS has achieved it quite like Unreal Tournament.
+ Weapons: The weapons (admittedly largely unchanged from Unreal) were pretty original and innovative for the time, especially with their alternate firing modes; but they are also the best balanced set of weapons I can think of in a game like this. Of course you'll do better with the top few guns, but you'll always feel like you have a fair chance of killing your opponents, no matter what you're carrying.
Cons:
- Bitty Experience: The game was built with multiplayer firmly in mind, and from this standpoint it works perfectly. However, it does make it slightly bitty in single-player, essentially progressing between endless unconnected games, with no particular ultimate goal apart from being the Grand Champion.
- Longveity: While it's still massively playable and will keep you occupied for a huge amount of time, eventually the lack of story and immersive experience will mean there's little to return for. You'll have to truly play it to death before that happens though...
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This would definitely be one of my 'desert island' games - it just feels right viscerating your opponents with a flak cannon while leaping across the hull of a spaceship in zero gravity. The gameplay is as perfect as a FPS can ever achieve, and only the lack of some kind of immersive story mode for single player holds it back from perfection.