First impressions were not great, but after a while Unreal's unique atmosphere pulled me in.
But enough of bugs and patches, let's talk gameplay. Unreal is most definitely a great experience mainly because it has a really great atmosphere and the gameplay feels good too. It has Unreal written all over it! The level design is very impressive and you can easily see the amount of creativity and time put into this game by simply taking a look around Unreal's world. The only reason why I'm not giving this game 9+ is because of the story and characters (or lack there off). I like games that have NPCs with personality but Unreal isn't one of them. It would have been great to find some characters here and there that actually talk, but all you find are Nali, dead humans... and Skaarj! On the other hand, Unreal's NPCs have attitude, a consequence of their impressive AI no doubt. Enemies will dodge, run, take cover or melee attack if you get too close to them. All this makes the game challenging, specially if you choose to play on a high difficulty. The multiplayer is definitely not as good as UT's but it still offers some thrills. Maybe it isn't as fun as Quake 2's mp but it works fine and is a great addition to the game. One more thing worth mentioning is that all important factor: fire power. There are many weapons and although this is not the most balanced "locker", it certainly is original. These weapons were the source of inspiration for almost all the weapons in the franchise's games, which is quite an achievement considering that even the upcoming UT3 will be using weapons derived from these.
I'd normally review the expansion pack too, but there's not much to tell. Return to Na Pali is short but is somewhat better designed, specially the levels. Epic also added a few extra weapons that work quite well, and some audio logs that help 'tell' the story of the expansion. That's about all there is to say about it.
Unreal is not as good as Half-Life or Quake in terms of gameplay but it "smokes" them when it comes to atmosphere; and it is an impressive start to one of the best FPS franchises around. The game has its problems but it the game has a strong identity and many great ideas that should be explored by playing it. It might seem outdated but I assure you, the graphics are impressive, the physics solid and action always interesting. You can find Unreal Gold for under 10 dollars so I say get it! It's a definitive experience for any FPS gamer.