You'll have a blast playing this game, period.
Graphically, Unreal screams. Brilliant lighting, bold textures, and fast frame rates round out a marvelous visual package. The character models could've been smoother, but everything goes so fast, you really don't have time to nitpick. Each level is remarkably detailed, but they tend to be just too small. Weapons and effects are done nicely as well, such as the ripper which shoots giant circular razors. If you've played Quake already, you'll be familiar with the visuals. It's hard to choose what looks better overall, as they both have pluses and minuses.
On the audio side, it's another toss up. If I had to choose, I'd give the nod to UT as I just love when the announcer says "Killing Spree" and "Double Kill" , etc. The game is loud, and features great stereo sound and effects. Each weapon sounds unique, and ambient sounds of shells dropping to the ground adds to the experience. This is definitely a game that will disturb your neighbors, and rock your house. Fragging never sounded so good.
Game play is tight and very responsive. Navigating your way through each level is just as easy with a controller as with a mouse and keyboard. If a complaint must be made, it is due to the fact that you only have presets for your controller. While I found one that fit me to a tee, some may not, and the option to fully customize your controller was a big let down. What is nice about the game play of UT over Quake is that you can actually hide in corners and pick people off with sniper rifles, instead of continous full fledged insane battles. The game plays great, and will be basically pick up and play for FPS nuts.
Options are aplenty for Unreal Tournament, which is the area it creams Quake 3 Arena in. For starters you can play not only 4 player split screen, but up to 8 players online! This is twice the number that Quake 3 supports, and makes for a more exciting and challenging game. Quake does have UT beat on number of weapons, but the impact of each in UT is still a blast. The four game play modes are not only for Multi play, but for single play as well. Death match, Domination, Capture the Flag, and Team Death modes keep game play fresh and fun. Finally I must mention there are over 60 levels!! That's right, over twice the number found in Quake, which makes this the better multiplayer game by far. While levels range from extremely small, to the pretty large, you'll find at least a couple dozen of fun locations to frag your friends on.
Maybe it's because the game is still fresh (I've played Quake 3 Arena to death) or the multitude of options available, but overall I feel UT is the more polished title, even though Quake may have it beaten on a creativity level. I'm sure I'll return to my Quake world in the future, but honestly you can't go wrong with either title. Unreal Tournament was delayed, but worth the wait. Buy yours now!