This game is mind-blowing!
User Rating: 8.8 | Unreal Tournament 2003 PC
The most immediately noticeable thing about UT2003 is the graphics. They’re mind-blowing: brightly coloured flashes, intricate attention to detail and minor graphical flourishes are all present and correct. Make no mistake, this is one pretty title. But graphics do not maketh a game, and so don’t judge this game by its cover. Thankfully, I can say that the underlying mechanics of the game are also sound. The in-game physics are often pleasing to watch as your character bounces off walls after having mistakenly jumped into an opponent’s rocket. The weapons have been nicked and tucked to perfection this time around, UT2003 eschewing the rather boring ‘Ripper’ in place of a slightly debateable ‘Ion Painter’, which brings a super beam of death to wreak vengeance on outdoor maps (no, I don’t understand the science behind it either!). A blemish on this arsenal gourmet, however, are the double enforcers, which are replaced by an assault rifle, stunningly reminiscent of ‘Alien Versus Predator’. I’ll leave you to decide its particular merits. The ‘Sniper Rifle’ has been modified to a cooler ‘Lightning Gun’ and other weapons have been ‘sexed-up’ to create a glorious deathmatch experience. ‘Deathmatch’ is only one of the game modes on offer here, with the usual recruits of ‘Team Deathmatch’ and ‘Capture the Flag’ also available. Slightly lamentable are the losses of ‘Assault’ and ‘Domination’, but are replaced by the more than adequate ‘Double Domination’, a brilliant combination of offence and defence bundled together, and ‘Bombing Run’ which is basically rugby, except with guns. It’s a mad scramble to reach the ball, then charge through the opponent’s goal in a mad rush of adrenaline. Adrenaline, while we’re on the subject, is implemented in-game which affords you power-ups such as extra speed, health regeneration or invisibility. You can also go berserk, giving you extra damage. You have to amass a healthy total of adrenaline before you can let it loose, however, and while you’re frenzied your adrenaline gradually trickles back to zero. Adrenaline can be gained by picking up adrenaline capsules or killing enemies, whichever you prefer. Another innovation of the ‘Unreal Tournament’ series is the ‘translocator’, a miniature teleporter allowing you to skip across the map. This is better implemented than ever here, when you can access it via a video camera, allowing you to spy on enemies and track its path. It also looks far cooler now, but can be turned off by use of a mutator. Eh? What’s a mutator? A mutator is an option which is enabled in the Single Player ‘Instant Action’, which is basically just Multiplayer (wait for it!) in Single Player, with bots, computer-controlled opponents. The mutators range from the sensible to the ridiculous, and encompass things like low gravity and vampire, whereby you heal yourself as you damage your enemies. They do, however, have a profound effect when used, and are eminently fun to use. ‘Instant Action’ is all fine and dandy, but if a game doesn’t have a main campaign, it’s going to suffer. UT2003 doesn’t so much have a main campaign as a series of maps, but it doesn’t really detract from the experience. Ignore the lacking story, it’s not too interesting. Basically, your character plays through maps, facing increasingly tough teams of bots. This may sound boring, but it’s not. Another sparkling innovation is that you get to pick your team – not inventive, but first you have to defeat them in a huge deathmatch: a brilliant balancing dynamic, because if you draft an amazing team, you’re going to have to spend a long time beating them in a chaotic brawl. You also get regular offers from other teams, making UT2003 into a bit of a sports game as well. UT2003 also strays into RPG territory, as each bot has statistics that can be modified and tweaked at will. An extremely fun experience, but cannot really compare to the thrills of ‘Instant Action’ and online play. To make the most out of online play, you’ll really need broadband and a decent server, as the lag can hit pretty badly on an ordinary modem. Once you have broadband and a decent server, however, multiplayer becomes much more palatable, in which you can easily lose yourself for an evening (or more!). In addition, to make the UT2003 experience even better, turn your audio up to full, as the music, weapon effect and voice acting are all top quality, although be warned: some mature language is used. Also bundled with the game is a map editor. This is surprisingly difficult to use, with things like lighting and 3D effects to be considered. Not for the amateur level-creator (like me), but an essential tool for the semi-professional modder. Overall, UT2003 is a polished update to a superb original, which is well worth a purchase, despite slightly lacking in the innovation department. Especially as you get £10 off UT2004!
