Unreal Tournnament 2004 is simply one of the most entertaining games on the market.
UT 04 offers loads of gameplay whether you want to play online or offline. There are a total of ten different modes of gameplay to choose from. You've got your basics, such as Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, and you've also got several different types of modes, such as Invasion and Mutant. You'll also see some returning modes, like UT 2003's Double Domination and the oritinal UT's Assault. But the most notable mode by far would have to be Onslaught. Onslaught takes two teams, gives them each a base, and tasks you with destroying the opposing team's power core to their base. In order to do this, you will have to capture nodes scattered across the map and use them to string together a path to the opposing team's power core. Onslaught is also where you will find the game's cast of vehicles. The vehicles include everything from tanks to jeeps to mobile artillery, and can definitely help your team gain the upper hand in a round. If you choose to play offline, then you can fill in player slots with any number of computer-controlled bots. The bots can be set to varying skill levels, and are quite intelligent. Depending on the type of game you're playing, you can issue orders to your bots, such as attacking a control point in Domination or defending your team's flag in a CTF match.
UT 04 features a single-player campaign mode that you can play through to get familiar with the game. It is very similar to the campaign mode of UT 2003 in the sense that you will be managing a team of bots to take through a series of increasingly difficult matches against teams of enemy bots. The campaign expands a bit from UT 2003 in several ways. The biggest change is the addition of a currency system. By winning matches and acheiving various feats in combat, you earn cradits. You use these credits to do things like hire bots for your team and host challenges. Challenges are another new feature to the campaign mode. By forking over some of your hard-earned credits, you can challenge another team to a specific type of match. The challenges aren't too complex (there's only two types: a 1 on 1 fight and a match with the looser giving up a selected team member), but it helps to make the game feel a bit more like you're actually in some sort of tournament. And they go both ways, too: other teams will often present you with a challenge, which you can either accept or refuse (for a price, of course).
Now, the Editor's Choice edition of UT 2004 also comes with a bonus disc. On this disc, you will find over sixty hours of video tutorials that will show you how to work the various editors that can be used to create things for the game. These videos cover everyting from level design to creating your own characters and vehicles. That'll give you something something to do over the summer.
With all said and done, Unreal Tournament is just loads of fun. If you already own the original version, then fear not! You can download the extra content from the Editor's Choice edition online for free. If you don't have the game yet, then this is the version to get (provided your computer has a DVD-ROM drive).