Unreal Tournament - PC, 7/1/00

Unreal Tournament - PC

Though we enjoyed the original Unreal, it caused our PC before last to bust up bad and we had to buy a new one. At that point we hadn't even attempted the game's deathmatch mode, but that was probably just as well; it was rank.

As with Id's Quake series, developer Epic has ditched the original's solo mode in favour of a more or less exclusive multiplayer game.

Unlike Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament actually brings new ideas to the table.

As with Quake 3, Unreal Tournament offers a stripped-down solo game, which effectively emulates an online deathmatch and may as well be ignored.

However, the multiplayer options offer unprecedented types of game and the most diverse combat arenas yet seen.

The team-based games are among the best, with groups of players assaulting warships, or dropped onto the back of a speeding train. Likewise, the weapons - mostly lifted from Unreal - differ from the usual shotguns and rifles.

Graphically, Unreal Tournament is nice, albeit somewhat stripped-down to ensure it plays best over the Net. Indeed, while not perfect, we had far fewer problems playing with our 56k modem than we did with Quake 3 Arena.

Given a choice, we'd still pick Half-Life's solo game, or GoldenEye's single-screen multi-player option over Unreal Tournament, but committed deathmatch freaks will find this the most complete multi-player shoot 'em up on the PC - which isn't a bad thing.

GAMEPLAY
Tons of game types, and some unique arenas and environments.

PRESENTATION
Lovely visuals, but unfortunately a bit bland.

EXTRAS
Includes tons of extras.

LIFESPAN
Will shortly reign supreme as the ultimate online shooter.

OVERALL
The best multi-player shooter on the PC. Nice.

OUR SCORE: 9/10