Unreal Tournament
Score: 95% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Infogrames Developer: Secret Level / Epic Media: GD/1 Players: 1 - 8 Genre: First Person Shooter
Graphics & Sound: The graphics in Unreal Tournament are amazingly sharp. The game looks almost as good as it does on my computer, and that's saying something. What's even more impressive is the framerate, which dips and bobs occasionally but never drops to an unplayable level. UT wasn't the most gorgeous game to begin with, but it's certainly quite pretty, and this port of it shows off a lot of the fine architecture in the game. There's more framerate drop when you play split-screen, of course, but it's still quite acceptable. And there's still nothing prettier than watching an enemy explode into a million pieces with a well-placed rocket. Er . . . The sound effects in UT are as solid as they ever are. There are a ton of weapons, and hence a ton of sound effects, and they're all easy to pick up and note. This is a crucial skill, as if you hear rockets going off anywhere near you, you need to be on a heavy lookout. The voice acting is the same taunting goodness from the PC game, although a few of the taunts seem to have been removed. Ah, well. The music is relatively standard fare, with your pounding techno and your spacey techno, but I can still hum most of the tunes after playing the game so much, so it must not be too terribly bad.
Gameplay: And, sound aside, Unreal Tournament sports the best FPS play on the Dreamcast, bar none. Chock full of levels and weapons, UT also supports up to eight players online. Yes, you heard me right. For those who have never played Unreal Tournament, let me explain. The single-player game consists of a series of ladders that you progress up with a character. There are four major play modes in the DC version -- Deathmatch (where you want to kill as many opponents as possible), Domination (where you want to control certain 'points' for as long as possible, garnering the most victory points), Capture the Flag (where you want to . . . er . . . capture your opponent's flag), and Challenge mode (something of a deathmatch against tougher opponents). The Challenge mode replaces the Assault mode, which I can understand -- the Assault maps are downright massive, which would have choked the Dreamcast -- but it's a damn shame that I won't be running down a train to blow it up any time soon on my DC. As you progress in the Tournament, new levels open up in the Practice mode for you to play against bots at your whim. In Practice mode, you can also do Team Deathmatches, which are quite entertaining. You can also use a number of Mutators, which change the basic structure of the game. Want instant-kill weapons? You got 'em! This sort of configurability is nice, although it'd be hard to add new mutators to the game like you could on the PC. The weapons in Unreal Tournament are many and varied, and each one has its use. They range from the common -- pistols and rocket launchers -- to the decidedly unique -- spinning discs of death and a 'biosludge' cannon. Part of learning how to play UT is learning where every weapon is useful. When you tire of the single-player game, or just want some more hard-hitting action, you can play against other human beings. You can do the traditional console split-screen thing, which is fun when you have friends over, or (even better) you can hop online with your modem or Broadband Adapter and knock the snot out of up to eight other people. There's a bit of jumpiness when you play online with a modem, of course, but it's certainly not unbearable, and definitely worth the price of admission. A Broadband Adapter will give you even smoother play. There's little to no chance that you'll tire of all of the things that UT offers. There are over sixty-five levels for you to play in, meaning that you won't be wearing out the combat venues any time soon. Most are altered slightly from their original counterparts, to make them work well for the Dreamcast, but there are a ton of unique levels that I've never seen before. There are also quite a few from the Bonus Packs, which impressed me.
Difficulty: When you start a single-player game, you pick the difficulty of the bots that you fight against. They can be idiotic, or godlike, as you prefer. This level of configurability is a blessing, as newcomers to FPS games can have just as much fun as us old-schoolers. The controls take some getting used to, but they're surprisingly easy to use, even with the standard controller. Learning the maps is key to becoming a skilled UT player, so don't feel ashamed if you get used as a floor mop the first few times you enter a new arena. Spend time to explore, and you'll soon be fighting with the best of them.
Game Mechanics: UT supports three different types of controls. The most traditional for this sort of game is also the best -- a keyboard and mouse combo. Surprisingly good is the standard DC controller, which only makes secondary fire difficult. There's a degree of auto-aiming with the DC controller, which helps with the flakier scheme. You won't waste a veteran keyboard-and-mouser, but you'll certainly hold your own. Unreal Tournament also supports the MadCatz Panther DC. It's a solid controller with this game, although it takes some tweaking to get it to work perfectly -- jacking up the sensitivity of the mouseball helped me a great deal. It's not quite as solid as the keyboard and mouse, but it's a definite improvement over the DC controller, and this is a good game to show off your Panther with. The core mechanics of the game are as solid as they were on the PC -- frag lots, with many weapons. There are a few weapons that have always felt a little more powerful (flak cannon, for example), but you can take anyone down with any weapon given enough time and skill. There are a metric ton of maps, keeping you busy in that department, and the menus are easy to understand, quite cool in execution, and quick to respond. Unreal Tournament for the DC is more than just a port. Even though it loses the Assault game mode we knew and loved, it adds a bunch of maps and supports eight players over the Internet. Having played both it and Quake III Arena for the DC, I must say that I prefer Unreal Tournament. With more modes, more maps, and more players, any FPS fan should run out and pick this game up now. If you're not a big fan of first-person shooters, make sure you give it a rental. You may be missing one of the greatest blast-fests of all time.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
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