Reviewed by: BobiRoka
Developer: Digital Extremes/Epic Games
Publisher: Atari

I have an admission to make: If I hadn’t played Quake 2 Deathmatch I wouldn’t be writing this now.

I’m sure you find this amusingly ironic when you consider I’ve done nothing but slate arena-based multiplayer shooters in recent years. The thing is I regard games as an alternative to watching movies, and without any kind of plot, characterisation or emotional content, I’ve disregarded the online FPS in favour of roleplaying games or single player adventures as a way to immerse myself in more complex digital worlds. Online FPS’s have always seemed to me more ‘sport-like’, dominated by the more competitive and therefore almost inevitably, the more competent gamer. Somehow, this type of mentality has always eluded me. I had no interest in developing the kind of Jedi reflexes required to get anything out of these games and in doing so have forced myself to continually miss the point of the endless online frag-a-thon.

So why have I fallen in love with this latest incarnation of the Unreal Tournament saga? What is it about this game that has managed to convert this most seasoned of non-online gamers? When so many games have tried and failed, why have I gone for Unreal Tournament 2004? I’ll tell you…

In almost every online FPS, from Quake 2 to BF1942, you need an evolved and practiced skill in twitch gameplay. If you don’t have those kinds of skills, you can easily become intimidated by the numerous other folk who do. In UT2k4’s Onslaught mode, you can be crap and still have a good time. Whether you’re link-gunning a node to spawn vehicles at the front-line or clumsily firing just enough mini-gun rounds into a blundering hellbender truck before it runs you over; it always feels like you’re contributing to the battle. It all looks so gloriously cinematic, joining a game with a decent ping is simplicity itself (providing you have broadband) and I encountered very little in the way of loading times between bouts. It’s just so damn accessible…

If UT was the cake, and UT2k3 the icing, UT2k4 is like eating it. While a lack of texture detail in places (especially on vehicles) does show signs of age for this generation’s Unreal engine, the scale of what is presented here can’t fail to impress. The Unreal aesthetic has always leaned away from the tech, and more towards the actual ‘art’ of it all, with breathtaking vistas and a new word in epic locales depicted in AS-Mothership. In a supposed re-enactment of a last stand space battle between the humans and the Skaarj, this particular map available for the newly re-instated assault mode sees opposing sides pilot space fighters above the bombarded surface of our dear mother Earth. It’s a bold move for a predominantly FPS orientated game to tackle space combat, and some might question it’s execution. To be honest, it doesn’t serve up anywhere near as good an experience as the more specialist games, but it may wake people up to the genre again (here’s hoping).

What UT2k4 has got right however, is the inclusion of a conquest style team game with vehicles-a-plenty, huge maps and an unquestionable level of accessibility. Yes folks, I’m talking about Onslaught. Optimized for up to 16 player bouts (but capable of handling double that on more sturdy net connections), this game mode revolves around linking a chain of nodes - scattered in various patterns according to each of the 9 maps - from home base to enemy base, before you can reduce it to rubble. This is most successfully achieved by making use of a superbly balanced set of vehicles to span the vast stretches of land between the hot zones. And so the game starts to lure us non-online gamers in, since you don’t have to ‘be good’ to decapitate enemies with the twin propeller blades of a careering Manta or hack them in half with the Scorpion buggy’s sling arms. With an air of strategy about the acquisition of ‘nodes’, simply being present at a given location at a given time can turn the tide of battle. You need the vehicles to get around, so they are heavily used, n00bs like myself don’t have a problem firing a guided rocket towards a slow moving tank or firing a million mini-gun rounds a second in it’s general direction with mostly successful results. Even if dive-bombing a raptor into the enemy power core might be fatal, at least I helped take it down and so on…

Those who do prefer to duke it out with traditional firearms will be pleased with this most balanced and refined interpretation of the classic UT arsenal. Like UT2k3, all players spawn with the basic assault rifle (alt fire – grenade, can duel wield) and shield gun (chargeable melee attack/protective forward facing shield). The flak cannon, mini-gun, rocket launcher, link gun and pulse rifle return with subtle refinements. Most notable of these improvements is the ability to send the rocket launcher’s alt-fire triple-whammy in a tighter arc by pressing the left mouse button just before it auto-fires; and the link gun’s alt fire beam mode serves as a means to replenish the functionality of allied ‘nodes’ and vehicles. You can even link to another player who is linking to a structure or building to increase the rate at which they repair said object. You quite often end up with several players tailing a leviathan or Goliath tank, charging its health up while it goes toe-to-toe with the enemy forces. New firearms include the AVril guided missile system, which is great for destroying tanks and the like, while the novel minelayer releases a number of spider-like bots which detonate on impact wherever the alt-fire targeting laser is pointed.

Those recently developed Unreal quirks are in there too. By that I’m referring to the novel way in which you can emphasise a movement action by stabbing the relevant key twice. Hammering a direction key in quick succession will see you making a leap in that direction. You can also perform a splinter cell-like double jump by jabbing the space bar again at the apex of your jump. Both techniques have proven evasive merits when going against the odds. There is, however, an element of ‘being good’ to apply this trick at the right time, so you could say this is one area of the game which still eludes me.

You might consider this review cut short, but it’s those 9 Onslaught maps that demand the asking price alone. The inclusion of a next gen take on the original’s assault mode is a good move for the series with some imaginative scenarios and yet more emphasis on the team-based trend UT clearly wants to be a part of. With Onslaught however, they’ve managed to serve up a supremely balanced and wholesomely deep team dynamic, which almost seems to punish those who like to camp, snipe and rail by putting the odds so strongly in the favour of those who don’t have a clue. I’m not necessarily saying that experienced players won’t get anything out of it, more that it evens the score between the constant fraggers and the constently fragged. And this is an achievement not a million frames per second or a zillion polygons per object could ever solve.

Presentation	8
Not Doom 3 by any means, UT2k4 still packs a solid aural and visual punch. Cool vehicle physics too…
Gameplay	9
Very n00b friendly, yet with enough depth to satisfy those who like a bit more meat on their game.
Value	9
18 Weapons, 9 vehicles, over 100 maps spread across 10 different game modes. Add to that the bundled editing tools and you have yet another potential online phenomenon. Games of this kind have an inherent advantage when it comes to this particular grading, but I give it a 9 based on the fact that a) I still haven’t played all the maps and b) the obvious effect the game is currently having on the online community. .
Benchmark	8
More of an artful combination of tried and tested formulas than any kind of revolution in MP shooters. By expanding the Unreal remit, Digital Extremes have done us proud.
Score	9
You don’t have to ‘be good’ to realize just how cool this online rampage is.