Unreal Tournament 2003 on your XBox

Okay, suppose you lived in a world where violence among deep space miners had grown to unthinkable levels. Suppose you needed someway to detour blood shed in the shafts. Liandri Corp found that by holding a cabal of the most brutal and savage combatants, they could not only quell the hostilities in the mines, but they also found that Death Match had become their most popular sport. Years later, Death Match was opened to the public. Everyone signed up for their own reasons. Some to gain notoriety as assassins, some to gain fame, while some signed on to take the prize money home. No matter what the reason, all who enter realize that very few leave the arena with their life. Now, two competitions later, the victors of the Liandri Death Match tournaments are Lauren, Brock, and Malcolm. They are featured in an intro to the game. From this intro, you can see how successful Death Match has become. It’s just like the Super Bowl or any other major sporting event.

Traditionally, Unreal Tournament has been known for inspiring levels as well as excellent mapping. I don’t think Epic has let anyone down here. Levels range from inside an active volcano to ice fields. You leave entrails everywhere you go. The beauty of the level designs is to support intense play. Even the largest level (Asbestos) is designed as to prevent downtime in a match. It’s strictly run and gun. Attention campers keep moving or you’re dead. Even if you don’t get a chance to stop and admire the scenery, you will have to admit that Unreal Championship has excellent visuals. From running through grass to even the mirrored pools in the bombing run levels, nothing beats Unreal.

OK, so we have Death Match, Capture the Flag, Double Domination 2.0, and Bombing Run. Death Match and Capture the Flag are pretty much the requirements in all FPS games. The name says it all in Death Match and Capture the Flag. Double Domination 2.0 is new to the series. DD2.0 is a variant on the original Domination in which you held check points to score. This time, scoring is more defined. In DD2.0, your team must hold 2 check points for 10 seconds. If you can, you score. If you either of the checkpoints changes color, you must reacquire control of it. 10 seconds may not sound like long, but once you play, 10 seconds becomes an eternity.

Picture playing Football. You carry the ball to your opponent’s zone. The object is to either score a touch down or field goal. Bombing Run isn’t much different. There is a glowing orb that you mush grab from the center of each field. Once you have it, you become unarmed (or at least you have no offensive weapons). All you have is the ball launcher. This weapon serves one purpose, passing. You can pass the ball to a team mate or you can use the ball launcher to shoot the enemy’s goal ring. If you make it through, you score. The distance you are from the ring determines your score. If you can hold the ball and jump through the ring, you score the most points. To make the game seem more like football, every time the ball carrier is fragged, the announcer says “_____(fill in team) has fumbled the ball.”

The real shining point of the Unreal series is the weapons. Unlike other FPS games, Unreal has always been able to balance the weapons by giving them a primary and secondary function. In UC, there are no exceptions made to this rule. If you’re a fan of the shotgun, try the Flak Cannon. This weapon has remained unchanged since the original Unreal (predating the tournament). The perfect balance of shotgun splatter and fragmentation grenade deployment in one gun is the Flak Canon. Rocket Launcher allows either single rocket or load 3 in the chamber for mega damage. The controversial Bio Rifle has always been a mixed subject. Some players can kill without hesitation, while other players are still baffled regarding usage of this weapon. Primary function is goops of a toxin. Secondary shoots a larger glop of the muck. Second function is enough to completely cover an opponent for a one hit kill (in most cases). Either way, these slimy projectiles explode after a set timeframe. New to the roster is an assault rifle which features light repeating rounds as well as a secondary incendiary grenade deployment. No sniper rifle this time, however the Lightning Gun does have the zoom function and accuracy of its predecessor. And finally, the ever popular Minigun and Shock Rifle are unchanged from previous in the series.

Since Unreal Championship is based off of the Unreal Tournament 2003 engine, there’s a lot more to choosing an avatar than just looks. The affinity system is in full swing, offering bonuses of damage, fire rate, and ammo count. The way the affinity system works is simple. Each character has a specific weapon that they are most proficient with. Whatever that weapon is, the character gets a bonus with. If it’s a damage affinity, then they do double the normal damage (without the damage amplification pickup). A fire rate affinity means the character will be able to fire more rounds in less time. Of course the ammo affinity means that the character can stock up more ammo than other players for that weapon. In addition to the affinities, there are also player classes to consider. Certain classes get certain physical bonuses. The huge Juggernauts can just shrug off most attacks but trade the defensive bonus or a severe lack in speed. Anubans (Egyptian looking) have uncanny dodge abilities as well as the ability to gain adrenaline bonusese quickly. If you’re fighting one of these on a higher skill level, they can dodge even saturation fire. It’s almost like fighting Spider Man. Gen Mo’Kai are swift little things. They can out run any character class. It’s good to have at least one on your team in a CFT or Bombing Run match. They just can’t take much damage. Automatons are excellent jumpers. They can often reach heights that most players can’t. They’re just terrible at dodging. The Nightmare are like vampires. The more you hurt an opponent, the more the Nightmare are healed. Finally, rounding out the roster are the Mercenaries. Mercenaries are you well rounded class with no strengths or weaknesses.

When playing Single Player mode, you must keep these affinities as well as physical abilities in mind. Reason being is because you must choose your teammates wisely. Assembling the right team determines the outcome of every match. The downside to Single Player mode is that all you can do is climb the tournament ladder. Unlike Unreal Tournament 2003, you don’t earn any money or have any worries when it comes to ensuring good characters remain on your team.

Instant Action is your multiplayer. In Instant Action, you can have up to four players on one console. There is also Play Live, which allows you to play using your Xbox Live account, and System Link which allows up to four Xboxes to be connected for up to 12 players. No matter how you choose for multiplayer, you can play the game with minimal loss. One noticeable glitch in the system is that occasionally, characters of the same race/class will loose their avatars. For instance, Sapphire and Black Jack are both Mercenaries. In a match, I lost my Sapphire avatar and appeared as Black Jack. I kept the affinities and configurations, I just lost the avatar. This is a minor complaint for an otherwise flawless Multiplayer system.

Finally, the adrenaline system is present. Adrenaline was introduced by Unreal Tournament 2003. This system allows players to gain bonuses for killing. After you reach 100%, you can input one of four codes to activate a bonus. You must choose your adrenaline bonus wisely. You can have double damage, (health) regeneration, (improved) agility, or invisibility. When used correctly, adrenaline bonuses can help keep a killing spree going.

With responsive controls, a new affinity system, and the adrenaline boosters, Unreal Championship is a force to be reckoned with. Unreal has always been one of the bench marks in FPS games, and the keep improving with time. Players may hate the non-intuitive menu system, but putting that aside, the game itself is everything players would want and more. Until Unreal Championship II: Liandri Conflict is released; this is the FPS to own on Xbox. There isn’t anything special about the story, but instant action and the intense combat gives this game enough replay value to last a long time.