With success comes the opportunity. With opportunity, new changes are made. Good or bad? As always, it is something only history reveals. Unreal games were modernized, they were changed and this is how they turned out.
Unreal Tournament 2003 (2002)
As the original Unreal Tournament became the mainstream in later years Epic decided to go full mainstream with it’s sequel Unreal Tournament 2003. People were still playing the original full steam ahead but the hype for the sequel was present.
However, when UT 2003 hit the shelves something seemed off. Something that I’d call later “The Aida effect” as the illusion starts to break and the house of cards falls apart.
This game presented the new engine what will become the tradition in the following years and looked superb, easily surpassing anything seen by that point. Weirdly enough, despite that, after a month or two since release, players went back playing original UT game on tournaments and LAN parties.
Why is that? Well… Despite looking incredibly good we had to face the harsh truth. This game was a disappointment. Under the iron fist of Atari as the new publisher (and a new EA wannabe) this game was all the look and no brain.
Fairly enough, there are some good ideas put into it like additional adrenaline boosts to activate new powers at will, the ability to generate shield with the impact hammer (or a Shield Gun, as it’s now called) and the ability to heal allies with the pulse rifle. Furthermore, the AI was still very good, the sounds were nice and the soundtrack was still great.
However all of that little mattered as the balance in the game was simply terrible. All of the weapons seemed nerfed even with alternate fire modes still in play. None of them had the impact like in the original and to make the matter worse (for the fans anyway) this sequel somehow looked more like Quake III Arena than the original.
Some levels like inferno looked like directly pulled out from the Quake universe, not to mention out of place characters like Mr. Crow, Ravage, Lilith, Domina, Brutalis and Subversa.
The Egyptian team came with the backup and are now one of the leading teams in the tournament as well as new alien team and beefed up new team of barbarians… Ehmm, armored barbarians.
The entire tone of the game is different than the original and the game is presented like a future replacement for Superball. There is uplifting soundtrack, there are cheesy dialogues, there is over the top announcer and then, there is Bombing Run – a game mode that plays just like American Football. Many people would now expect me to dish out and say what they were thinking but to be completely honest, I did enjoy it.
UT 2003 isn’t a bad game, but it is the perfect example of when a “safe bet” backfires. One does not simply take the sequel of a legendary game, change it and softens it without consequences. This is a fun game, but it quickly runs out of steam just like those adrenaline boosts when you fire up.
UNREAL CHAMPIONSHIP (2002)
UC is one of more typical console ports and it barely stands out as it’s own game. Yes, the maps are the same, all of the content and game modes as well but it does have some exclusivity features. What stands out the most are the new weapon models and the new interface. True, they do work the same but it’s a nice variety and some of them do look better than in the previous title.
Despite looking as a graphical downgrade compared to a PC brother it still looks better than anything on PS2 in those days and precise controls made it all better. While the story is minimal and poor like in the PC version there is an attempt to present it better, so I’ll give it that.
All in all, Unreal Championship is a solid game and if you own the original Xbox it can be a worthy addition to the collection, if only to dust off controllers now and then, when friends come.
UNREAL 2: THE AWAKENING (2003)
Now let’s be honest. After overwhelming response after the release, this game selling point was not its famous name, nor incredible design and gameplay but a certain tightly dressed female officer with great tattoos and even greater cleavage named Aida. There is a certain symbolic in it though, as she is despite all of her beauty, soothing voice (that most of the time we ignore) mainly shallow, generic and even somewhat irritating character as soon as we get to know her better, and so is this game for the most part.
All that talk about corporations, military and protocol will rarely rock anyone’s boat, but that’s what this game throws at player the most, especially in the beginning. It may interest some players invested in the lore of the universe but it is presented so boring and monotone that I clearly doubt anyone would enjoy it.
The game does get better when missions start kicking off, not by alot, yet still… It’s based on jumping from mission to mission, from planet to planet. It does offer more variety of environments and it’s much much more focused on the story than the original.
While terribly slow, it does have its moments like when you helplessly watch Skaarj brutes rampage through the hallway in the dark cutting the way to us with fury, or when we walk in the unknown forest listening to suspicious sounds around us like in the Predator movie, or when we fight off hordes of multi-legged creatures with a flamethrower.
Oddly enough, the weapon arsenal is quite different than the rest of the series and the first half of the game is filled with generic military weapons. Only later in the game do we get to use alien stuff such as Shock Lance with the bouncing projectiles, Laser Gun that functions as a Railgun. Takkra spheres that can damage enemies or protect the player, and the Singularity Cannon as the ultimate weapon. The enemy roster is a mix of old and new creatures plus the opposing humans because, hey, why not. Might spice up the action while we’re at it, although the AI went backwards this time. Still… Has it’s moments.
All in all, a solid idea but bad execution. The new engine was pretty much wasted on this one, as planet levels look more empty and bland than anything in UT 2003. It’s pretty much safe to say that this one remained the worst one in the series.
Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004)
Never has been a better time to forget the bad year than in 2004. Half-Life 2, Doom 3, FarCry, Painkiller, Killzone and Halo 2 came out. And there is also this one: UT 2004 as the perfect medicine that made up for its predecessor and gave us Unreal Tournament we deserved. It is just like Epic came to us and said: Sorry for 2003. This is for you.
The gameplay and the balance were completely overworked and now it feels as it should be. All of the elements are still the same but the weapons got reskinned, some for better and some for worse. The sniper rifle was added while lightning gun still being in place. The grenade launcher was also added functioning similarly like in Unreal 2 as well as the Mine Layer. And then there is AVRIL, the anti-vehicle weapon ’cause guess what – there are vehicles in this one!
Some of them drive, some of them hover and some of them fly! To be fair, there were some in Unreal 2 Expanded Multiplayer but barely anyone played it so yes, this is another course correct. They are used in a new mode called Onslaught and it is somewhat a combination of Domination and Bombing Run. Players are fighting for control of numerous nodes scattered across the map in order to destroy the enemy base. It seem simple enough but with giant maps and tons of players it can look like a real war, and that’s what’s great about it.
All of the other modes are still here with the addition of Invasion, Last Man Standing and the fan favorite Assault mode. Assault is back big time! As it contains some of the most memorable maps out there. They are recreations of past missions in the lore history, such as the first contact where we fly and fight in a starfighter to an alien mothership and then continue mission on foot, or the assault of Axon on the science center of Izanagi, which even elite forces of Thunder Crash weren’t able to protect, then there is a train heist etc.
The game looks much the same like it’s predecessor with only minor improvements like sharper textures and slightly better animations. Weirdly enough, the design looks like it went backwards as some models look worse than in the previous one, whether it’s the weapons of characters. Seems like they ran out of ideas. Honestly, in my memory this is the worst looking game of Unreal Tournament.
The campaign is pretty much the same except when drafting a team there is an option of a “Bloodrights” – fighting the character to acquire it. Despite UT 2003 having a weak story it was still more than what we got here. They completely gave up on it and the animations that we get are just for the flare only. Despite everything, this game accomplished what it set out to do. It plays great and even have stayed the series favorite to some fans.
End of Part II
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