I was just wondering which game you guys prefer. In the past I liked Unreal Tournament better, just because of the greater variety of modes and weapons, because I love the Unreal engine and setting, and because I much prefer the music. Recently I fired both games up again, and realized something... Quake III plays a LOT smoother. So I'm not sure which I prefer now. Quake III seems like a much better pure deathmatch experience, but Unreal Tournament seems like it has a lot more options and general "stuff."

So what's your opinion?

I've always enjoyed the Unreal series, so definitely UT99 is the better pick! Facing Worlds is a classic! But don't forget about UT2004!

They both have their individual strengths. Which one I prefer depends on what mood I'm in. Generally, I think UT is the superior game, but as you said, for pure fast balls to the wall deathmatch frenzy, it's hard to beat Q3.

What's funny to me is how people still talk about these fifteen (or in the case of UT04, well over a decade) year old games. You'd think something better would have come along by now. Unreal and Quake in their more current incarnations seem to have lost their mojo. :-)

IMHO, UT99 is the better game, but Quake has better graphics. Though any modern PC should easily play them maxed out with high-res mods.

I'd hate to add up all the time I spent playing my--heavily modded--UT99 install in the past. I still think it has better gameplay than the later Unreal Tournament games.

Fuck yeah!

Unreal Tournament.

Not because their gameplay cos i sucked at both games. In 1999 I had written an essay about those two games as my Final English paper which got me solid 95 (out of 100) and I realized that Unreal engine was the better one when it comes to creating new stuff although Quake engine loads faster. In Quake engine once you create an area it is almost impossible to add new regions to that tho this is barely 1 hour work for Unreal (extra time needed to join new areas).

Also its soundtrack beats any other soundtrack out there still to this day.

As long as shooters are required to be playable with controllers on a console, that's unlikely to change.

Unreal Tournament 99.

Don't get me wrong, Quake III is a well designed game but personally I could never click with it properly and always had trouble getting good at it. Unreal Tournament just clicks right and provides a fairly frantic experience that I am able to get behind better. Also Unreal Tournament's soundtrack trumps Quake III's any day, sorry fans, but Alexander Brandon and the gang can crank out some masterfully crafted songs despite Sonic Mayhem being attached to Quake III's music.

Personally, I prefer UT2004.

Every time I try to play UT2004 I get frustrated, since it's virtually impossible to find a normal server to play on. They're all either clogged with weird mods, inexplicably have banned my IP address, or just plain can't be connected to.

It's strange that it's actually easier to find a workable server in the old game.

Ah, well if your preference is to play online with strangers, I'm afraid I can't help you as I don't do that.

I was always a Quake III fan, never really got into Unreal and felt it played a little twitchy -- maybe like you put it, less smooth. I liked the precision movement/aim/gameplay of Q3A and that it was sort of the proving grounds for pro-level FPS competition. I also loved that certain skills in the game like strafe jumping, rocket jumping, railgun/machinegun/rocket aim etc. required lots of practice and training to become proficient at, and when you see someone who is skilled playing their A-game or doing crazy rocket jump maneuvers it can be a thing of beauty.

For me, Q3A. It can really get me into the "flow", a meditative trance-like condition of action/reaction - I've won a couple of matches without quite remembering what I did (back in the day that is).

I've never experienced something like this with UT (any), although I've played it quite a few times. I guess the pace, the rhythm of Q3A just clicks with me.

Quake 3 Arena > Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament 2004 beats Quake in some aspects but it doesn't have this trance inducing effect indeed.

There is nothing else of importance when it comes to arena-fps.
Q3A's graphics can be greatly enhanced with HD texture mods and there's a Linux version.

BTW: Isn't it funny to see how much the Germans like Q3A although it has practically always been banned from open advertising here and Bethesda/GoG won't even sell it to us? ^^