Posted March 04, 2009
Playing this game in the shadow of more modern online shooters, this game very obviously lives very much in the shadow of its progenitor, and Halo. It does have much to recommend it, and it stands up very well, yet it suffers somewhat in comparision to changes that have come in in later years.
It was the prefected version of UT2003, and given that there was only a year separating the two, people at the time quite rightly felt a little short-changed. However, with the passage of time, we can see that this version was, quite definitely, the definitive Unreal Tournament 2. Bear in mind that if you play this game online, virtually the only mode being played on the servers is Onslaught. This is no bad thing, since this version of the game, in which two teams compete for control of various points on a large map, filled with vehicules and full weapon loadouts on spawn, is by far the best version. This does make it more radically different from the single player, in which you fight through the various versions of the game, from deathmatch, through team deathmatch and so on, until you reach onslaught. The single player game, especially on high difficulty, is tough - you have to earn cash by winning games, and need to pay a certain amount to compete in the next, forcing you to replay older matches to earn cash when you fail. It's fun, and feels much more frenetic than the online Onslaught, yet has more in common with the first UT and Quake 3 than the versions of this game being played online.
With the vehicules in Onslaught UT was quite clearly taking cues from the first Halo, released a year or so before. It suffers too in comparison to more streamlined shooters (TF2's kill-cam, showing you your killer, would have been a great help here), but the action is intense, and a lot of fun. The best - and best supported - online game available on GOG. Go play.
It was the prefected version of UT2003, and given that there was only a year separating the two, people at the time quite rightly felt a little short-changed. However, with the passage of time, we can see that this version was, quite definitely, the definitive Unreal Tournament 2. Bear in mind that if you play this game online, virtually the only mode being played on the servers is Onslaught. This is no bad thing, since this version of the game, in which two teams compete for control of various points on a large map, filled with vehicules and full weapon loadouts on spawn, is by far the best version. This does make it more radically different from the single player, in which you fight through the various versions of the game, from deathmatch, through team deathmatch and so on, until you reach onslaught. The single player game, especially on high difficulty, is tough - you have to earn cash by winning games, and need to pay a certain amount to compete in the next, forcing you to replay older matches to earn cash when you fail. It's fun, and feels much more frenetic than the online Onslaught, yet has more in common with the first UT and Quake 3 than the versions of this game being played online.
With the vehicules in Onslaught UT was quite clearly taking cues from the first Halo, released a year or so before. It suffers too in comparison to more streamlined shooters (TF2's kill-cam, showing you your killer, would have been a great help here), but the action is intense, and a lot of fun. The best - and best supported - online game available on GOG. Go play.