Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC/CD-ROM 6 Disc Version)

There is no doubting the pace of this game is phenomenal; bewildering, in fact, to the beginner. But the multitude of game modes, map styles and scenery is unparalleled. It comes at a price - the amount of hard drive space required is huge, and the hardware required to turn over the graphics at a decent speed will make you and your wallet wince, but the visual experience you get out of it really does make the jaw drop. Gameplay has been fine-tuned to be more even, and makes shoot outs last a little longer now - enough to be interesting and skill-dependent, but not too long to be an endless exchange of gun fire. The one-player mode will hold your interest, and makes you play many different game modes to succeed and climb the ladder to ultimate victory and a few pleasant pictures (not really reward enough, but a good ending is something hard to find in games these days).

A special mention must go to the game's Onslaught mode. Bringing in vehicles, bases, huge power nodes and rolling terrain, it does turn heads in spectacular fashion, and takes the focus away from on-foot combat for something different. It's very well created, and with enough people or bots on your team, can expand into a 45 minute battle to grind your opponents back to their own base and conquer the whole map. Clever stuff.

Unreal Tournament is more than a game - it's a living, breathing community of flak-heads who want to play with and against others at all hours of day and night. The online experience (as long as you have at least a 150k broadband connection) can be excellent when you can find the servers and players to fill out a good game, but a word to the wise: Don't even THINK about trying to play online until you've successfully mastered the game mode you intend to play against the PC, first. There are way too many outstanding players out there, and they take sick pleasure in dispensing repeated thrashings to new players. Get a solid grounding beforehand, or else you'll be put off for life when you go online and play against the egotists that swamp the internet servers.

I'm pleased to report that Unreal Tournament 2004 reverses this trend completely, bringing the game back to the look and feel of the original UT which we know and love.

All of the gameplay greats are there, including (team) Deathmatch, Assault, Bombing Run and Domination and Capture the Flag, along with a few new gameplay modes.

By far the most impressive of these new modes is Onslaught, a team based strategy / kill everything in sight game along the lines of Domination, but with the addition of various vehicles to help. From highly maneuverable flying Raptors to heavily armed tanks, speedy light hover Mantas to Humvee style APCs, everyone is catered for. The vehicles are not only great for additional firepower and mowing down the opposition (literally), but also for transport across the sometimes epic sized maps.

A full on Onslaught match can last anything from 5 minutes to half an hour, depending on the team skills and how well they are matched. But not a minute is dull, there is always some clear and near objective. Absolutely frenetic fun!

Graphics and sound are, as always, great. Playing this game on a computer with 5.1 sound is highly recommended to take advantage of the directional sound effects. The music is also surprisingly good for a shoot 'em up game - it definitely adds to the overall atmosphere.

To sum up, if you loved the original UT, you'll love this. If you're not sure, grab the demo and try out the onslaught map ONS-Torlan. I guarantee you'll buy it afterwards :)