Unreal Tournament 2003

"Unreal Tournament 2003 is the game that just might blow you away (maybe even literally)."

Well, if you happen to be an Unreal fan, you just might be happy that this game does live up to its name. Even if you do know only a small bit about Unreal, or even are new to it, you will still get the full satisfaction you are looking for. This game has everything a first person shooter needs. It has outstanding graphics, cool weapons, great level design, and of course, the mutators that add to all the fun.

Graphics – 10/10

Well, let’s start with the graphics of the game. The graphics are absolutely, how shall I put this, unbelievable! They have almost every detail that you could think of (reflections, shadows, lighting, etc.) put into this game. As a matter of fact, Gamespot gave this game the best graphics award (or at least that’s what I think it is). Seems the folks at Epic have really outdone themselves this time. If you have got a pretty good video card (for example, ATI Radeon 9700 128 MB), then you will get to use basically all of the graphics capabilities of this game. If you have something like an ATI Radeon 7500 64 MB (my video card), you may not get all of the graphics capabilities of the game, but still enough to keep you from blinking. Just make sure you have a proper video card, otherwise you may run into some problems like I did (for example, the shadows get a bit distorted).

Sound – 8/10

Here’s a part of the game that I wasn’t too impressed with. For one thing, the announcer of this game gets a bit too annoying after a while (as a matter of fact, I stopped playing Bombing Run because the announcer keeps saying “Red Team on offence,” “Blue Team on offence” and so forth, it just got too annoying!!). They should have gotten someone not as loud as this guy and should have minimized the number of times he says something. The weapon sounds, in my opinion, were pretty good. I just think the sound for the lightning gun could have been better, and the explosion sounds could have been a little more louder as well. The taunts are good as well, even though some of it did get repetitive. I like the fact that they provide you the option of auto-taunting, so the computer does the taunting for you when you’re busy with the game.

Gameplay – 8/10

This game has pretty good gameplay. It has good controls, great level and character design and some strange mutators that takes this game to a whole new level. It also has some great modes. However, I had some problems with some of the modes and some of the weapons. The sniper (the lightning gun) isn’t what it used to be. It was much better in the previous Unreal Tournament game. Also, the assault mode isn’t available mode in this game. But don’t let this disappoint you, the other modes are still just as fun (or maybe even more fun).

Replay – 10/10

This is of course another strong part of the game (it’s supposed to be anyway, since this is a multiplayer game). This game will keep you hooked for quite a long while (that’s what it did to me). This game wants to make you feel that you must become the best. So even if you do become bored with playing the A.I. (or are even too good for it), you can go online and challenge others that are worth challenging. So, as a matter of fact, you are most likely to find yourself playing this game for a long time. Just don’t play the single player too much, for that can get boring.

Overall – 9/10

Well, to tell you the truth, this game may not be perfect, but it does come pretty darn close to it. If you haven’t still picked up your copy of this game, what are you waiting for? If you still have doubts about this game, try out the demo at http://www.unrealtournament2003.com/ and see for yourself. Let’s hope that if another Unreal Tournament game does come out, it should be just as good as this, or maybe even good enough for me to give it a perfect 10. Just make sure that you have a pretty good system so that you can make the most out of this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/03, Updated 05/09/03