Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

"Completely changed and still far too fun!"

Aaah! Unreal Championship. Just the sound of it makes me feel like I can kill anyone in the game. The second installment in an already addictive game, has changed significantly. Somehow they have made it even better than the original Unreal Championship.

Graphics 10/10
Okay, I know! The graphics really don't matter in an Unreal game, but the graphics are so good I can't beleive they can fit the rest of the game in. Granted, these aren't the best graphics I've seen in a game, but they are the best I've seen in a first person/third person shooter. Then again this is the only first person/third person shooter I've ever played. The weapon designs have all had a make over and all look even more deadly than before. The attacks with melee are also smooth and beautifully coriographed. The character designs are in traditional Unreal fashion, but with much improved animation.

Sound 10/10
Yet again, I'm sure you don't care about the sound of the game. The voice acting is quite good and shooting sounds are vastly improved. Exspecially for the rocket launcher!

Gameplay 10/10
Literally the best part of the game. Somehow, they manage to have 1st person and 3rd person shooting mixed in with melee combat and make it so quick and easy to learn, you'll be decapitating in seconds. The only thing I found a little confusing is that you pick the two guns you have in the match. In other words, you can only use four weapons including your personal weapons! It really doesn't matter, because you get all the really good guns from the first and a couple new ones to boot! What I also found very innavative was the use of adrenaline. In the last installment, adrenaline really only made you a little faster. However, now each character has six adrenaline abilities you can choose from to affect your character during the fight. These abilities range from draining energy from an enemy to speeding up fast enough to get the flag and return to your base. There are three modes inside the initial story mode. There is Ascension Rights which is the actual story part of the game. Tournament, which we all know and love, which also has been much improved (i.e. you can now pick the character you play as). And finally challenge mode where you go through a series of matches with different conditions for each.

Story 8/10
The story is the worst part of Unreal. Which means its above average. Apperantly, this former competitor, Anubis, returns to the arena to find his former fiance playing for Liandri. He then joins the competition in order to try to stop her from becoming emperor of the Nahkti. He is joined by his friend, Sobek, who is a tournament veteran and reminds him how to fight effectively in the competition. This makes up the tutorial part of the game, trust me you will need to learn this stuff quickly in order to beat the game. Luckily, after he tells you how to do stuff, it all becomes easy to perform without even having to be reminded.

Fun 10/10
Do I even need to explain how fun this game is? This game was built for multiplayer, but face it playing alone is now just as fun as playing with friends. Well, in this game anyway, as you will find your self going staight to Instant Action and playing for hours against bots. Since this is Unreal, the A.I. is not only smart, but very aggresive and challenging. You can up to 7 bots in any of the 6 match types. This will also keep you hooked since there are over fourty arenas to fight in!

Replay 10/10
Let me put it this way, if you don't have another controller, you'll still be playing for days. If you do have more than one controller, than your friends will always be invited to your house (no matter how much you hate them). By first time you decapitate someone with the Ripjack, you'll be trying to do it over and over again. Thats called fun boys and girls! This game is more than a good reason to buy xbox live and even more so to buy an xbox!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/07/05