Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

"This game will have you cheating on Halo 2!"

Throughout the years, the Unreal series has always been known as "One of the best first person shooters of all time". That phrase comes from something called variety. And that is what this game has. And that's not all too.

Story:

Well, if you are playing Ascension Rites, the story becomes clear. But the true story is that another Unreal Championship has been held. About every few years, an Unreal Championship is held to see who is the greatest warrior and to determine who is going to be the emperor. But you see, it seems that the current emperor is too old/going to retire. So another Unreal Championship tournament is held to crown the new emperor. With new warriors and some familiar looking ones, it's going to be one big throw down.

9/10
It also has interesting background information on the characters of the game.

Game play:

This is where the game shines. It has to be, at the same time, one of the biggest learning curves and one of the biggest online Xbox live experiences ever witnessed. It takes a long while to get used to the characters's different adrenaline powers and how to use the weapons right, etc. But once you get used to it, it is so fun to play it over and over again, you'll never want to get rid of it. Especially if you have Xbox live. There is also a pretty huge cast of characters to play as, so you'll never have no favorite character.

10/10
It is one of the best Xbox live experiences you can find. If that isn't true enough, it is THE best Xbox live experience.

Control:

As said earlier, the game kinda suffers from complicated controls. I mean, there are so many weapons and so many abilities and so many different characters to use, that the possibilities are nearly endless. And for big possibilities, there has to be control over them. There are so many hard button combinations to do for a specific weapon or whatever, that some of the things you need to do first is to punch in some kind of button combination. Which can sometimes be hard to do. But nonetheless, they aren't abysmal.

7/10
One of the biggest and, not to mention, deepest learning curves in any third or first person shooter.

Sound:

The sound is pretty good. I love the music. And the weapon sounds are pretty good. Not to mention the sounds in the cut scenes. But the negative side of the sounds have to be the announcer. She can somewhat be annoying. I mean, if you lose, she says out loud "You have lost the match.". I mean, that can be pretty embarrassing if that is heard by a nearby family member or whoever. But nonetheless, sound is good.

8/10
The announcer should not embarrass anyone by saying that they have lost.

Graphics:

The graphics in the cutscenes are amazing. Not to mention the ones during gameplay. The character models are highly detailed. And the lighting is just one of the best I've ever seen since Doom 3(Which has phenomenal lighting). And the environments aren't so bad either. So all in all, these graphics are top notch.

10/10
Fun fact: These graphics were made using the unreal engine, which is going to be used in the upcoming Xbox 360 game titled The Gears of War. Which is made by the same people who made this game.

Replayability:
If you have Xbox live, 10/10. If you don't have it, 9/10. But for me, I found it to be fun either way, so I'll score it a 10.

10/10
This game just keeps you from running away from it.

Conclusion:

This game has most of it's ups and a few downs. But just buy it NOW if you have Xbox live. You don't wanna miss out on this awesome Xbox live experience. You'll have the most fun with a shooter since Halo 2. The sequel for this game(That is, if there ever is one) will most likely be THE Halo killer. If not, then oh well, Halo keeps it's rightful heir to the throne of the FPS genre. But anyway, you're going to have a blast with this game live or not.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/05