Unreal Tournament 2003 – PC – Preview

E3 2002

Unreal is the shooter game by which other
shooters are inevitably judged. So how do you advance the first-person
shooter to make it better.

Well, you can add some new characters,
and use a new engine. That’s what Infogrames did and demonstrated at the
E3 2002 in Los Angeles.

For the uninitiated Unreal Tournament won
mutiple Game of the Year awards in 1999. This is basically an arena-shooter
game that challenges players, and teams of players to use every bit of
reflexive ability at their disposal to survive the intense combat.

Game features include a 100-200x poly count
increase over Unreal Tournament; six races (including the juggernauts,
mercenaries, nightmares, bots and Egyptians), more than 50 characters,
and 30 maps; the Unreal editor for customizing your game experience; new
weapons (like the shield gun); and special moves.

There are new multiplayer games, which
include the old standards such as deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture
the flag, and add in bomb-and-run, and double domination.

Graphically the game has been improved
as well. Soft-layer shadows and environmental texturing allow for stunning
effects. If a tree is moving in the wind, you’ll see it reflected in the
ground shadows. And death graphics have been enhanced as well. If your
character, or another is shot on a slope, he or she may actually slide
a way down the embankment instead of simply bleeding all over the point
of death.

The gameplay remains basically the same.
Shoot, move, try to use the available terrain and structures and stay alive.
The first-person perspective gives players the right vantage point for
success in this volatile environment.

Unreal Tournament may the standard that
all other FPS games are judged by, but the 2003 version has raised the
bar in terms of graphical elements.

Look for the release of Unreal Tournament
2003 this summer.