Our family has been playing this game almost continuously since Xmas, and the fast action is addictive! I’m debating getting the sequel games. Are they better than the original, and are the system requirements vastly different?
I’m also trying to find the UnrealED 2.0- is it supposed to be on the game disks? I’ve tried Googling but only get references to it, not a download site.
Lastly, is there anyone who plays online regularly? Has anyone gathered a group of Dopers for games? I know there are Starcraft and Counter-Strike players out there, anyone up for some Unreal Tournament?
It’s been a while since I dusted off the UT disks, but I believe the editor is on one of the other “non-play” disks. At least, that’s the s.o.p. for the Unreal series.
UT2003 is the current sequel. UT2004 isn’t out yet, but is said to be all the stuff from 2003 plus vehicle support and some other improvements. “Unreal Championship” is just 2003 for the Xbox.
For gameplay, I think the original UT has a better atmosphere about it. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. UT2003 lacks the awesome Assault mode of the original (although it’s been said that 2004 will put it back), but it does have its own Invasion mode, which pits all players against waves of enemies from the original Unreal (very fun on Instagib!). You could possibly find a mod to put an Assault mode in 2003, but you’d be taking the risks of conflicts that arise whenever you use fan-made game modes.
As for graphics, the sequel is definately better, but at the speed you’re moving you don’t really notice different quality textures. When you end up flat on your back (or bouncing down the hallway, or ground to sausage in a fan duct) you can appreciate the bump-mapping and such. Model quality for 2003 is much better. 2003 uses ragdoll physics for its corpses, and the makers like to show it off by having forcefields o’ death just above a series of crossbeams for you to carom off until your body flops into a heap at the bottom of a pit. However, this means that the gibbing isn’t as prevailent or hilarious - in UT you can turn on low grav and see heads still bouncing around a hallway a minute after gut-blowing some poor sap with the Flak Cannon. I miss that. There’s a demo at unrealtournament.com, so you can see your system runs it acceptably.
For some reason the original has more variety to its skins; for each model there are multiple skins with various faces and many voices, and in 2003 each model only has two skins and there is only one voice for each model type (offhand, I think there are 10 model types).
Fan support for both is completely nuts, though of course UT2003 is getting more attention since it is newer. Lots of mods and models/skins can be found for both, with several incredibly neat ones.
Lastly - I can’t find my UT disks, or I’d gladly reinstall and pitch in. I bet my brother has them somewhere.
I’m very fond of the game, but my ping frankly stinks. I tend to get chopped to chutney when I play on line…