December 14, 1999 Web posted at: 1:42 p.m. EST (1842 GMT) by Nash Werner

From...

(IDG) -- Wow. I never expected Unreal Tournament to be so much fun -- especially considering the original Unreal's shady multiplayer.

But UT has won me over. This game has legs.

You're competing in an intergalactic league of futuristic, bloodsport-type events known only as "Deathmatch." In single-player mode, you'll face AI-controlled "bots" masquerading as real-life competitors (a la the old coin-op, Punch-out).

Sound familiar? It should. It's the same single-player model Quake 3 is using.

But what separates UT from Quake 3 is its glossy presentation.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Gaming

Consider: Your first match is set aboard a spacecraft travelling through the cosmos at the speed of light Run past one of the ship's many windows and you'll see stars whizzing by outside. Look even closer, and you'll see a squadron of escorting star-fighters. Simply marvelous!

You'll rise in rank as you win matches; entering bigger and badder matches in 32 different levels. You'll dodge rockets in industrial moon colonies, score head shots on sandy alien beaches, and even hunt down hard-to-find body armor in an underwater super-structure.

And just when I thought I'd seen it all… I'm jumping out of a helicopter onto a moving train!

As in Unreal, the graphics are beautiful. The polygons are smooth and remain fluid during fast movement. Textures are very sharply rendered and retain their quality even when you get up close and personal. And you'll find subtle touches of brilliance, like the naval battleships on the Overlord map that, if watched closely, can be seen firing their long range payloads at an enemy base.

UT is also like Unreal in its incredible AI. In fact, it's even better. You can now give your robot teammates orders to cover you, hold position", or even tell them to go "freelance," where they'll perform a mixture of defensive and offensive tactics depending on the situation. I often forgot I was playing with robots instead of real people. The AI is that good.

Audio in UT is also superb. Your AI teammates will chatter away in response to orders, or talk trash after they kill an opponent. The weapon sound effects are all very crisp, and they had me unglued from my chair as I played long into the night -- no doubt waking all my light-sleeping neighbors.

Multiplayer over the Internet is probably the best, most surprising, part. There's very little lag, even when playing on my 56.6k modem. And with support from HEAT, Mplayer, and UT's "find the server" feature, you'll always find online opponents.

UT also offers an immense amount of flexibility in terms of setting up a multiplayer game. Beyond the standard abilities to set the level and the number of players and bots, "Mutators" like Low Gravity, Sniper Arena, and Chainsaw Melee change everything about the way deathmatch is played. For example, in "Fatboy" mode, you'll grow in size with every kill and shrivel when you're killed. You'll always know who the big dog is because he or she will be physically massive!

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

More gaming news, reviews and cheats from GameProWorld

Download free game demos

In short, whether you're new to the genre or a shooter vet looking for new thrills, UT has everything you need.

Tips: