As a frequent (and by frequent I mean practically hourly) player of the UT 2K3 demo, I’m happy to say that the gameplay and map skills originally shown in the demo have arrived in final form intact. Although as I noted above, sometimes that’s not a good thin; the map originality is simply incredible. Perhaps the themes are rather stale – more post-Apocalyptic battles? – but the simply gigantic selection of choices for how you play a level is mind-boggling. There are a few sniper spots, perfectly placed ammo to heighten the tension, and usually good physics for firing everything from Bio-Rifles to Ion Cannons. Speaking of Ion Cannons, the weapon selection covers a wide variety of different fighting styles, with only the Ion Cannon being singled out as a cheap and unbalanced weapon. Luckily servers can choose what weapons to have, so quite a few server mods have said no to Mr. Ion, which is a relief… UT 2K3 should be based on skill, not who can click the trigger to wipe out any and all nearby opposition, because that’s zero challenge. Most guns have proper secondary functions that increase the strategy needed, most often the secondary functions are sort of bail-out options for close range kills. The ease of killing people with a Bio Rifle or rocket launcher, not to mention the rapid availability of sniping weapons unfortunately makes the game more tailored for sniping and accuracy over running towards each other with guns blazing. This may be to some people’s style, but I’m betting some gamers will feel cheated out of the experience.
All of these imbalance issues are practically worthless though, because the real secret of UT 2K3’s success is that the mod of the server has the power to create a game as they see fit, so the gameplay can change immensely from one server to another. Some may have gameplay that has double speed and only a sniping weapon with one-hit-kill capacity, while others may make zero gravity, eliminate certain weapons or add other modifications to the gameplay as they become available. While it’s not as massive an overhaul as say, a complete mod like Counterstrike was to Half-Life, the customization is enough that a good level of control is given, and therefore it’s up to the people who run the servers to smooth out of some of UT 2K3’s wrinkles. Judging from the many, many servers I’ve been on, they’ve done a good job and basically made a game much better just by using good judgment in what they’ll do with a level.
Up until now we’ve discussed the mechanics of playing, but perhaps even more important than the way the game plays is how you can play it. Unfortunately there are only a few modes of multiplayer battle, which is disappointing to those of us expecting stacks of selectable game modes. What’s here is pure and simple quality. The Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are modes that are straight forward enough that I don’t believe they need explaining. TD in particular is an engrossing mode and one of my favorites when the idea of having to think (such as in Capture the Flag or Double Domination) just doesn’t appeal to me. Capture the Flag still reigns supreme in terms of strict playability and addictiveness, but there’s one problem. If you join up to a game and your team absolutely sucks, the game begins to suck and become no fun. Sure I’ve had plenty of great stories on how I joined a team that was getting hammered and single-handedly raised it to victory, but these are fleeting and rare. Most often you’ll simply get beaten badly and your teammates do nothing to help the team they’re a part of. Get a good squad that works together well (such as a clan, or maybe just a chance group that happens to meet on a game), and CTF becomes the best mode available. Mixing strategy of all kinds, it forces players to use both sniping (for enemy elimination), accuracy (for base clearing), and up close combat (actually taking the flag). In short, it’s like a UT 2K3 Ironman mode, a little bit of everything is tested. Similar to CTF in that regard would be the two other modes, Double Domination - where teams try to gain control of both key points on a map and hold control of both for ten seconds - and Bombing Run. The Bombing Run game is extremely hard and the learning curve is much higher than the other modes, but it scores points for being very unique compared to the other UT 2K3 modes. Also available is a single-player mode that is basically where you play the multiplayer modes with AI bots instead of humans. If anyone is thinking of buying UT 2K3 who won’t use the online multiplayer just about always, I’d say save your time. Although not technically deficient per se, fighting the AI bots (no matter how cunning) doesn’t offer the satisfaction, spontaneity and complex intelligence that squaring off against human opponents offers. It’s a nice inclusion for the times your internet connection is down, but I would never, ever choose it over playing online. UT 2K3 was made to be played online against human opponents, and that’s that.
So the big final question is whether UT 2K3 indeed lives up to the outrageous hype and delivers gameplay worthy of being the sequel to one of the best multiplayer FPS’s ever made. That depends largely on what server you join, and since there are hundreds the opportunities are vast. The game itself definitely has a few issues with imbalance and physics, but these can be righted with the proper server setup and that’s why it’s more of a try and see thing. I personally find UT 2K3 every bit as enthralling as the original, and it’s a great multiplayer accent to a more solid single player title like No One Lives Forever 2. Although some original Unreal Tournament junkies may cry foul the first time the sequel boots up, there’s no doubt that it’s just as addictive and fun.
Unreal Tournament 2003 is the latest game to tax even high-end systems, delivering awesome textures, models and animations to computers that have the power to afford it. On a 1.2 GHz Athlon XP with GeForce 3 and 512MB DDR RAM, I did the medium graphical setting (high-detail for the environments portion) and the results were still great. As long as you don’t overshoot the boundaries of the system requirements, the game’s framerate will remain rock solid as long as the ping is reasonable. Naturally once the ping rises it’s time to either find a new server or ditch your 56k for something more reasonable. The player models are different in design, ranging from the crowd-favorite robots and voodoo clowns to the more standard Marine-styled getup, but they lack detail. They are definitely the roughest of the graphical elements in UT 2K3, although my snob friend with the GeForce 4 tells me the jaggies, blockiness and detail on the models are improved on the highest graphical settings. The environments are absolutely huge, perfectly accommodating for plenty of players, and each map has it’s own definitive style. The texture work on the levels is also impressive, with high quality textures plastered on even the most seemingly insignificant items. Add that to some great special effects/particle effects and you have a game that’s a looker. Just make sure your machine is high-end enough to handle UT 2K3 the way it was meant to be played.
Definitely the low point of UT 2K3’s presentation lays in the sound. The voice taunts overwhelm the game, with things being shouted every few seconds as people die and respond, thanks to the auto-taunt feature. It’s unfortunate, then, that the taunts are so childish and annoying… although they get points for giving each character model it’s own set of taunts in a proper voice – like robotic chirping for the robot characters and hissing accents for the lizard men – the taunts themselves are poor. Going from the attitude-filled ‘Die bitch!’ to the Valley Girl selection of taunts, such as “Talk to the hand”, UT 2K3 has plenty of embarrassing barbs of supposed wit to throw around everywhere. The announcer saves the day with his perfectly over the top play calling, especially in Capture the Flag. Unfortunately the announcer alone can’t save UT 2K3 from embarrassing itself in this particular category, and I suppose it could be called the one black eye of an otherwise exemplary FPS.
With an Editor included in the package, UT 2K3 mods are sure to start popping up right away, since the fan base is simply gigantic. Couple that with the fact that the multiplayer never really gets old, and you have a game that will last an extremely long time. At least until UT 2K4… if that ever happens. The popularity of the game has led to a massive collection of servers of all shapes, types and sizes, so finding the perfect customized game to participate in has never been easier. Epic Games also does a good job of patching their products, so there’s no doubt that UT 2K3 will only improve with age. This is a game that will stay in your PC collection.
If you only have money for one FPS game this fall, then I really feel for you… because the choice between UT 2K3 and Monolith’s No One Lives Forever 2 is a toughie. Ultimately I’d say that unlimited replay value coupled with awesome multiplayer goodness makes UT 2K3 slightly more deserving of your money than NOLF 2, which sports an incredible single player mode but a much lighter multiplayer selection. Whether you buy it right now or wait a while to get the funds, UT 2K3 still needs your purchase. And if you’re looking for a new addiction, I’d claim that UT 2K3 is much cheaper than smoking a pack a day… |
