Unreal Tournament 2004
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Atari Raffi_BUT2004 ended up being exactly what I expected it to be, and more. I was worried about being too excited for the game, and that the old game types would be forgotten, but when I popped in the disk and loaded up CTF-AbsoluteZero (my favorite CTF map, quite possibly of all time), all my fears were laid to rest. This game officially 0wned. I would have happily bought it if it only had Onslaught and Assault, but the other game types absolutely sealed the deal.My main hope is that the mapping and modding community will really take off. With the addition of the 3Dbuzz VTM's, I'm hoping more and more people will see how versatile and expandable the game really is. The game is already as customizable as possible; take the "Use Old Weapon Model" option for instance. Epic knew that someone out there preferred things the way they were, so they included countless options and variables to help you get the game exactly the way you want it. Even if you crave something as outrageous as Redeemer Arena Quad jump Lowgrav 200% Speed Berserk Onslaught, it is possible with this game. Hopefully this will appeal to members of other gaming communities, who will eventually see the light and come over to a clearly superior game. The new game types are positively fantastic. Onslaught is all I wanted it to be, and then some. When UT2004 was first announced, I had my doubts about whether or not vehicles belonged in the Unreal series. how wrongly I was mistaken. The vehicles were implemented flawlessly, and I keep discovering more tricks every time I play. My favorite vehicle would probably be the manta because it's just so much fun to watch your foe's guts get splattered all over the front of the vehicle. repeatedly..Assault is a fantastic game type, and was dearly missed in UT2003. While UT2003 is and was a great game, it felt incomplete. Somewhere, there was some part of the game that was missing. I believe this part was the lack of extensive polish. Epic has added over two years of polish to UT2003's core game play, and this lends to an overall fantastic game that will be played for years to come. In closing, I'm hoping that this game will become immensely successful and the developers can get a long, well-deserved rest.