Unreal Tournament

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Unreal Tournament
Developer(s)	Epic Games, Digital Extremes
Publisher(s)	GT Interactive
Engine	Unreal Engine
Version	436 (Official) 451b (Unofficial)
Platform(s)	Dreamcast, Linux, Mac OS, Mac OS X, PlayStation 2, Windows
Release date	November 30, 1999 (PC)[1] October 23, 2000 (Playstation 2)[1] March 14, 2001 (Dreamcast)[1] March 17, 2008 (Steam)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 15+ ESRB: Mature (M) USK: not under 18 (index)
Media	CD-ROM (2)
System requirements	see System requirements
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Unreal Tournament, abbreviated UT, (sometimes referred to as UT99, UT1999, UT Classic or UT1 in order to differentiate it from Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Unreal Tournament 3) is a popular first-person shooter video game. It is Digital Extremes' and Epic Games' 1999 follow-up title to Unreal and focuses mainly on multiplayer action. It was launched in direct competition to id Software's Quake III Arena which was released ten days later. Although Quake III Arena was considered to have better graphics, streamlined gameplay and a widely adopted engine, UT had superior bot AI, "alternate fire" for weapons which introduced a further element of strategy, and a larger variety of multiplayer capabilities.

As with the original Unreal, the ease with which players can create and release mods to the core game is a key factor contributing to UT's longevity. UT improved upon the mod-friendly nature of its predecessor with support for mutators such as Sniper Arena, Instagib, JumpMatch, Low Gravity and more. Further, UT clans, or gaming teams, and a score of UT dedicated clan and fan community sites continue to sustain Unreal Tournament's popularity years after its initial release.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Game types 2 Reception 3 Competition 4 Modifications 5 Music 6 System requirements 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Main article: Unreal (series)

UT was designed as an arena FPS, with head-to-head multiplayer deathmatches being the primary focus of the game. The game's single-player campaign is essentially a series of arena matches played with bots. For team matches, bots are again used to fill the roles of the player's teammates. Even on dedicated multiplayer servers, bots are sometimes used to pad out teams that are short on players.

UT is known and widely praised for its bot A.I., the product of programmer Steve Polge who had earlier risen to fame by designing the Reaper Bot for Quake, one of the earliest examples of an effective deathmatch bot. The player can choose a bot skill level (anywhere from "Novice" to "Godlike") or set it to automatically adjust to the player's performance. Bots can be further customized by changing names, appearance, accuracy, weapon preferences, awareness, and so forth.

[edit] Game types

Although many mods have been released as game types for Unreal Tournament such as Monster Hunt, Frag Ball, UT Soccer and more, these are the original multiplayer game types released with the game.

• Deathmatch: A classic every-man-for-himself player vs. player combat. The objective is to finish the map with the most kills, or frags.
• Team Deathmatch: Teams compete together to out-frag the opponent team.
• Capture the Flag: Classic Capture the Flag. Players compete to capture the other team's flag and return it to their base. Competitive teams must use a great deal of teamplay. Both teams must defend the base from incoming attackers and get into the other team's base, take their flag and return to base. This requires that the team protect their flag carrier very well from enemies in order to complete their objective.
• Domination: Teams compete to control various control points to earn points and win the map. Standard maps contain three control points. Control of these points can be accomplished either through occupation (physically occupying the space) or from a distance.
• Last Man Standing: Similar to Deathmatch, the objective here is to remain alive longer than your opponents, putting an emphasis on number of deaths rather than kills. Players have a set number of lives and once they run out of lives they lose and have to wait as spectators till match end.
• Assault: This game type is played with two opposing teams, one assaulting a "base" and the other defending it. The map is set up with a number of objectives which the attacking team must complete (usually in sequence) such as destroying something, entering an area, triggering a button, et cetera. The team who first attacks then defends, and attempts to defend for the entire time they attacked. If they can accomplish this, they win the map. If the team defending first assaults the base faster than the other team, they win the map. If both teams defend for the maximum amount of time the map is a tie.

There are many other game type mods available for Unreal Tournament, Including Bunny Tracks, Monster Hunt, Jail Break, and more.

[edit] Reception

Reviews
Publication	Score
Eurogamer	10/10[2]
Game Revolution	9.1/10[3]
GameSpot	9.5/10[4]
GameSpy	94/100[5]
IGN	9.6/10[6]
Compilations of multiple reviews
Compiler	Score
Metacritic	PC: 92/100 (21 reviews)[7] PS2: 77/100 (23 reviews)[8] Dreamcast: 90/100 (17 reviews)[9]
Game Rankings	Mac: 96% (1 review)[10] PC: 94% (22 reviews)[11] Dreamcast: 88% (23 reviews)[12] Playstation 2: 77% (46 reviews)[13]
Awards
Computer Gaming World Game of the Year[14]
GameSpy: Game of the Year[14]
Gamespot: Action Game of the Year[14]
CNET: Multiplayer Game of the Year[14]
Macworld: Game Hall of Fame (1999)[15]

Unreal Tournament received wide critical acclaim from the press.^[10][7][11] Mainstream press reviews praised the graphics, gameplay, maps and multiplayer capabilities of the game. Computer Shopper concluded "Quake may have spawned the online deathmatch, but Unreal Tournament has taken it to the next level with its amazing graphics and fast-paced action. Online or off, this game rules!"^[16] In March 2000, Unreal Tournament was second on a list of best-selling games in Computer Dealer News trade magazine, behind Quake III Arena.^[17]

At Game Rankings, the Windows version of Unreal Tournament holds an average review score of 94%, making it the eighth highest rated Windows game released to date.^[11] Gamespot praised Unreal Tournament's graphics, noting "As good as the original Unreal looked, Unreal Tournament looks even better. The character models and skins look excellent, and there are quite a few choices to make when designing your character."^[4] Gamespot also praised the multiplayer gameplay, weapons and level design: "The first-person shooter genre is fiercely competitive. But Unreal Tournament rises above the rest with its solid multiplayer performance, from its good weapon balance to its great level design."^[4] The game was similarly reviewed by GameSpy, who concluded: "Unreal Tournament raises the bar for first person teamplay games. This game is stuffed with content and polished until it gleams."^[5]

The Macintosh version of Unreal Tournament' was equally praised. Macworld dubbed it the "Best network shooter for the Mac", and gave it the Game Hall of Fame award in 1999.^[15] In its review, Macworld editor Christopher Breen stated: "If the violence and hardware requirements don't unsettle you, you'll find Unreal Tournament nothing but unwholesome, bloody fun."^[15]

The Playstation 2 and Dreamcast releases did not fare as well as the PC versions. The PS2 version has an average review score of 77% at Game Ratings.^[13] GameSpy criticized the graphics of the PS2 version, saying "Graphically, the PS2 version of Unreal Tournament seems uninspired.".^[18] Its conclusion stated "Sluggish gameplay, somewhat washed out colors and textures". ^[18] The Dreamcast version has an average review score of 88%.^[12] GameSpy's review said: "Well, believe it or not, there are lots of annoying features that drag the game down".^[19] GameSpy cited both slow framerate speeds and low sound quality as problems with the Dreamcast version.^[19]

[edit] Competition

Unreal Tournament was played at the World Cyber Games in the years of 2001^[20] and 2002^[21] where the title was contended for in a deathmatch 1 vs 1 environment. This is where UT was played on an international scale, where players from all around the world went head to head to see who would be crowned world champion.^[22]

Place	WCG 2001	WCG 2002
1st	GitzZz	GitzZz
2nd	XS|Pain	Shaggy
3rd	Xan	eVeNfLoW

The results of the two years saw GitzZz win both years and found himself entered into the WCG Hall of Fame.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Modifications

As Unreal Tournament is a popular game, many fans have taken the liberty of creating mods for the game. These range from slight changes on some aspects of gameplay (such as map voting) or to total conversions. One modification ChaosUT became popular enough that it was included with the 'Game of the Year' edition of the game, while Tactical Ops was released as a standalone retail product.

[edit] Music

The soundtrack for the game was primarily written by Alexander "Siren" Brandon, Michiel "M.C.A." van den Bos, Andrew "necros" Sega, and Dan "Basehead" Gardopée, the same music artists who wrote the Unreal soundtrack.

Two additional tracks were contributed: one ("firebr.umx") by Tero "Teque" Kostermaa and Kai-Eerik "Nitro" Komppa, and one ("razor-ub.umx") by Peter "Skaven" Hajba. These, however, remained uncredited for reasons unknown—Hajba's credits are in fact still intact in the instrument data in the file itself, and the original version of Kostermaa's song is available from his website [1], although there are various differences.

[edit] System requirements

Official system requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
Windows[23]
Operating System	Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT4.0
CPU	Intel Pentium 200 MHz	Intel Pentium II 266 MHz
Memory	32 MB	64 MB
Hard Drive Space	120 MB of free space	605 MB of free space
Network	Internet connection required for online multiplayer
Macintosh[24]
Operating System	Mac OS 7.6 or higher
CPU	PowerPC 603e 200 MHz or faster
Memory	64 MB
Hard Drive Space	120 MB of free space

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Unreal Tournament at the Open Directory Project

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