Unreal Championship

Unreal Championship
Developer(s)	Epic Games Digital Extremes
Publisher(s)	Atari
Designer(s)	Cliff Bleszinski
Composer(s)	Starsky Partridge
Series	Unreal
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.0
Platform(s)	Xbox
Release date(s)	NA September 24, 2002 EU November 29, 2002
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution	DVD

Unreal Championship is a first-person shooter video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. It was published by Infogrames and released for the Xbox.^[1][2] Unreal Championship is essentially a console version game of the PC-based Unreal Tournament 2003, developed specifically to take advantage of Xbox Live, Microsoft's online gaming service. In 2003 Unreal Championship was added to Microsoft's "Platinum Hits" line of Xbox games. It was followed in 2005 by Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict also for Xbox.

Plot

Over a century has passed since Liandri Corporation first began the tournaments, and while the tradition lives on, much has changed in the world around it...

Seventy years ago an invasion fleet appeared in Human space, wiping out virtually all resistance before it could begin. Humanity, a race that had taken pride in its freedom, suddenly found itself bound by the shackles of an ancient race vastly superior in numbers and technology.

The empire quickly established a foothold among the worlds of its latest acquirement, using propaganda and brute force where necessary. Those who swore allegiance to the Emperor found that life wasn't so different under the new rule, and for some it even improved. But for those who would not kneel before their new rulers, death awaited them on the prison planets scattered across the sectors.

The Emperor and his counsel, at first repulsed by the idea of the tournaments, soon began to see the advantage of providing the populace with a form of entertainment that both enraptured the viewers and reminded them where disobedience would lead them.

Arena worlds were picked from the harshest of the prison planets, and the training began. People who had watched the Liandri Tournaments with savage glee found themselves on the arena floors fighting for their lives again and again, as the alien technology ripped them back from the brink of death until their minds finally collapsed under the strain.

Examples were made of the more vocal dissidents, each broken and remade in the image of the darkest nightmares, to show the scorn the Emperor felt for the weaklings who opposed him. Not all the participants took part unwillingly. A race of beings previously unknown slaughtered the new combatants with reckless abandon, taking pride in the ease at which they butchered the new meat. For all they cheered during each battle, every time another Human died, the spirit of the men and women who watched grew weaker.

Now that the tournaments have become a fixture of the Empire's power, the aristocracy has begun to take part as well, in carefully orchestrated battles that pose no real danger to their lives. Unlike their prisoners, these Highborn can not use the resurrection technology so readily available, without losing their status as ones tainted by madness. To kill a Highborn is to kill him forever.

The only hope for mankind is that a champion would rise from the ashes of their civilization and succeed against all odds to hold the Emperor's life in their hands. That Unreal Champions name was Nefarious. The greatest Unreal champion to ever grace the arena. After winning and earning his place in tournament history at the expense of his comrades lives and proving that he was the most fierce and brutal competitor, he and those falling by his hand were saluted and a truly fitting reward was offered to the Unreal Champion. The reward was that of immortality, he refused and in turn asked for his freedom. And in doing so his name and record was erased from history and Nefarious is said to have been executed for his insolence. Others have claimed that his wish for freedom was granted and he left the fame and power only to head towards the border edge of the galaxy to the desolate planet to live out his life and to be left alone. Whatever his fate may be, he will be remembered as the greatest Unreal champion to have ever competed.

Game modes

• Deathmatch
• Team deathmatch
• Capture the flag
• Double Domination – In Double Domination both teams must control two points on the map for ten seconds in order to score. A point can be taken by walking into its symbol, A or B. NPCs can be ordered to go to a certain point.
• Survival — 1 vs 1 deathmatch with more players than usual. As each round ends, the losing player is made to join a queue of spectators while the winner remains in the game until killed. The winner is the first player to reach a predetermined score.
• Bombing Run – Unreal-style football where the player's team must score by placing the ball in the enemy force's goal. The bombing gun regenerates health as the offensive player moves, giving him additional lifespan to reach the enemy goal. Once the enemy goal is reached, the offensive player can run into it to score seven points for their team. Shooting the bomb into the enemy goal earns three points.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Unreal Championship was composed by Starsky Partridge.^[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 83.04%[4] Metacritic 83/100[5] Review scores Publication Score Game Revolution [6] GameSpot 8.5/10[7] GameSpy [8] IGN 9.2[9]

External links

• Unreal Championship official website

References