Unreal Tournament

This article is about the 1999 video game. For the game announced in 2014, see Unreal Tournament (upcoming video game).
Unreal Tournament

Developer(s) Epic Games
Digital Extremes
Publisher(s) GT Interactive
Infogrames (PS2)
Secret Level (DC)
Designer(s) Cliff Bleszinski
James Schmalz
Programmer(s) Steve Polge
Composer(s) Straylight Productions
Michiel van den Bos
Series Unreal
Engine Unreal Engine 1
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, OS X, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast
Release date(s) Microsoft Windows
  • NA November 30, 1999
  • EU 1999
Mac OS
  • NA January 17, 2000
PlayStation 2[1]
  • NA October 21, 2000
  • EU April 20, 2001
Dreamcast
  • NA March 13, 2001
  • EU June 29, 2001
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
Distribution CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, GD-ROM, download

Unreal Tournament (commonly called Unreal Tournament '99 or UT99 to differentiate from later games) is a first-person shooter (FPS) video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes.[2] It was first published in 1999 by GT Interactive for PC. Infogrames released it for the PlayStation 2, and Sega Studios San Francisco (known as Secret Level at the time) released it for the Dreamcast home consoles. The game is based on the same technology that powered Unreal, but the design of UT shifted the series' focus to competitive multiplayer action.

Gameplay

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[3] for its bot A.I., the product of programmer Steve Polge who had earlier risen to fame by designing the Reaper Bot for Quake,[4] 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.

Game types

Music
Unreal Tournament Main theme
31 second sample from the Main Menu theme of Unreal Tournament, written by Alexander Brandon.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

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, although only Brandon and Van Den Bos remained credited for it. The game (in contrast to Quake, which used CD audio) employed tracker music, which resulted in a considerably good sound quality with very little size trade-off.

Two additional tracks were contributed: one ("Firebr") by Tero "Teque" Kostermaa and Kai-Eerik "Nitro" Komppa, and one ("Razorback // Unreal mix") 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,[5] although there are various differences. Users, such as map makers, may also add custom soundtracks to maps using UnrealEd. Game composer Frank Klepacki was impressed by Alexander Brandon's contributions to the soundtrack.[6]

Modification

Many fans have taken advantage of the chance to create mods for the game. These range from slight changes on some aspects of gameplay (such as map voting) 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: Assault on Terror was released as a stand-alone retail product. The creator of Tactical Ops, Laurent Delayen, was later hired by Epic to work as one of the main gameplay programmers.[7] Another well-known example of a modder plucked from the Unreal community is Sjoerd De Jong.[8] After creating more than 30 maps for UT and mods, suchs as Operation Na Pali, Xidia and Jailbreak, he was contracted by Epic Games to create 6 maps for Unreal Tournament 2004. Two of these maps, ONS-Torlan and DM-Rankin, ended up being the most played maps in the game.[9]

Another popular mod, released by co-creator Digital Extremes and included with later versions of the game, is "Relics", which adds items to the game which have various effects on the player who obtains them. Relics include Vengeance (when the player holding it dies, a skull appears at the point of death and then explodes in a similar fashion to the Redeemer); Defense (which lessens the damage done by weapons); Speed (which gives the holding player a boost in speed); Redemption (which teleports the holding player to a different area when the player's health meter is at 0); Strength (which boosts the damage done by the player's weapons); and Regeneration (which regularly increases the player's health by 10 points).

Legacy

The success of the original Unreal Tournament has spawned four sequels, including Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 (on Unreal Engine 2.x), Unreal Tournament 3, which was originally code named UT2007, and the upcoming Unreal Tournament reboot. The yearly naming structure, based around marketing the franchise as a competitive sports title, was abandoned shortly before the launch of the third sequel.

There have also been several efforts to remake Unreal Tournament by the community using newer engine versions, the largest in scope being Unreal Tournament Revolution, a total conversion for UT2004, featuring new music by original Unreal Tournament composer Michiel van den Bos. Because of differences in the styles of the sequels, the goal of such remakes are typically to take advantage of newer engine features and graphical capabilities while remaining true to the gameplay and style of the first Unreal Tournament.

In 2000, Digital Extremes announced a game with the name Dark Sector which was planned as a spiritual successor to Unreal Tournament and "the next step in the first person action gaming experience by blending the intense action elements of Unreal Tournament with the scope and character evolution of a persistent online universe".[10] It was to feature an early clan/syndicate support,[11] team battles, ladder matches and Space flight gameplay. However, the game (in this form) never would see the light of day as the original plan was scrapped. The title would resurface in 2004 with an entirely new focus and being developed for the late sixth generation of video game consoles.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankingsMac: 96% (1 review)[12]
PC: 94% (22 reviews)[13]
Dreamcast: 88% (23 reviews)[14]
PlayStation 2: 77% (46 reviews)[15]
MetacriticPC: 92/100 (21 reviews)[16]
PS2: 77/100 (23 reviews)[17]
Dreamcast: 90/100 (17 reviews)[18]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Eurogamer10/10[19]
Game Revolution9.1/10[20]
GameSpot9.5/10[21]
GameSpy94/100[22]
IGN9.6/10[23]
Awards
PublicationAward
Computer Gaming World Game of the Year[24]
GameSpy: Game of the Year[24]
GameSpot: Action Game of the Year[24]
CNET: Multiplayer Game of the Year[24]
Macworld: Game Hall of Fame (1999)[25]

Unreal Tournament received widespread critical acclaim.[12][13][16] 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!"[26] In March 2000, Unreal Tournament was second on a list of best-selling games in Computer Dealer News trade magazine, behind Quake III Arena.[27]

At GameRankings, the Windows version of Unreal Tournament holds an average review score of 94%.[13] 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."[21] 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."[21] 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."[22]

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.[25] 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."[25]

The PlayStation 2 release did not fare as well as the PC and Dreamcast versions. The PS2 version has an average review score of 77% at Game Ratings.[15] GameSpy criticized the graphics of the PS2 version, saying "Graphically, the PS2 version of Unreal Tournament seems uninspired."[28] Its conclusion stated "Sluggish gameplay, somewhat washed out colors and textures".[28] In addition to this, the PS2 version only allowed multiplayer games on 11 maps (7 deathmatch and 4 capture the flag). A novel, but relatively unused, feature is the ability to connect a keyboard and mouse through the PS2's USB ports. Players could then play in a similar manner to the PC version. This also allowed for up to 3 players without the use of a PlayStation 2 Multitap.

The Dreamcast version has an IGN review score of 94%. The reviewer Anthony Chau praised the graphical details and the frame rate is a smooth over 30 frames per second 'From a visual standpoint UT is very impressive'. Texture quality and colors are very good, though you do lose some detail when engaging enemies in split screen mode. Special effects are very good and the game doesn't lose its bloody touch. As mentioned above, backgrounds had to be scaled back from its origin PC sizes and it also looks like the took away some detail to the backgrounds. The sound department of this game is excellent, a moody soundtrack delivers an ambient environment where the sound effects are very good in use thanks to the inbuilt Dreamcast sound processor, Yamaha Super Intelligent Sound Processor where every gunshot, taunt and scoring points is clearly present. Anthony Chau's review said: "I have to claim that Unreal Tournament is the overall best first person shooter on the Dreamcast.".[29]

References

  1. ↑ "Unreal Tournament Release Information for PlayStation 2". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  2. ↑ "Unreal Tournament". Digital Extremes. Retrieved June 21, 2012.
  3. ↑ Metacritic page for Unreal Tournament
  4. ↑ Unreal Tournament website - UT History
  5. ↑ http://teque.planet-d.net/mp3/Teque%20-%20Kharismatron.mp3
  6. ↑ Frank Klepacki (2008-11-08). "Interview of Frank Klepacki". Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  7. ↑ Jason Woo; Wayne Santos; Cai Jiahui (April 2005). Yip, Aaron, ed. "GameAxis Unwired" (20). Hardware Zone Magazine Pte Ltd. p. 50. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  8. ↑ Dana Cowley, Brian Rowe (15 January 2014). "Survival, Sci-fi and Discovery With Unreal Engine 4". Unreal Engine Blog. Epic Games. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  9. ↑ De Jong, Sjoerd. "Hourences Portfolio". Hourences.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  10. ↑ The Darker Sector – www.darkersector.com – We Live, eat, and excrete Dark Sector
  11. ↑ neuer Spieler: Die 10 besten Spiele, die es nie gab!
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Unreal Tournament Reviews (Mac)". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Unreal Tournament Reviews (PC)". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  14. ↑ "Unreal Tournament Reviews (DC)". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Unreal Tournament Reviews (PS2)". GameRankings. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Unreal Tournament (PC: 1999) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  17. ↑ "Unreal Tournament (PS2: 2000) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  18. ↑ "Unreal Tournament (Dreamcast: 2001) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  19. ↑ "Unreal Tournament PC Review". Eurogamer. 1999-12-04. Retrieved 2008-05-04. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  20. ↑ "Unreal Tournament review for the PC". Game Revolution. 1999-12-01. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 "PC Unreal Tournament Review". GameSpot. 1999-12-09. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Unreal Tournament review for the PC". GameSpy. 1999-12-01. Retrieved 2008-05-04. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  23. ↑ "Unreal Tournament Review". IGN. 1999-12-06. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 "GT Interactive and Epic Games Earn Coveted 'Game of the Year' Honors for 'Unreal Tournament'". Business Wire. February 17, 2000. p. 1261.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Breen, Christopher (May 2000). "Unreal Tournament (Software Review)". Macworld. p. 46.
  26. ↑ Vega, Peter (April 2000). "Unreal Tournament: A Blast That Will Last". Computer Shopper. p. 139.
  27. ↑ "Off the Shelf Best Selling Titles.". Computer Dealer News. March 10, 2000. p. 43.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 "Unreal Tournament Review (PS2)". PlanetPS2 (GameSpy). IGN. November 22, 2000. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  29. ↑ "Unreal Tournament Review (Dreamcast)". PlanetDreamcast (IGN). IGN. Retrieved 2013-09-08.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Unreal Tournament.