Unreal Tournament

The Good
Unreal Tournament has to be the pinnacle of "1st-person shooter" games. There's just too many reasons why, so I'll cover some of the reasons I think other reviewers have touched on only briefly:

• The editor. UnrealEd is not only fully-functional and chock full of features, but the rendering system (not based on BSP tree compiling) makes it really easy to quickly "compile" and test your map. Half-Life, by comparison, uses BSP trees (which compile in about 3 minutes) and light maps (which compile in about 3 hours).
• 45+ maps right out of the box. 'nuff said.
• Music! The music is based on 'scene "tracking" files/editors (similar to Amiga music modules) and ranges from okay to great. Using this custom music format also allows for close to 2+ hours of interactive music per game with plenty of space left on the CD. And since the CD isn't required to play any more (see below), you get music all the time if you want it.
• Patch level 432. With 432 and above, you don't need the CD in the drive to play any more.
• Feigning death. You can lie down and play dead if you want to. ;-)
• Works on low-speed machines. In addition to the many hardware tweaks you can make (type "preferences" at the system console to access that menu), Unreal Tournament also has a high-quality 32-bit software renderer as well -- and by "32-bit" I mean it renders 32-bit color (24-bit color with an 8-bit alpha channel). Many older, simple video cards can support 320x240x32-bit color with no hassle. The end result is that not only does the software rendering look decent, but you can play UT on more platforms than you can other games *cough*Quake3*cough* because UT will fall back to software rendering if your 3D hardware isn't supported properly, like in Linux or Windows NT. The end result of all this is that even if you have a Pentium 166, you can still tweak the game enough so that it runs at 20 fps on your box. And if you think 320x240 gameplay sucks, try doing it on a 32-person LAN in one of the teamplay modes. Doesn't suck now, does it? :)
• Attitude. Some of the auto-taunts are priceless ("Sit down!", "Try turning the safety off!", "I'm sorry, did I blow your head off?", etc.)
• Bots! If you want to hone your m@d k1ll1nG sk1llz at home before going online and getting the crap kicked out of you, you can play practice games of any type with any number of 'bots of varying skill levels. You can even give the 'bots personality, like fixing the skill level of each 'bot individually, changing their appearance, even their preferred weapon. You can even have the 'bots auto-adjust their skill level based on your performance.

But most of all, the gameplay is balanced. What does this mean? It means that each weapon has been tweaked to be just as powerful and effective at killing as every other weapon. A player can specialize in any certain weapon and, if he or she is good enough at it, can be just as lethal as any other player. Massively-powerful weapons (like the Redeemer, a miniature nuclear warhead) are offset by their refire rate (the Redeemer is an incredibly slow missle, for example).

Balanced gameplay is good. You want balanced gameplay, trust me.

The Bad
The expandability and customization features are lacking and undocumented. This doesn't mean you can't expand UT -- just the opposite, you can. But it's not made very easy for the end-user, and documentation on doing it is very hard to come by (the only docs I could find on the subject were written by other UT fans, which makes me wonder where they got the info). In fact, I didn't even know it was possible to upload your own sounds until I came across an Internet deathmatch server that had custom sounds.

With the exception of the Sniper Rifle, the weapons are not "traditional" weapons. (Last I checked, guns that 1. spew rotary saw blades, 2. emit a continuous stream of energy, 3. pummel human flesh into pulp, and 4. spew toxic green goop are not considered "normal".) This is offputting to those who are used to "normal" weapons, like those found in Half-Life/Team Fortress/Counter-Strike.

The "balanced gameplay" design falls short in one area: The original gun you start out with. It's pretty wimpy compared to the rest of the weapons. But even this is remedied if you manage to pick up another one, because then you can wield one in each hand for some John Woo-esque action.

The Bottom Line
There simply isn't a reason not to like this game! It's balanced, it's expandable, it comes with a great world editor, has tons of dedicated fans/fan sites/mods, and it has solid networking code. What's not to like? The original version at the time of this writing was $29.95 US, with the "gold" edition right around the corner with even more extras, so pick this game up! What are you waiting for, Daikatana 2?

The Good
Where to start?

-The AI is terrific. I felt like I was playing a human player. Also, the AI is extremely adjustable - there is an enemy for a player of any skill. I mean, if you pump up the AI enough, you can REALLY get your ass kicked. The AI is great, surprisingly considering I expected this to be mostly multiplayer. Great for practice!

-Modes galore! No matter your preference, there is a mode for it.

-Brilliant graphics if you have a good enough PC and 3D card. I mean, the graphics can blow your mind if you can pump them up. I mean, just check out the screenshots and drool. OK, so Quake III's engine is better. These graphics, however will suffice.

-Excellent multiplayer, which of course is the reason for the existence of this game :) I, personally, cannot comment on ping because I have a cable modem. However, the game's multiplayer is so sweet it's Unreal(horrible pun, I know). Constant fun, this plays wonderful. I mean, it really is awesome online.

-Cool taunts.

-Awesome weapons. Especially the redeemer. Of course, I'm biased towards big booms.

-Cool music. I mean, the stuff that really pumps you up to fight. Some of the best I've heard ever.

-Pretty damned good level design. I mean, it really kicks Q3's ass here. Q3 really pales in comparison.

The Bad
Well, it runs perfectly on my personal computer(but then again, I do have a 1Ghz Athlon), but I can't deathmatch my brother on his 200 mhz with 64 megs of ram - it runs too slowly on his machine, so I kick his ass and he gets pissed.

The Bottom Line
Better than Q3. Much better. I mean, really whups Quake 3's ass. Almost a flawless game.

The Good
Probably one of the best aspects of this game is the many types of gameplay and the many stages for each, although some levels are very poorly made (eg' Lava Giant. (WHO WANTS TO CTF IN THAT CRAPPY LEVEL??)

On the other hand, some levels are great to play in, like the Frigate, which I found to be very fun. Some game types were also very good, like domination.

The Bad
Here we are :
Very slow, hard DMers will hate the slow choppy gameplay
Graphics suck. Not colorful, instead just a few slabs of models put together<
Single player tournaments hard and annoying
Game finding process slow and unproductive, most servers fail to connect

The Bottom Line
Look, UT is decent, but it is not a solid DM game! If it was a single player, okay fine, but this game is just lousy. You want something good, go to Quake 3, Arena & Team Arena. I give Unreal Tournament a slow and poorly deserved (4.5/10)