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Unreal Championship 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed and
hugely popular Unreal Championship, which offers both an exciting
multiplayer mode and a new single-player tournament experience...
Not
so much picking up from the last iteration of Unreal,
but more akin to dragging the franchise kicking and screaming
back to a place among the hearts and minds of Unreal
fans it had long since left vacant, Unreal Championship
2: The Liandri Conflict promises, and is indeed a game
that delivers.
In
September 2003, Microsoft and Epic signed a deal to bring
the Unreal franchise to Xbox exclusively, and when
you know it's Xbox exclusive, you know it's going to squeeze
every last polygon, every single adrenaline fuelled motion
blur out of Microsoft's machine. Everything from the opening
menu tells you this game has high class written all over it.
Firstly,
Epic chose to focus on delivering a solid single player experience.
Now, most newcomers to the Unreal franchise won't have
a clue that Unreal has already shown every first person
shooter wannabe king of the hill how it's done when it came
to multiplayer perfection. However, it's always neglected
the single player element, but here is where, for once, it
excels. With a different single player experience for each
character, each having it's own cut scenes and side story.
No stone is left unturned in an effort to make the solitary
gamer feel as at home in the Unreal world as veteran
multiplayer stalwarts.
Once entering the game you notice the strangest addition to
the first person shooter genre. Strangest and yet, at the
same time, the most ingenious and obvious addition without
it ever being clear enough for any other developer to have
tried. Third person first - first person shooter? Is there
such a genre? Epic's main aim since late last year at a press
event in Madrid was to "Bring a knife to a gunfight". Without
praising Epic's devotion to the cause too much, they did just
that.
Melee
action in third person works so well in UC2 that it
seems an almost natural progression to the franchise. While
veterans of the series may insist that it's taken away from
the original Unreal idea, it does two things. Firstly,
it evens up gameplay between novices and experts. Secondly,
it gives the player a more involved feel to the game. Immersing
a player can often be achieved in numerous ways, but none
so easily, and I've yet to find a game that does it so seamlessly.
Well, maybe Halo 2's dual wielding comes close, but
it didn't instantly strike me and make me shout "Woah!" at
a plasma screen in the basement of a Madrid conference centre.
Still, six months later, after the game's completion, I'm
still drawn into the Unreal universe. Even before going
online I'm hooked. But let's take it to where it's always
been. Online on Xbox Live, Unreal comes alive in a way you
wouldn't expect it to. With a reduced number of players from
the last Unreal game, 8 instead of 16, my first inclination
was that maybe they couldn't handle the graphics being this
good with 16 players. Just to prove me wrong, they showed
me the 16 player version they tried while in Madrid, and sure
enough not a problem was to be found. Once you actually get
online in one of the 40 maps that come with the game, you'll
realise the size of the maps are smaller, but the scale has
just been turned up a few notches. Gameplay has kept at that
fast pace that you expect from Unreal games. In essence,
Epic has delivered one of the most compelling first person
shooters ever.
If
you've got an Xbox and you're a fan of the series, you'll
play this to death. If you're not a fan, or haven't warmed
to the Unreal universe of yet, you'll find yourself
snuggling up by the fire that is the warm glow of UC2,
and in time, you will indeed see the importance, and the fun
of bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Gareth
Williams
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£29.99
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