PRE-GAME
Ten
years ago, Anubis,a prince of the Reydi Family, was favored to win
the Unreal Tournament and become king of his people. But on the eve
of the tournament, he fled to the desert and joined the Legion. He
has returned, to stop his former fiancee Selket from talking his
spot at the throne as a violent pawn of the Liandai Mining
Corporation. Anubis now must face
her in a death match tournament, as well as a slew of competitors
seeking the throne.
Does
Anubis has the skills to reclaim his throne, or did the time spent
in the desert only delay his death?
EYE-SPY
THE
HOOK: One of the biggest names in FPS games has returned to
Microsoft’s X-box, this time with an addition melee fighting
system. Now when things heat up, you can whip out a bladed weapon
and cut down the competition literally. Bring a knife to a gun fight
for the first time in Unreal history...and hope to hell your skilled
enough to use it. And you can take the fight online with up 8
players in various death matches and multi-player games, with new
modes exclusive to the X-box.
HOW
IT LOOKS AND FEELS: While it’s not going to take home any awards
in the looks department, that’s not to say that this isn’t a
pretty game. The graphics do UC2 justice, it’s just you really
won’t have too much time to appreciate them in the 3rd
person view when everyone and their mother’s cat is gunning for ya.
Switching
to the first person mode will help you appreciate the rich,
futuristic, Egyptian-influenced levels, but you may end up taking a
few bullets to the head in the process. The character designs and
maintain the traditional Unreal look, ranging from resurrected
soldiers, hulking aliens, sleek robots, Egyptian theme heroes and a
certain Thunder God from a famous Midway fighting game.
On
the control end, UC2 is custom made for the XB and it shows. Every
button serves a function in this game, be it equipping your melee
weapon, to taunting your enemies.
By now I hope your using the slimmer S-type controller for
this game because the bulkier earlier version is only going to get
your ass kicked.
Unreal
fanatics will be amazed on how their beloved franchise (No, not Halo
folks. Believe it or not, 5% of all XB owner didn’t buy the system
just for that game....I’m not one of them, just saying, that’s
all) handles as a 3rd person action game at times. This
separate the title from the other 5 billion futuristic non-Halo FPS
out for the ‘Box, and it’s greatly appreciated. And mean how
many titles allowed you to do a double back flip into the air and
send your enemies bullet back at them?
HOW
IT SOUNDS: You hear that? No? Shut up and listen.
There
you go, An example of the games soundtrack. In fact, for the first
time in a DVJ review, I’m going to play the entire in-game
soundtrack for you right now! Here we go!
HA!
Gotcha! There is none! Nope, no in-game music what so-ever. Just the
sound of explosions and flying meat chunks that used to be robots
(yeah, I’m confused as to how robots explode into meat chunks as
well...maybe their all members of an underground meat smuggling ring
and their full of meet to get it past various check points?.) The
in-game dolby-digital sound system enhances these various
blood-related noises, but your probably not going to notice and or
care.
As
for the voice acting (yup, there’s cinemas in this sucker), it’s
not bad, but you’ll find better work with better scripts in other
games. But then again, who played Unreal Tournam,er, Championship
for the plot?
EXTRAS:
Unlockable characters, ‘bots, levels and movies. Plenty of replay
value here folks. Enjoy.
CINEMATIC
EXPERIENCE: There’s a series of FMVs that will flesh out UC2's
story during the single player campaign mode. They’ll fill you in
on the progress of Anuibus’s quest, and flesh out the game a
little. Ground-breaking they ain’t, but it will give you something
to look out during death match sessions.
BEST
CHARACTER: This all depends on your preference of speed, strength or
blonde, red-heads or brunettes. I’m going to go with zombie-babe
Lauren for the time being, until I unlock the special guest start
character. Who’s that you ask. Well, I hate to spoil the suprise,
but I can’t resist. Straight from MORTAL KOMBAT, it’s the
Thunder God himself, Raiden. Cool right?
CHEAT
CODE YOU NEED: The one that makes you good? It’s called practice
you twit. Their not up yet, but I’m sure there’s something
available. This is a Midway game after all.
CHEAT
CODE YOU WANT: While Raiden is cool and all, I would have rather
gotten Scorpion or Sub-Zero. Notice that I put Scorpion first on my
list. You can’t beat a undead flame spitting ninja...HEY, that’s
sometime “Naruto” needs! I gotta go write a letter...
OH
MAN MOMENT!: The first time your forced to play “Nali Slaughter”
against a P.O.ed Skaarj. You probably don’t have a clue what it
means, but it’s almost like playing “Bleed Tag” with the
Incredible Hulk....only wayyy more violent. Man I love this game!
GLITCH
ITCH: Some slowdown when there’s melee fighting going on,
especially in multi-player games. And the camera catches the same
“bad bug” seen in such titles as “Kingdom Hearts” “Devil
May Cry” and “Ninja Gaiden”
FAN
SERVICE: Violence, sexy ladies, and Moral Kombat characters all in
one game. What else could you want in a First Person Shooter?
END
GAME:
Okay,
so you’re probably saying to yourself, “Chris I got an Xbox, and
I got Halo 2. Why the hell do I need another sci-fi first person
shooter?” Well Mr.
“I’ll-blow-50-bucks-on-a-new-Splinter-Cell-every year”, I’ll
tell you why Unreal Championship is a must play game.
Unlike
Halo 2, this game oozes with a type of diversity never to be seen in
a FPS. We’ve all played some variation of a
death match games in various FPSes before, but how many of
them involved killing a race of skinny armed alien races in the
process for points. I thought so.
Violence
is king in Unreal. This in only proven by the innovative melee
system offered in this game. Where Halo 2 offers the super-cheap energy
sword, every gun toting psycho in this game has a melee weapon to
fall back on. Oh sure, your not going to find the caliber of melee
found in such weapon based fighting games such “Soul Caliber
2" (Hey, I just used the word “caliber” twice in one
sentence, check me out!), but the button mashing combat system
isn’t all that bad. You are given a basic attack and a slower, but
stronger secondary attack. You can also block attacks, both from
firearms and melee, while you melee weapon is equipped, as well as
being able to send your
enemies rockets and bullets flying back to them, result in them
losing their heads or exploding into meat chunks (Which really
ticked me off in “Halo”, I mean how do you not explode when your
hit with a freaking rocket at point blank range?)
On
the down side, your still more or less mashing buttons, hoping to
hit first, and the game slows down when this happens in
multi-player. It’s all good fun but it could have been better.
Although there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a wussie-would
be sniper lose their head from their own bullet.
Speaking
of what could have been better, the Single player story campaign is
nothing more than a beefed-up tutorial. The best reason to play
through it other than for experience is to see the slightly twisted
ending, but it pales in comparison to Halo 2's story (It
exists....it’s just gonna take a while for you to wrap your brain
around it) .
Then again, the Unreal franchise isn’t exactly for the thinking
man, it's for those who enjoy seer mayhem, diversity and just plain
fun. Hardcore Unreal vets may be turned off from this title because
of the 3rd person view is the only way to play the game
during when your melee weapon is equipped, and you need to be a
Unreal god to survive this game entirely in the 1st
person view. But with crisp graphics, refreshingly original twists
on established controls, tons of original gameplay modes and the
most multiplayer fun you’ll have on Xbox Live outside of “Halo
2", this game is a must play at least. Try it, before you buy
it, but chances are you’ll like it if your in the mood for
something original in your FPS, Unreal Championship can feed your
fix.
Return to Top
Back to the Review Page
©All information protected by DVD Vision
Japan copyright unless otherwise noted.
