Unreal Tournament 2003

by Atari

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000065SQJ
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 1, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (194 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,564 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Developer

Reload with Unreal Tournament 2003, the sequel to 1999's multiple Game of the Year award winner Unreal Tournament. Using the latest Unreal technology, Unreal Tournament 2003 takes you to the merciless arenas of the future, where elite warriors rely on skill, speed, cunning, and awesome firepower to demonstrate their style and become the ultimate champion.

Product Description

Takes you to the merciless arenas of the future, where elite warriors rely on skill, speed, cunning, and awesome firepower to demonstrate their style and become the ultimate champion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointed..., October 13, 2002

By 

Dave Stone (East Valley, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unreal Tournament 2003 (CD-ROM)

The hype surrounding this game was pretty incredible for a PC release. The first UT was so mind-blowing at the time it came out, not only for single-player but also online play. Most importantly it was somewhat original and a lot of fun.

I must say the graphics for UT2k3 are top-notch. A lot of attention was brought on the possible requirements for a game with several times the polygon count as its predecessor, which is understandable. My PC has a Duron 1.3Ghz processor with 512MB of RAM and a Geforce256 graphics card. It runs UT2k3 reasonably well with average settings, which shows you they put a lot of effort into the 3D engine to accommodate computers with less-than-fantastic specs. The body physics and movements are very realistic, especially when your opponents fall to the ground.

I have problems with a few of the game's main features though. The weapons are just too boring for the caliber of game that UT2k3 was hyped up to be. A few of them seem so out of place, like they're from a poorly designed mod. I don't know how the GES Biorifle made its way AGAIN into the final version. The minigun now does much less damage than the one in the original, which never seemed too powerful anyway. The rocket launcher is no longer able to fire more than 3 shots at a time, and lacks the true '2-function' mode as the first. Many die-hard gamers were angry about the Lighting rifle but its not so bad...I don't like the look of the zoom-in scope though. On the bright side the flak cannon is still a good weapon for close quarter combat and the link gun is also useful at times. The assault rifle is a good alternative to the handgun in the first but the grenades are too weak in my opinion, and hard to aim. The shock rifle is also back and is a decent choice.

But my biggest complaint is the sound effects. NONE of the weapons have the authoritative bang of the first, which were often too loud at times! The rocket launcher lacks the distinct vacuum effect of the missile's tube like the first UT. The grinding and 'lead-intensive' sound effects from the minigun were also removed, which drew inspirations from Jesse Ventura's character in Predator. And the annoying high-pitched announcer that declares the winner and killing successes gets old real fast. The announcer in UT was perfect and deserves his old job back over this thing. I have to admit the music is amazing. It would fit well into most sci-fi movies.

That's my take on the new UT. What bothers me the most is they came so close to getting it right. If you just want a new online thrill you probably wont mind as much, in fact you'll probably love this game. The netcode is almost flawless from my experience. But I was expecting the weapon selection to exceed all previous FPS standards, instead I was let down by what seems like a poor selection of armaments for future combat.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Graphics over Gameplay Deja-Vu (again), October 11, 2002

By 

Marc Twaites (Naugatuck CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unreal Tournament 2003 (CD-ROM)

This is a solid shooter with a lot to like, including outstanding graphics and silky smooth gameplay. Improvements over the original include those graphics, better sound, a better level editor and did I mention the graphics? The game plays faster, not quite Q3 fast but certainly faster than UT and the weapons have been remodelled and "balanced", with the teeth extracted from the Flak Cannon (less flak) and the Rocket Launcher (no grenade launcher mode, maximum 3 rockets in one shot) particularly. The ridiculously overpowered sniper rifle has gone too, to be replaced with a high-powered by unwieldy lightning gun that takes time to recharge (think a rail gun with a zoom and lightning graphic and you'll get the idea).
Gamewise Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag all make an expected appearance along with a new mode, Bombing Run and the not so new Double Domination. Bombing Run is a sporty-type game in which your team scores points by delivering a ball into the opponents goal. Whilst you have the ball you cannot use any other gun but the ball launcher and you score by either shooting the ball into the goal or for more points running it in (and usually get sliced up in the process). Although a lot like Capture the flag, at least this mode is fun, as opposed to Double Domination which is merely a chore. It's a variation on the original UTs Domination that if anything makes a poor mode worse. The bots don't like it, and neither will you. A return of the excellent Assault mode or something similar to Jailbreak would have been a far better choice.
Offline play with bots is as good, if not better than ever, as the AI has improved to the point where just like real players, the bots themselves will ignore your "suggestions" and do their own thing. Death animations have improved immensely and watching a corpse "beamed out" whilst standing near is pretty enough to get you killed!
The maps themselves are something of a disappointment as there aren't really enough, those supplied aren't really that good and they take far too long to load. Maps will come, they always do (Epic are even rumored to be putting out a pack of them soon) but its a shame there wasn't enough good ones straight out of the box.
Finally there's adrenaline, which 'provides you with the extra energy needed to execute special Adrenaline abilities'(from the manual) Any more than that I can't tell you as I would have to buy the game guide to find out! This is pretty poor but only follows a general trend in gaming recently, ie keeping important info out of the manual so that more game guides will be sold...

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Technologically sophisticated, but no mojo, December 30, 2002

By 

mac convert (Akron, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unreal Tournament 2003 (CD-ROM)

Let me begin by saying I am a big fan of the original UT. I probably have over 2 gigs of levels, music and textures archived to CD. I was looking forward to this release with great anticipation, and now all I can say is "where's the beef?" True, the graphics are stunning and the player skins are great. The concept of Bombing Run (rugby for psycho killers) is cool. BUT THE GAME PLAY AND LEVELS ARE UNSATISFACTORY. The original UT had levels that were as much fun to explore as to play in. UT2003 levels are boring after only a few run-throughs and are much too small. Weapons look too much alike, with the exception of the rocket launcher, flak cannon and sniper rifle. Speaking of the sniper rifle - it's not even a rifle. The original rifle in UT was cool BECAUSE it was a little retro compared to the other weapons. Part of the fun of the original UT was getting yourself into a well-concealed position and dominating the gameplay from a distance. The new Buck Rogers rifle gives away your position every time you use it, making this impossible. AI appears somewhat improved in the new release, but this does not make up for the rather sterile overall feel of the game. As other reviewers have noted, the graphics look cool, but the game really doesn't play well except on a bleeding edge, high-end machine. Like others, I run through a mid-high level P4 with a GeForce2 Ultra, and even at middling resolutions, I have frame rate issues. I give it 1 star for gameplay alone, with a bit more for the spiffy graphics.