The game’s multiplayer interface is very solidly constructed, with an intuitive and easy to use server browser. There is full functionality for filters, a favorites listing, directly connecting to a server, and even an internal buddy list. As far as the actual network code goes, the game has definitely come a long way from its abused roots with the original Unreal engine and behaves in a very solid and stable manner under most conditions. High latency levels are still something to be feared and avoided, of course (trying to drive a vehicle, only to have it teleport around the map can be very jarring), but with the strong community filling the lists with decent dedicated servers, finding a good match is often no problem. There’s also an integrated voice-chat system on top of the typical text speech commands and pre-set voice binds, allowing 12 year olds to verbally declare you a girly man-bitch after dropping a Redeemer on your skull. What a wonderful place the internet is! Fortunately, voice chat can be disabled for those who would rather not listen to the witty banter of others. Creating a standard listen server (and even a dedicated server) is a snap thanks to the game’s helpful interface, where each major function has an attached tool-tip, allowing players to understand exactly what they’re fiddling with.

I’m going to go into the bots a little more, as they can be added to any multiplayer server easily and can sometimes play a large role in a certain match. The AI-controlled bots are pretty neat overall, with enough dynamic maneuvers and weapons control to put up a decent fight without coming off as if they’re just constantly stuck on “aimbot” mode. Even with a sniper rifle or in insta-gib games, their accuracy is never 100% perfect and moving around a lot will always help in throwing off their aim. Overall accuracy is still affected by what difficulty level the bots are set on, however, and the amount that they move around during a fight is also changed by this. In large-scale team-based matches (such as Onslaught or Assault games), the bots clearly have an understanding of how the level works and what to do to try and achieve victory thanks to some creative use of pathnodes and AI scripting. Alas, the bot technology is still far from perfect. While they do a pretty good job of not getting stuck on world objects while on foot and varying their paths a little to make it look like they’re not always taking exactly the same route to an objective, they also tended to have a lot of trouble with vehicles, either ramming them against objects uselessly, driving in aimless circles, or just being flat-out idiotic. They do even worse while manning gun turrets for you on a multi-person vehicle, commonly shooting into mountains at a distant target only they can home in on with their crazy x-ray vision, or totally ignoring an immediate and obvious threat while trying to annihilate a distant one (once again, usually behind a mountain). One time I even won a session of AS-Junkyard while defending on a technicality, because the attacking team got their vehicle stuck against a wall near one of the objectives and didn’t realize they only had to back up three fucking feet to get out and be on the verge of winning the match. AI tech has come a long way since the days of the original Unreal Tournament, but sadly enough it still has much further to go. The bots are still serviceable and will hand your ass to you at the higher difficulty levels, but for god’s sake, don’t let them drive!

The Unreal engine is unquestionably one of the most versatile and popular game engines in the industry, and the reasons for it are clearly shown in UT2k4. The graphics engine is very powerful, and yet also very flexible, allowing it to play great on anything from a high-end 3Ghz rig with a Radeon 9800 Pro, to even looking and running playable on an aging 1.5Ghz with a crap-tastic GeForce 2. The available graphical options are very scalable, and all users should have no problems getting the game to run in a satisfactory manner. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing there are a few stability problems I’ve run into that can cause known GPF (General Protection Fault) errors on a seemingly spontaneous basis, but these don’t happen too often, and patches are already on the way to get all this stuff fixed up. The game itself looks absolutely beautiful on high detail, with some damn fine texture-work and some great looking models, though I occasionally found the animations to be a little lacking. The game also of course has full functionality and support for custom third-party modifications (including an integrated mod-loader – finally!), so everything’s all jake. What can I say? It’s the frigging Unreal engine, work it out for yourself – and while you’re thinking on that, be sure to look up the amazingly high-quality “Alien Swarm” mod that’s already out for the game.

I was definitely stunned and disappointed when Unreal Tournament 2003 hit, but with the impressive showing UT2k4 has made, I can’t help but feel the series has done a total 180 and redeemed itself in my eyes. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s easily a decent contender for one of the best releases so far as of this year. Forget comparisons or thoughts of it being an expansion to UT2k3, as this is something far, far more than that. With the famed versatility of the game engine, the amazing potential for quality third-party content has already begun to manifest itself, making it well worth the purchase and hefty investment in hard drive space. Replayability, great gameplay, and some excellent multiplayer teamplay action to boot makes Unreal Tournament 2004 rank very highly in my eyes. Pick it up as soon as possible, lest you be mocked as the last person in your area to get in on what all the cool kids are doing these days.