Introduction:
Unreal Tournament 2003, wow, what a game. As soon as I heard that it was coming out, I leapt for joy. I have always loved the game Unreal and the original Unreal Tournament, so I couldn't wait. I read all the reviews for the game, and it sounded stunning. Although I did have some doubts...How well would it stand up to the first Unreal Tournament, such a great game in itself? What’s this “Bombing Run” thing I keep hearing about? How would it run on my not-much-better-than-average computer? But as soon as I started the game, I was blown away. Heck, even the box looked cool. The new “Rag-doll” graphics that I’d heard about were stunning. The levels were beautiful, and fun to play on. I immediately fell in love with the game. The game had changed somewhat from the original, but I thought that if the original Unreal Tournament could have been any better, it would be Unreal Tournament 2003.
Components:
The modes of combat changed slightly. The original version contained Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, Assault, and Last Man Standing. The new version had the same but instead of Domination, Assault and Last Man Standing; it had Double Domination and Bombing Run. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag were all like the original, and Double Domination is the same as Domination, but with only two capture points. With Bombing Run, the object is to shoot a ball into the other team’s goal. After you do, or if the ball sits on the ground for a little bit, the ball respawns at its spawn point.
For weapons, many were replaced with new versions. The Impact Hammer was replaced by the Shield Gun (dual purpose shield and hammer weapon). The Enforcer was replaced by the Assault Rifle (darn, no dual enforcers this time). The Pulse Gun was replaced by the Link, a very similar weapon but team mates can “charge up” each other’s power by shooting each other at the same time. The Ripper was removed from the game completely. The Sniper Rifle was replaced by the Lightening Gun (pretty much the same thing, but with a stabilizer). The Translocator was downgraded so it has to “recharge”. The Bio-Rifle, Shock Rifle, Minigun, Flak Cannon, Rocket Launcher, and the Redeemer stayed the same, only with upgraded looks. New weapons added to the game include the Ball Launcher (for Bombing Run only), and the Ion Painter/Cannon. The Ion Painter is like the Redeemer, but more impressive. When you pick it up, you can zoom in (like on the old Sniper Rifle), and when you fire, the Ion Cannon fires two terawatts of ionized plasma streams onto the target. The only downside is that you have to be firing this weapon, without moving, for several seconds before the Cannon fires, which makes it hard to hit moving targets, and easy for you to be killed.
They also added Adrenaline to the game. You can either pick it up in “pills” scattered over the map, or you can get it by killing people or scoring in some of the game types. When your adrenaline hits 100, you can do combos by hitting the Up, Down, Left, or Right keys in a certain pattern. For example, you can activate one combo by hitting Up, Up, Up, Up. The combos last for a certain amount of time, then disappear, leaving you with zero adrenaline again. It adds a new element to the game, making it fun, if you know what the combos are and know when to use them.
