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Unreal Championship
Many different things are thought of when you hear Unreal. You could just take it for the word, or the expression, but more people know it as the game. The newest addition to the series has arrived on Xbox. Basically a port of the PC game Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Championship brings Unreal online play for the first time to a console. One of the games that launched alongside the XBox Live Starter Kit, and is considered one of the better ones.
Unreal’s gameplay is very familiar, using the same control sceme as in most other console FPS games. An interesting addition is Adrenaline. Adrenaline is something you can either pick up from the ground or you can build it up by killing enemies. Once you have full adrenaline(100), you can do different directional combos for different special attacks. For example, pressing down three times with full adrenaline will get you regeneration so you can charge into an enemy base and heal yourself about as fast as they attack you, most of the special moves wear off quick though, so be fast. The only problem I have with the gameplay is that is the same, rehashed engine we have seen in Unreal Tournament on PS2 and the rest of the Unreal series. If you have never played an Unreal game before you will be very pleasantly surprised.
Online gameplay is also fast and furious, containing all the attributes of the single player game, almost any ethernet connection will be plenty fast to keep the game running very smooth. Xbox Live adds a lot to the online gameplay, allowing you to strategize on the move without having to press a button or anything. One bad part about it though is that you can’t trash talk because you can only talk to your team, which is probably for the best.
The graphics of the game are very good. They aren’t up to XBox’s highest standards, such as Splinter Cell. Compared to other games though, they are above average. The lightning effects are average, nothing to talk about except for the animations on certain guns such as the lightning gun and flak cannon. The backgrounds are average as well, above the quality of any other Unreal game, but once again, other games surpass it.
The sounds is probably where this game shines the best. No soundtrack to speack of, but it doesn’t matter. The gun sounds are great, the sound effects for everything are as realistic as they could be(if they were real that is), and the taunts you hear from characters are humorous and entertaining, usually coming in at just the right moment.
Overall, this game is well above average, and is definitely a good addition to anyone’s XBox lineup and a great addition to anyone’s XBox Live lineup. If you haven’t ever experienced Unreal before, this is a MUST BUY, if you have, you know what the game is about and it is just more of the same.
-Rory
8.9/10
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