Introduction
The self-proclaimed "Gladiator Bloodsport of the Future," Unreal Tournament so desperately wants to be considered a sports game. With the recent Release of Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Championship, the developers further blur the line. While the original UT was released for the PC in November of 1999, it wasn't until 2000 that Playstation 2 owners got the chance to get their frag on. Of course, by that time, the game already had a huge cult following, so with the promise of new maps and the chance to play friends at home, it was almost a given that many who owned the original would buy the PS2 port. So just how does it measure up to the first version?


Gameplay
There isn't too much replay value, but that's to be expected with a game such as this. There is, of course, the ability to take on up to four friends in multiplayer mode with the help of a link cable, but you don't get to use all of the maps from the main game. In fact, most of the multiplayer maps provided are fairly lame, as is the case with the new maps added for the PS2 version. They're just nothing special. There are also a few unlockable "secret" characters that aren't too terribly hard to just simply stumble upon during the course of the game. But the main problem with this version of Unreal Tournament is the control scheme. To put it simply, it's horrible. Movement is cumbersome, and turning is extremely difficult. There's a quick turn ability, but if you want to use that, you need to customize the controller first, and possibly lose another ability in the process. Not to mention that using the quick turn is always a gamble. It's supposed to turn the character in a one hundred and eighty degree circle, but depending on how hard you press it, it may not go that far. This is extremely dangerous in heated Capture the Flag games (the map Eternal Caves comes to mind).


Story
With the PS2's graphical power, it wouldn't be terribly hard to pull off the streamlined look of the environments found in Unreal Tournament. While the game does look as good as the PC version, it certainly doesn't push the PS2 very hard. Things just simply look OK, but never great. The environments are, for the most part, futuristic and fun to look at, but none of them are really eye-popping. Characters look and move well. And, in the words of John Candy, they "blow up reeeeaaaaaaaal good!" And isn't that the most important thing in a frag fest like UT? After choosing one of a wide assortment of playable characters, gamers are placed on the bottom rung of the ladder and have to engage in numerous battles to become the champion. Obviously, this is easier said than done. Variety is the spice of life, and UT's got a lot of it. There's the regular deathmatch mode and the venerable Capture the Flag, but in addition to those, there is also Last Man Standing, Assault (in which you have mission objectives that must be completed to be victorious) and Domination (an interesting "King of the Hill" type game). All the different modes keep things from getting too boring. The sound is quite good, with eerie music that more than suits the futuristic theme of the game. Characters also have a wide variety of things to say, so it should take a while before you get tired of hearing their believable voices.


Graphics
Would it be worth it to buy this game if you already own the PC version? Not a chance. The new maps are overly simplistic, and you'd be better off just downloading better ones from the various map sites on the Net. The controls are painful, the graphics aren't too spectacular, and once you've finished the game, that's about it. Stick with the PC version and you can at least play others online, even if most of them do constantly complain about lag and accuse others of cheating.