Unreal Tournament 2004
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| Unreal Tournament 2004 | |
| Missing image Ut2k4box.jpg Unreal Tournament 2004 U.S. box cover | |
| Developer(s) | Epic Games Digital Extremes |
| Publisher(s) | Atari |
| Release date(s) | March 16, 2004 |
| Genre | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M), PEGI: 16+ |
| Platform(s) | PC (Windows / Linux), Mac |
Unreal Tournament 2004 is a first-person shooter computer game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming although the game had a built in single-player mode that mimics multiplayer gaming by featuring AI-bots. Unreal Tournament 2004 is part of the Unreal series of games and is the sequel to 2003's Unreal Tournament 2003. UT2004 was co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes and published by Atari. The major addition to UT2004 is the introduction of vehicles to the classic first-person shooter formula following in the footsteps of Tribes 2, Halo and Battlefield 1942.
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Development
The development process
Unreal Tournament 2004 was created by several game development studios acting in collaboration, including Epic Games who lead the project. Lead programmer Steve Polge describes the role each company played:
Epic: All the enhancements to the UT2003 game types, the new UI, Voice over IP and bot voice command support, engine enhancements and optimizations. The improved single player game, and improved community and demo recording support. Thirty-one (31!) new playable characters. The new sniper rifle. One Onslaught map, and AI support for Onslaught. 16 new DM maps, 5 new CTF Maps, 2 new DDOM maps, and 1 new BR map. The Assault game type design and implementation, including 3 new vehicles, 3 types of turrets, and 6 new maps. (Total of 31 all new maps for UT2004 from Epic).
Psyonix: The Onslaught game type design and implementation, with 6 new vehicles, 3 new weapons (grenade launcher, spider mine layer, and the Phoenix target painter), and the laser turret. Seven Onslaught maps, and collaboration with Streamline on ONS-Torlan. The new model for the Translocator.
Digital Extremes: 2 new DM maps, 6 new CTF maps, 2 new BR maps, and 3 new DDOM maps. Two new playable characters. The new HUD design. New weapon models for the assault rifle, shock rifle, and link gun.
Streamline studios: The single player introduction movie, and ONS-Torlan in collaboration with Pysonix. (later made an assault map called AS-Confexia)
Nearing release
On February 11, 2004, the demo for Unreal Tournament 2004 was released and included five maps for five different game types. Demo versions for Windows, Linux (x86 / AMD64) and Mac OS X were made available for download. By March 5, 2004 Unreal Tournament 2004 had 'gone gold'. This means that the game was finished and ready for distribution. It was the first commercial game to support the new AMD64 platform, utilizing Linux, as Windows for AMD64 is yet to be released.
Release history
Unreal Tournament 2004 was released on March 16, 2004 for the PC and Mac. At release consumers could purchase the game on either CD or DVD. The DVD version was a limited-time special edition that came with a Logitech microphone-headset and tutorials on a second DVD about modding. A single DVD version with neither microphone nor tutorials was also released in Europe. The CD version of the game was six discs. On April 13, 2004 Unreal Tournament 2004 was rereleased on a special edition DVD to meet the high demand of players wanting the game on DVD rather than CD.
On September 21, 2004, Atari released in stores the Editor's Choice Edition of Unreal Tournament 2004 : it adds 3 vehicles, 4 Onslaught maps, and 6 character skins to the original content of the game, and also contains several mods developed by the community and selected by Epic Games. This extension (excluding mods) was released as a Bonus Pack by Atari on September 23, 2004, and is available for free download.
Gameplay
The available game types are:
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the flag
- Vehicle CTF — Capture the Flag, but with vehicles. You can carry the flag in all ground-vehicles. This IS an official gametype, but no official VCTF maps have been released yet.
- Instagib CTF — It is like normal Capture the Flag, but everybody has a Super Shock Rifle (with unlimited ammo), which can kill everybody in one shot.
- Double Domination — In double domination your team must control two points on the map. Holding both locations for a certain period of time gives your team a point.
- Bombing Run — Bombing run can best be described as Unreal-style football where the player gets the ball and has to take it into enemy territory and score in the enemy forces goal. Players can pass to other teammates. Getting killed causes you to fumble the ball.
- Last man standing — All players in this gametype spawn with a limited number of lives. The person, who uses up all their lives last, wins.
- Invasion — Is a co-op gametype where you play with all the players in the server in an attempt to kill the invading alien AI. If you're killed the player sits out until your team clears the map of aliens.
- Mutant — Mutant is very similar to a "king of the hill" type of gameplay. The first person to make a kill becomes the mutant, which gives them unlimited ammo, camouflage, and super speed. The mutant then tries to get as many kills as he can until he's killed. The person who kills the mutant then becomes the mutant.
- Assault — This gametype was in the original Unreal Tournament, but did not make it into Unreal Tournament 2003. The object is to complete a set of objectives, then later defend those same objectives from your enemy. The team to do it the fastest wins.
- Onslaught — Is essentially a team deathmatch type of gameplay played on a huge map where the object is to destroy, capture and hold key power nodes. The gameplay is very similar to that of Battlefield 1942's conquest gametype, however, after capturing key nodes you must destroy your enemy's power core. Vehicles are extremely critical in onslaught mode. Of all the gametypes in UT2004 Onslaught is the most popular and so far exclusive to Unreal Tournament 2004.
Weapons
Unreal Tournament 2004 features 16 weapons:
- Shield Gun
- Assault Rifle
- Bio Rifle
- Mine Layer — New in UT2k4.
- Shock Rifle
- Link Gun
- Minigun
- Flak Cannon
- Grenade Launcher — New in UT2k4.
- Rocket Launcher
- AVRiL — New in UT2k4.
- Lightning Gun
- Sniper Rifle — Returns from Unreal Tournament.
- Redeemer
- Ion Painter
- Target Painter — New in UT2k4.
In addition, UT2004 features the Translocator that allows the player to quickly teleport across the map by shooting a small disc where the player wants to go.
See also
External links
- The official site for UT2004 (http://www.unrealtournament.com/ut2004)
Fansites
- BeyondUnreal (http://www.beyondunreal.com)
- PlanetUnreal (http://www.planetunreal.com/ut2004)
- Onslaught Haven (http://www.onslaughthaven.com)
- Unreal Ops (http://www.unrealops.com) - Unreal tech news
- The Unreal Admin Page (http://www.unrealadmin.org) - UT2004 server admin site
- ClanBase (http://www.clanbase.com)
- Planet Clans (http://www.planetclans.com)
- Unreal Playground (http://www.unrealplayground.com/)
- TeamWarfare League (http://www.teamwarfare.com)
- GameAmp (http://ut2004.gameamp.com) - Competitive UT2004
Mods
- Jailbreak (http://www.planetjailbreak.com)
- Red Orchestra (http://www.redorchestra.clanservers.com)
- Frag.Ops (http://www.frag-ops.com)
- Carball (http://www.carball.net)
- UT200x HQ (http://ut2003hq.com/) - maps
- UT2004Mi (http://www.real-swedix.net/ut2004mi.html) - Map Installer & Cache Manager