Difference between revisions of "Unreal Tournament 2004"

Revision as of 19:52, 18 June 2008

Unreal Tournament 2004 is the third offering in the Unreal Tournament branch of the Unreal franchise. UT2004 is viewed by many as an extension of the work done in Unreal Tournament 2003, retaining most of the maps, characters and gametypes from that release, tweaking various issues that were brought up, and adding a considerable amount of new content: nearly 50 new maps, vehicular combat, the Assault gametype which had been excluded from UT2003, and the new gametype Onslaught. It was initially released on March 16, 2004 for the PC and March 31, 2004 for Mac OS X.

UT 2004 Box Art

History

Epic Games was the primary developer for the bulk of UT2004, which consisted mainly of building upon the work done for UT2003. Epic collaborated with several other development studios in the creation of UT2004.

Specifically, Epic developed the new user interface, VoIP, voice command support for bots, 31 new characters, 31 new maps, design and implementation of the Assault gametype for inclusion in UT2004 (including new vehicles and turrets), and the new Sniper Rifle.

Psyonix designed and implemented the Onslaught gametype (including new vehicles, weapons and the Energy Turret), 7 maps for the Onslaught gametype, and the new model for the Translocator

Digital Extremes created 13 new maps and two new characters, as well as the new HUD design and new models for the Assault Rifle, Shock Rifle, and Link Gun.

Streamline Studios designed the single-player introduction cutscene and collaborated with Psyonix on ONS-Torlan.

Demo

Epic released the demo for UT2004 on February 11th, 2004, originally including five maps from the game's library.

• AS-Convoy
• BR-Colossus
• CTF-BridgeOfFate
• DM-Rankin
• ONS-Torlan

The game went gold on March 4th, 2004, and was released 11 days later on March 15th, 2004.

On September 24th, 2004, Epic released an updated version of the demo, using the (at the time) latest codebase for UT2004, Version 3334. Besides the obvious inclusion of many bugfixes and adjustments from the retail version, it added some new vehicles from the Editor's Choice Edition, as well as added two more maps to play, for a grand total of Seven:

• CTF-FaceClassic
• ONS-Primeval

Release Details

• March 15, 2004 - Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC) - Six-CD set
• March 15, 2004 - Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC) - Single-DVD
• March 15, 2004 - Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC) - Limited Special Edition - 2-DVD set with Logitech Internet Chat Headset and a series of UnrealEd video tutorials developed by 3DBuzz.
• March 31, 2004 - Unreal Tournament 2004 (Mac OS X) - single-DVD
• April 13, 2004 - Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC) - 2 DVD set
• September 21, 2004 - Unreal Tournament 2004 Editors Choice Edition - included three new vehicles, four new Onslaught maps, six new characters, and several selected community mods - See below
• September 23, 2004 - Editors Choice Edition material available for free download for owners of the original release of UT2004
• December 2, 2005 - Mega Bonus Pack released online - including patch to v3369, the Editors Choice Edition material, and several new maps - See below
• November 6, 2006 - released as a portion of the Unreal Anthology collection

Reception

While reception to UT2004 was much better in general than it was to UT2003, most of the trends of UT2003 carried over. The game enjoyed massive initial success, though not to the level UT2003 did, and scored well in reviews, but it was still not seen as a true successor to Unreal Tournament.

Over time, the number of people playing online began to dwindle, as with UT2003, and most people felt that UT2004 was a mixed bag of fixes and issues from UT2003. Most gamers quickly moved on to other games leaving UT2004 with a mostly dead online scene, outside of Deathmatch and Onslaught.

Popularity in the PC Market

Using the data collected from Xfire users, as of June 19th 2008, UT2004 is ranked 53rd in the list of most played PC games in the world; with a combined total of 215,000 minutes played per day by a total of over 2,300 Xfire users. On 21st March 2004, soon after release, UT2004's ranked peaked at 3rd place. Due to the constant change in number of players, these values change at peak periods, such as weekends and vacations. Recently UT2004's rank usually remains between 50 and 60 in the list of the most played games in the world by Xfire users.

Interestingly, these statistics show that Unreal Tournament 2004 is more popular than its successor UT3; with UT3, as of June 19th 2008, being ranked the 91st most played PC game in the world, with over 1,500 players per day playing for a combined total of over 97,000 minutes. Recently, UT3's rank usually remains between 90th and 100th.

Game Content

Engine

Upon release, the demo for UT2004 utilized build 3120 of the Unreal Engine 2. The most recent patch of the demo utilizes build 3334.

Upon release, UT2004 utilized build 3186 of the Unreal Engine 2. The Editors Choice Edition utilized build 3323, and the Mega Pack utilizes build 3369, the latest patch to UT2004.

Several middleware engines are incorporated into UT2004, including:

• Pixomatic Software Renderer
• Karma Physics Engine
• OpenAL Audio System
• LIPsinc Facial Animation Software

Music

Will Nevins (Sound Design Group, SDG-), Kevin Riepl (KR-) and Starsky Partridge (Level#) are credited for working on the music in Unreal Tournament 2004.

See also: Unreal music

Gametypes

Unreal Tournament 2004 has nearly a dozen gametypes available:

• Deathmatch
• Team Deathmatch
• Capture the Flag
• Vehicle Capture the Flag
• Onslaught
• Assault
• Double Domination
• Bombing Run
• Last Man Standing
• Invasion
• Mutant

Weapons

Unreal Tournament 2004 sports an extensive array of weapons, combining updated classic weapons from Unreal Tournament, newer weapons from UT2003, and all-new weapons. Several weapons were designed specifically for use in vehicle-based gametypes, and typically appear only in those gametypes. Superweapons can be turned off as an option, and so they may or may not appear in-game depending on the server setup.

Vehicles

Unreal Tournament 2004 has a wide variety of land-based and aerial vehicles which are featured in the Assault, Onslaught, and VCTF gametypes:

• Manta

  A small, light hovering vehicle. Its ability to crush players and a plasma cannon makes it powerful against both infantry and larger, slower vehicles.

• Scorpion

  A fast, versatile convertible that fires out deadly plasma bolas that wrap around their target.

• Hellbender

  A durable Jeep that seats 3. Feared for both its chainable skymines and, with the right crew, deadly sniping capabilities.

• Paladin

  A tank primarily useful for defense. Has a directional shield that can absorb all but the most powerful attacks.

• Goliath

  An offensive tank with a minigun turret mounted on top. Devastating to infantry, vehicle, core and node alike.

• SPMA

  A long range artillery vehicle with a remote camera. Introduced in the Editor's Choice Edition.

• Leviathan

  A monster on the battlefield, its presence is immediate - and if it's not, tell that to its Ion Cannon that can take out a core in two shots.

• Raptor

  A flying vehicle with a plasma cannon and missiles that home in on other flying or hovering vehicles.

• Cicada

  A quick, gutsy bomber, the Cicada can dip underneath the edge of the terrain, only to rise up and launch its lethal payloads.

• Human Space Fighter

  Used by the attackers in AS-Mothership in the first section of the map, a large space battle.

• Skaarj Space Fighter

  Similar to the Human Space Fighters, but used by the defending team.

• Ion Plasma Tank

  This vehicle was only used in the Assault map AS-Glacier as the primary objective. It charges and fires a large ion blast similar to the Leviathan, but does not need to be stationary to do so.

• Bulldog

  The bulldog was included in a test map in UT2003, but was not playable in UT2004. It was featured in two of the Assault maps as part of the map architecture though.

• TC-1200

  A joke vehicle that was not used on any of the stock maps. Consists of a toilet on wheels, with no weapons.

• Phoenix

  This vehicle was not normally playable, but was an unmanned bomber called in with the Target Painter.

Teams

• Black Legion

  The Black Legion is made up of the hideously deformed subjects of weaponized genetic mutation tests. This year, they have a new leader, Abaddon, the current pinnacle of achievement of this line of experiments.

• Blood Fist

  The only team in the Tournament acknowledged to be entirely cybernetic, Blood Fist warriors have their programming upgraded each year, and have become more and more lethal.

• Fire Storm

  The Mokara are respected and feared as warriors. The Mokara's elite fighting unit, Fire Storm, sends a team of their best soldiers to the Tournament each year.

• Goliath

  With the success of Gorge's Juggernauts in last year's Tournament, Axon Research Corporation is now sponsoring Goliath in hopes of producing an all Juggernaut finals.

• Hellions

  Once feared and reviled throughout human space as pirates and renegades, the Hellions seek to gain respectability as a mercenary outfit. They've entered the Tournament to demonstrate their capabilities to potential customers.

• Iron Guard

  Brock and Lauren joined forces with Malcolm during his reign as Tournament champion. Infighting and recrimination over their stunning defeat in last year's Tournament led to the dissolution of that team. Now, Brock and Lauren have returned leading their old team, the Iron Guard.

• Iron Skull

  This year, the Skaarj Empire is represented by the Iron Skull clan, who seek to regain honor after long being held responsible for the loss of the Skaarj Mothership during the Human/Skaarj wars.

• Juggernauts

  Gorge is determined to prove that his one year reign as Tournament Champion is no fluke, and he has re-assembled the Juggernaut team he led to the championship. Axon Research Corporation has made armor and bio-genetic upgrades to the Juggernauts design for this year's Tournament.

• Sun Blade

  Sun Blade is comprised of former Temple Guardians and veterans of the Desert Legion. They see victory in the Tournament as their only hope for burial and eternal life in the Valley of Kings on Luxor IV.

• Super Nova

  Super Nova, a team of mercenaries from the Seventh Mercenary Fleet, has entered the Tournament to pay off their debts to the Izanagi Corporation.

• The Corrupt

  Xan Kriegor was long regarded as invincible, until Malcolm defeated him in the fourth officially recognized Tournament finals. After a long hiatus, he has returned to lead the Liandri team, The Corrupt, back to the championship. Xan is sitting out the early rounds, which he perceives as beneath his attention.

• Thunder Crash

  Following his well publicized break-up with long-time teammates Brock and Lauren, Malcolm has returned to lead his old team, Thunder Crash. Malcolm is currently rehabilitating an injury sustained in last year's championship match, but he is expected to be healthy in time for the Tournament Finals.

Characters

Maps

Bonus Content

Windows XP Bonus Maps

Two maps were released by Epic mappers Clawfist and Nathillien through Gamespot using an installer that limited limited itself to Windows XP. The maps were soon redistributed by others without the installer, allowing anyone to use them. The maps in this package were ONS-Aridoom and ONS-Ascendancy.

Editor's Choice Edition Bonus Pack

The editor's choice edition of Unreal Tournament 2004 was a 2-DVD special edition of the game with some bonus content, including four Onslaught maps, three Onslaught vehicles, six new characters, and eleven mods. The second disc included the same video tutorials included with the special edition of the initial release.

Soon after the ECE went on sale, the bonus content was made available for download by existing owners of the game. The three new vehicles, the SPMA, Cicada, and Paladin, able to be used in stock and XP maps through the Bonus Vehicles mutator. Also included were four new maps using the vehicles, ONS-Adara, ONS-IslandHop, ONS-Tricky, and ONS-Urban. Most of the mods included in the ECE were winners or finalists in Epic's Make Something Unreal Contest. The user created mods included in this release were:

Mega Pack

The Mega Pack contains the ECE Bonus Pack, UT2004 patch 3369 and some Assault, Capture the Flag and Deathmatch maps. The maps are special editions of maps originally made by community mappers. The Assault maps were upgraded with intros and announcements by the original female announcer voice.

User Created Content

Epic Games has always supplied modding tools such as the Unreal Editor to developers as well as modders. There are many websites out there full of user created content available to download.

Custom Player Model Sites

• Skin City - Possible the largest collection of player models and skins for all the Unreal Tournament games.
• File Front - File Front's Unreal Tournament 2004 model section has a very well organized collection of models.

Custom Map Sites

• Nalicity - Allows map uploads for complete maps, user reviews, and some maps will be reviewed by a staff member.
• Insite - Map reviews for complete maps can be requested. Allows user comments on posted reviews.
• Unreal Playground - Alpha, beta, and complete maps can be uploaded. Some maps are reviewed by staff members.
• MapRaider - Users can upload maps, comment, score, and review maps. Also includes many other games.

Additional Information

System Requirements

• Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz processor (Pentium® or AMD 1.2GHz or greater recommended)
• 128MB RAM (256MB RAM or greater recommended)
• 5.5GB HDD space REQUIRED
• 8X CD-ROM or DVD
• Windows® compatible sound card
• 32 MB video card required (64 MB NVIDIA or ATI hardware T&L card recommended)
• DirectX® version 9.0b (included on game disc)
• Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. Internet play requires a 33.6 kbps or faster modem (broadband recommended)

Trivia

• UT2003 and UT2004 share most of the same content and codebase, though UT2004 contains much more content.

  Unreal Tournament 2004 sought to remedy some of the complaints with the gameplay in Unreal Tournament 2003. One of the most influential changes to the core gameplay was change in the weaponswitch speed. This change prevented players from switching weapons quickly in order to increase their rate of fire. There was also a major change in the netcode, which better accommodates vehicle gametypes and large player counts, but "broke" compatibility with UT2003 and any mods that were designed to use UT2003 netcode.

Previews and Reviews

• Gamespy Review (5/5)
• GameSpot Review (9.4/10)
• IGN Review (9.4/10)
• WorthPlaying Review (9.4/10)
• GameRevolution Review (A-)
• GameZone Review (9.5/10)

References

See Also

• Unreal Tournament
• Unreal Tournament 2003
• Unreal Tournament 3