Unreal Tournament 2004 - Editor's Choice (DVD) review:5 stars (Best FPS deathmatch game at the moment!) - UT2004 is likely the best deathmatch FPS game out at the moment! I've been playing its deathmatch mode since UT2003. Way more fun than CS or HL2 deathmatch! And if you get really good, you can win an entire match without ever dying! How many games let you do that?? In CS, you can get killed with a lucky shot by a newbie. But UT2004 deathmatch requires real skills. Heck, if you're good enough, not even the redeemer can kill you! Play online...it's a blast!5 stars (Redefines fast pace deathmatch!) - Take everything you like about Unreal Tournament 2003, multiply it by 100, and you'll get this. This is simply the best UT yet! I've never thought it would be possible, but here it is! Somehow, the developers manage to combine the speed of UT, the size of UT2K3, and they added the potent potion of vehicles. The result? The best deathmatch FPS there is.

That is generally the gist of it. I played UT and absolutely loved it. I played UT2K3 and liked it somewhat because of the huge maps, but I quickly became bored because of the slower speed. UT2K4 combined the best of both games and added vehicles to make the fight even more chaotic! There is nothing like a 16 man match while you're flying in a plane blowing your enemies away! Even better, download a huge map and fight in a arena the size of a video game city!

Unfortunately, the only flaw of the vehicles system is that it's only available to Onslaught mode and that the vehicles doesn't respawn, which seems extremely short sighted of the developers. However, this is quickly solved by going online and downloading the proper mods to make vehicles available to EVERY game and to make it respawn. After that, you will never look at UT the same again!

Basically, this is what the game cuts down to.

Pros:
-Unbelievably huge maps
-Runs very well even for PCs that are not high end
-Is a lot faster than UT2K3
-New modes of gameplay and improved weapons cache

Cons:
-Too many CDs (6)
-Installation is massive (over 5GB)
-Loading is pretty long; gameplay may be slow if too many bots5 stars (Devastating Sci-Fi War Simulation - Best Alternative to CS) - Well there is nothing stopping you now! The best multiplayer out there is Counter-Strike: Source with the HL2 engine but CS is not a blast `em up and is extremely tactical with a `one death and you are out' type gaming experience in small maps. Since HL2 is totally devoid of another multiplayer then what is the next best frag? Answer - UT2004 of course!

UT2004 is multiplayer all the way. Like UT2003 it has a single player/team co-op that spans the course of what is close to 120 + maps. 120 HUGE MAPS! So basically the single player mode is one big frag-a-thon on some fantastic maps of your choice. The bots have all preset AI or configurable ones meaning that having 30 bots chasing after you on GOD mode is quite possible - not that you will win or anything. So the AI is well up there in single player mode which, although has a massive number of maps, lacks one thing - a story.

A story however is not what UT is all about. UT is about fragging and team play - i.e., LAN parties and INTERNET gaming is the main reason to own UT2004. Did you ever want to fight in that huge battle like at the end of Episode II? Well there is a game mode called ONSALUGHT that lets 18 vs. 18 pit it out against each other taking down node points so that they can be king of the other's castle by blasting up the core. It really does play like that battle scenes of EP II with tanks on the ground, 30+ characters to choose from, several aircraft, ground vehicle, all can be piloted by you, with up to 10 weapons of your choice, each with alternative fire buttons. In the vast maps there are a million ways to die and a million strategies to choose from. There are also some nice new movements like double tap quick strafe and double jumping.

What of the graphics? STUNNING! The graphics in the trailer or screenshots do not do the game any justice. Watch the end of Episode II. It is more like that. Run this game on a Radeon 9800 and you will not stop playing multiplayer for the next 12 months... that is until UT2005 comes out. Realistically enough you can actually fight this first person shooter in 3rd person mode!

In short this game is like it says on the box - UNREAL.

Pros:

- Awesome maps.
- Vehicles!
- Outstanding graphics.
- A fast game engine with nice crash physics.
- 100% Blast `em up.
- Internet 32 player Games!
- Onslaught game type.

Cons:

- Huge 6 CD install.
- Learning curve is high for 1st person shooter.
- Character movement is bit too fast.
- You need the internet to experience UT2004 fully.

*Note : The Editors Choice addition has all the extra mods and maps and updates that you might have to download from the internet if you get the standard version. Basically this one has more stuff that you dont need to download.
Unreal Tournament 2004 - Editor's Choice (DVD) Features:
Adventure
Action
Shooters (Shooter)
Computer Games
DVD-Video
Improved bot AI and optimized Network bandwidth usage for lag free, challenging play!
Land and Air vehicles including light aircraft, assault buggies and behemoth tanks
New weapons include RPG's, mines, dual assault rifles & gun turrets
New in-game voice chat allows you to type less and frag more! (Requires Microphone or headset, not included)
Over 20 brand new maps along with the original UT2003 maps and the official bonus pack maps. This will allow 2004 owners to jump into any 2003 Server and compete!

Unreal Tournament 2004 - Editor-s Choice (DVD) is the DVD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 39.99USD.