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Unreal Tournament 2004

Unreal Tournament 2004 is a .

UT 2004 is not a brand new game or a conventional expansion pack, rather it is what UT 2003 should have been . Besides introducing new weapons, vehicles, and game modes, UT 2004 also contains everything released previously in UT 2003, making UT 2004 a superset of its predecessor. UT 2004 completely replaced UT 2003 on store shelves and UT 2004 boxes sold in the United States include a voucher that along with proof of having bought UT 2003 gives a discount for UT 2004.

=Development=

Epic Games had very ambitious plans for the sequel to their 1999 hit Unreal Tournament. Although work on the game engine and Deathmatch had been complete, there was still much to be done regarding complex game modes such as Assault and Onslaught which included vehicles. As a result, the stripped-down Unreal Tournament 2003 was released in 2002 while the developers concentrated upon implementing Assault and Onslaught for a 2003 release (later pushed back to 2004). In addition, the developers also addressed shortcomings that gamers had with UT 2003.

==Development process==

Unreal Tournament 2004 was created by several game development studios acting in collaboration, including Epic who led the project. Lead programmer Steve Polge describes the role each company played:

Epic Games: 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 Psyonix. (later made an assault map called AS-Confexia)

==Nearing release==

On February 11, 2004, the Demo (computer gaming) for Unreal Tournament 2004 was released and included five maps for five different game types. Demo versions for Microsoft 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 had not been released at the time.

As the year of 2004 would draw to an end, Unreal Tournament 2004 received awards for Multiplayer game of the year (IGN, Gamespy, Computer Gaming World) and Best Value for 2004 award (Computer Games Magazine).

=Release history=

Unreal Tournament 2004 was released on March 16, 2004 for the Personal computer under Microsoft Windows and Linux, and for the Apple Macintosh. 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 , and is available for free download.

=Gameplay=

The available game types are:

Deathmatch

Team Deathmatch

Capture the flag

*Instagib CTF — Similar to normal Capture the Flag, but everybody has a Super Shock Rifle (with unlimited ammo), which can kill anybody in one shot. *Vehicle CTF — Capture the Flag, but with vehicles. You can carry the flag in all ground vehicles. This is an official gametype, but only fan-made VCTF maps are available. *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 the conquest gametype of Battlefield 1942 ; 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 . *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 switch sides and defend those same objectives from your enemy. The team to finish more objectives or do it the fastest wins. *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. *Last man standing — All players in this gametype spawn with a limited number of lives. The last player alive wins. *Invasion — 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 a player is killed, they sit out until their team clears the map of aliens. *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. The ball carrier drops the ball when they re killed. *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.

Movement Commands- Movement Commands are a very original aspect to the UT series, and give you the ability to further personalize your path around the level.

*-Double Jump To double jump, jump in any direction, and in the middle of the jump press the jump button again, you will gain some height on your jump. *-Dodging To dodge, first you must have dodging enabled. Then you double-tap your Foward, Strafe Left, Strafe Right, or Backward button. Additionally, you can jump at a certain point in this dodge and gain even further distance. *-Wall Jumping To wall jump, jump toward a wall, and then use the dodge move in the direction you d like to jump off of the wall.

=Weapons=

Unreal Tournament 2004 features 16 weapons: *Shield Gun — Primary fire produces a shockwave that can repel projectiles and (at close range) shred opponents; secondary fire produces a shield that absorbs damage from weapons and falls. Shield gun ammo regenerates quickly. *Assault Rifle — Primary fire is a weak and inaccurate hitscan bullet fire; secondary shoots bouncy grenades with varying amounts of force. The assualt rifle may be dual-wielded if the player picks up a second rifle. *Bio-Rifle — Primary disperses small globs of poisonous goo; secondary shoots a larger, splattering blob after several seconds. *Mine Layer — New in UT2004 — Primary fire deploys up to eight simultaneous spider mines which will chase nearby opponents; secondary fire targets a spot for the mines to rush towards. Mines detonate if the player dies. *Shock Rifle — Primary shoots an instant-hit shock beam; secondary shoots a slow-moving shock core. Hitting a shock core with a primary beam produces a huge explosion. *Link Gun — Primary fire shoots plasma projectiles; secondary produces a short-range plasma beam. Secondary fire is also used in Onslaught and Assault modes for healing nodes, vehicles, and Sentinels. Players can also link up by firing their link gun at a team member, who will have increased link gun power for healing or damage. *Minigun — Primary fire spits medium-damage bullets most effective against infantry; secondary shoots more accurate, slower bullets that do more damage to vehicles. *Flak Cannon — Primary fire shoots a hail of glowing metal chunks; secondary launches a single shell which bursts into radiating flak chunks on contact. *Grenade Launcher — New in UT2004 — Primary launches up to eight simultaneous sticky grenades which attach themselves to vehicles, nodes and players; secondary detonates them, usually with devastating effect on vehicles and infantry. Grenades auto-detonate if the player dies. *Rocket Launcher — Primary fire shoots single rockets; secondary, held down, loads up to three which are then launched simultaneously. Primary-firing while loading launches the rockets in a tight spiral that can lock onto vehicles. *AVRiL — New in UT2004 — Primary fire shoots slow but powerful anti-vehicle missiles; holding the crosshairs on a vehicular target causes the missiles to home in on it. Secondary fire zooms and locks on. *Lightning Gun — Primary fire shoots an instant-hit bolt of lightning at the target; a headshot is a one-hit kill. Secondary fire zooms. *Sniper Rifle — Returns from Unreal Tournament . Primary fire shoots a fast-moving bullet and momentarily obscures the view with a puff of smoke; secondary fire zooms. *Redeemer — Primary fire shoots a miniature nuclear missile; secondary fire shoots the same missile but with full steering capability using the missile s eye-view camera. The missile can be shot down by enemy fire. *Ion Painter — Primary paints a target which is then fired on by an orbital ion cannon; damage is similar to that of the Redeemer s missile. Secondary zooms. *Target Painter — New in UT2004 — Primary, like the Ion Painter s, paints a target; in this case, a bomber appears over the battlefield and drops a line of bombs towards it. Secondary fire zooms. The bomber can be shot down.

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. Technically speaking, however, this can also be used as a weapon , by firing the beacon at another player s feet and then teleporting there, performing a so-called telefrag . This action is usually quite difficult to perform.