Gameplay goals

Speed x2

If there's one broad market both Unreal and Quake3 are both trying to capture, it's the "arcade action" aspect of deathmatch. Numerous foes, nonstop action, and general chaos is the order of the day. To facilitate this, Epic took into account a lot of the discussion topics we FPS players enjoy rattling on about. They examined gameplay aspects such as speed, control, responsiveness, general physics, and so forth.

Everything you've read (or found yourself discussing) about Quake vs. Unreal, or Quake vs. Quake 2, or Q2 vs. Q3 has had an impact on how Epic is designing Unreal Tournament, and it really shows. There are weapons around every corner, ammo is plentiful both in default and with each pickup, and levels are designed so that any good player can spawn on an unfamiliar map and find something to pound their opponents with. In fact, that seems to be the major goal with UT - instant rampage through any level, at any level of experience.

Newbies apply here

One of the things I would personally like to applaud Epic for is the active push towards a keyboard/mouse setup. While this is old, old news for some people, the release of UT and Q3A are going to bring a heck of a lot more newbies online; more than any previous FPS. Most FiringSquad readers have at least heard of the advantages of using the keyboard and mouse. However, the vast majority of gamers purchasing the game probably will not have.

UT's "tutorial" missions will hold a beginner's hand through the basics of using the mouse and keyboard for control, and it's even smart enough to know when someone has remapped their keys from the menu! Ironically, while the mouse isn't the most intuitive FPS controller around, it is unanimously considered the best. While we're all for open choice, kudos to the UT team for taking the effort to expose newbies to optimal control methods - we'll all benefit from the added competition.

Give me some variation

It's more than just deathmatch! While a few of us will concentrate on improving our deathmatch skills, for most people there's more to life than just frags. Take a look at all the Tribes and TF players out there, and just try to say there's no future in goal/squad based combat.