Toast

Hopefully, when people here "Xbox", they will think of great online games. To make this happen, you need the software. Now, Digital Extremes has taken the challenge of creating a potentially epic game. When I first heard that the renowned Unreal Series was coming to Xbox, I didn't second guess if I would purchase it or not. Now this game has produced enormous amounts of hype. I cannot stress how crucial I feel this game will be to anybodys library.

So far, we dont know too much about any story, because there most likely isnt too much. We do know, in single player, that you are the leader of a team of mercenaries, sent out to win the championship. You will get the regular if you win Fame, Money, A break, etc. The cool thing about this installment of the Unreal franchise, is that you will be able buy members of your team. Each time you win a game, you get a cash reward. Sweet! You can make any type of team you want, and characters specialize in abilities. Characters will come in many different forms (Demons, Humans, Aliens, etc.).

The gameplay modes will include the great classics, but there will be new modes. These include Domination 2.0, and Bombing Run. In Bombing Run, you take a bomb from your base, and plant it in the enemys base. That should be very fun. The controls are said to work great, similar to those of Halo. Of course, gameplay is always great when you are fragging up people over the Internet! Yes, the Xbox Live system is going to make this title all the more enjoyable, when you are playing against other REAL people.

There is also a rumor of a thing called adrenaline. Im not quite sure if this is official, but I would love it if it were. Oliver Adam of Lanpart.com : "Basically, every time you get some frags, you receive some adrenaline points. You can also grab supplemental adrenaline pills around the map. When you reach 100 points, you can do some special moves (like (Up)(Up)(Down)(Down)(Left)(Right) ABAB) and you get a special powerup! Depending on the combination of buttons you press, you will get different powerups: one will give you a boost of speed, another will increase your damage, another one will make you more resistant, and it goes on and on." Im not quite sure how official that is, but it sounds interesting!

Weapons! There are supposed to be a total of 11 weapons. There will be many old favorites, and a few new ones. There is one paintball gun, which makes a mark for a laser from the sky to zap. Creative. Oh, and there is some sort of link gun, which is also supposed to be very. Creative. Also, many of the weapons have been upgraded, and alternate fires have been changed and modified. One of the huge steps is land and air based vehicles. Yes, you heard me correctly. Vehicles. Weapons of mass destruction. There is not too much information on those, yet.

There are so many other great features of UC. Too many to list. Unbelievable graphics. Awesome new levels. Bodies you can totally rip apart after they are lifeless... the list goes on. These are the things that make games epic, great. I hope that by reading this condensed preview, you will think about purchasing this game.

- August 01, 2002