Unreal Championship 2, while it features its fair share of problems, fires the Unreal series in a new direction.
Once again Unreal Championship 2 is a very fast-paced experience but includes features we wouldn’t have imagined back in 2001. The most significant change from the original is the ability to switch from first person to third person view at the touch of a button at any time while playing the game. Third person view has the advantage of better spatial awareness; this can be very helpful when playing against the more manoeuvrable players at close range. First person view is much better for precision aiming over long distances. Whichever you prefer the choice is there at the touch of a button giving the player complete control over how to play the game. Melee attacks are usually considered to be something of an extra in most shooting games but Unreal Championship 2 combines the intense shooting action seen in the original with slick short-range melee attacks which, with the right character, can be some of the deadliest attack methods in the game. There are a total of 15 characters in the game altogether each with their own special fighting moves and unique characteristics.
At its core, this is still an Unreal game and despite the obvious differences still features the same variety of game modes you would expect to find in an Unreal game like ‘Deathmatch’ and ‘Capture the Flag’. The shooting aspects are the same as they ever were in previous Unreal games and despite only being able to start each round with one melee and two range weapons the shooting is still great fun.
The controls for the most part are like any other first person shooter - press right trigger to fire, A-button to jump and so on, but because the game has evolved to so much more than just a FPS, the controls had to be carefully designed to avoid them being clunky and confusing. Most of the controls do exactly the same thing in both First person and third person views - the black button is used to switch between these two views. Melee attacks can be performed using the fire button with the close range weapon selected, but to make things a little easier, by clicking the right trigger you can lock on to your opponent. Melee weapons are not only important for attacks but also contain defensive properties. By pressing the left trigger at the exact time as when someone shoots something you can reflect your enemy’s attack, whether it was a sniper bullet, grenade or any other weapon the game has to offer.
The single player is consists of three main modes called ‘Ascension Rights’, ‘Tournament’ and ‘Challenges’. ‘Ascension Rights’ is the game’s strong story mode. Each of the levels contain a number of different game types and weapons - for example, a level’s objective could be ‘perform a one-shot-kill with a sniper rifle’, ‘use only melee attacks’, as well as others like that to keep the gameplay varied. Another of the two main single-played modes is ‘Tournament’, which involves 15 battles unique to each character. ‘Challenges’, like the names suggests, is a series of very difficult challenges in which the odds are firmly against you. This is the only mode which doesn’t have variable difficulty settings. Both ‘Tournament’ and ‘Ascension Rights’ have five difficulty levels ranging from fairly easy to downright impossible. You really do have to master everything in the game to get anywhere in the hardest two difficulty levels. Thankfully the AI is so intelligent that it’s almost like you are playing against real players - great practice for online play. It’s always fun to play a fast-paced shooting game online with a bunch of friends. Through Xbox Live this game really shines. It features support for eight players in modes including ‘Deathmatch’, ‘Team Deathmatch’, ‘Capture the Flag’, ‘Survival’ and others. Both on System Link and Xbox Live, the game performs very well with little lag.
The graphics in this game are beautiful. The PC Unreal games have always been the type of game that you can really show off your fancy graphics card with and this purposely-built Xbox game feels very much the same. The lighting is awesome and the levels are incredibly detailed. There are so many "little touches" which really add to this game’s insane graphics. Usually the game holds a frame rate of about 50 per second but very occasionally it lowers when there is a lot happening on the map. This only slightly tarnishes the game’s graphics as it is barley noticeable.
The sound is also very good. Unreal Championship 2 has fresh-sounding noises for its great variety of innovative weapons. The music differs from level to level and generally blends in well with the rest of the game.
Unreal Championship 2 is a truly well-designed game. It was a brave and uber-exiting move to combine first and third person shooting, as well as adding in exiting close-range melee moves. It’s most prominent strength is online play but the single player is also the most comprehensive seen so far in the Unreal series. Top that off with great sound and awesome graphics and that’s what you get with Unreal Championship 2. This new and awesome game, fires the old and reliable Unreal series into a brand new and innovative direction.