Unreal Tournament 2004

Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004 U.S. box cover
Developer(s)	Epic Games Digital Extremes
Publisher(s)	Atari (Linux/Windows) MacSoft (Mac)
Designer(s)	Steven Polge
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.5
Platform(s)	Linux Mac OS X Windows
Release	March 16 2004 March 18 2004 March 19 2004
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2004 or UT2K4, is a first-person shooter computer game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming although the game had a built in single-player mode that mimics multiplayer gaming by featuring AI-bots. Unreal Tournament 2004 is part of the Unreal series of games and is the sequel to 2002's Unreal Tournament 2003. Unreal Tournament 2004 was co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes and published by Atari. The major addition to Unreal Tournament 2004 is the introduction of vehicles to the classic first-person shooter formula following in the footsteps of Tribes 2, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Battlefield 1942. Unreal Tournament 2004 also features great user interactivity with user-made mods, maps, and other add-ons.

Unreal Tournament 2004 is not a brand new game or a conventional expansion pack, rather it "is what Unreal Tournament 2003 should have been". Besides introducing new weapons, vehicles, and game modes, Unreal Tournament 2004 also contains everything released previously in Unreal Tournament 2003, making Unreal Tournament 2004 a superset of its predecessor. Unreal Tournament 2004 completely replaced Unreal Tournament 2003 on store shelves and Unreal Tournament 2004 boxes sold in the United States include a $10 mail-in rebate requiring that a short form be completed and sent to the publisher along with a copy of the manual cover for Unreal Tournament 2003.

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 Unreal Tournament 2003.

Development process

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

Epic Games: All the enhancements to the Unreal Tournament 2003 game types, the new UI, Voice over IP and bot voice command support, engine enhancements and optimizations were made by the primary developer. They also made an improved single player game, and improved community and demo recording support, in addition to thirty-one new playable characters. A Sniper Rifle similar to the one included in the original Unreal Tournament was added. They created one Onslaught map, and developed AI support for Onslaught. 16 new DM maps, 5 new CTF Maps, 2 new DDOM maps, and 1 new BR map were added. The Assault game type design and implementation, including 3 new vehicles, 3 types of turrets, and 6 new maps were also reintroduced from the original Unreal Tournament. (Total of 31 all new maps for Unreal Tournament 2004 from Epic.)

Psyonix: The Onslaught game type design and implementation, with 6 new vehicles, 4 new weapons (grenade launcher, spider mine layer, Anti Vehicle Rocket Launcher (AVRiL), and the Phoenix target painter), and the energy turret. They also created seven Onslaught maps, and collaborated with Streamline Studios on the popular map ONS-Torlan. Finally, they made the new model for the Translocator.

Digital Extremes: Created 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, downloadable from the Internet.

Nearing release

On February 11 2004, the demo for Unreal Tournament 2004 was released and included five maps for five different game types. Demo versions for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux on x86-32 (February 13 2004) and Linux on x86-64 (February 15 2004) 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 closed source game to support the new x86-64-bit extension, utilizing Linux, as Windows for x86-64 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 PC (Linux x86-32/x86-64 and Windows), the Mac OS X version (DVD only) followed on March 31 2004. The version for Windows x86-64 was released as a downloadable patch on October 1 2005. 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 a second DVD filled with video-tutorials on how to use UnrealEd (the program used to make UT-maps and mods). 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.

Epic and Atari, in collaboration, released two official Onslaught maps over the summer, ONS-Ascendancy and ONS-Aridoom.

On September 21 2004, Atari released in stores the Editor's Choice Edition of Unreal Tournament 2004: it adds 3 vehicles, 4 Onslaught maps, and 6 character skins to the original content of the game, and also contains several mods developed by the community and selected by Epic Games. This extension (excluding mods) was released as a Bonus Pack by Atari on September 23 2004, and is available for free download.

In December of 2005, the Mega Bonus Pack was released by Epic, which included several quality maps, along with the latest patch and the aforementioned ECE. The release was solely through the Internet.

Gameplay

File:UT2004Onslaught.jpg

Fighting at a power node in Onslaught

Available game types

• Deathmatch
• Team Deathmatch
• Capture the flag
  • 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, and necessary for the game type to be seen. This mode was not made originally with the game, and was only made commonplace with the v3369 patch.
• 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 Unreal Tournament 2004, 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. (Note: While in the original Unreal Tournament, the gametype was simply called Domination and would feature as many as five Domination Points in a single map, Double Domination maps are restricted to two points in a map and could easily double as Capture the Flag maps.) However, of all the game types, this is the most infrequently played.
• Last man standing - All players in this gametype spawn with a limited number of lives. The last player alive wins.
• Invasion - Invasion is the closest gametype to true co-operative play. All of the players in the server are on one team, and that team must work together to clear waves of invading aliens (players of the original Unreal will recognize the enemies instantly). If a player is killed, they sit out until their team clears the map of aliens.
• Bombing Run
• Mutant - Mutant can easily be described as akin to "reverse tag" in its style of gameplay. The first person to make a kill becomes the mutant, which gives them all of the standard weapons, maximum ammunition for all of the standard weapons, and all four Adrenaline powerups simultaneously and indefinitely. 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. (To keep the person playing as the Mutant from simply hiding in a corner until the game is over, he loses 1% of health per second. His health is replenished by killing the other players.)

Many of these modes have Instagib versions to it, which contain specialized weapons that kill in a single shot.

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 and your battle style.

• 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 dodge-double-jump (DDJ) 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.

Scoring

Scoring in Unreal Tournament 2004 is fairly complex; however in all game types one point is granted for each kill, and one is subtracted for a suicide. In Onslaught, points are awarded when a node is constructed, an enemy node is destroyed, or the enemy power core is destroyed based on what players helped make that happen and how much they did. In Capture the Flag, points are awarded for flag returns, attempted captures, and most of all, successful captures.

Awards are given for kills in succession and kills without dying. In respect, they are called Multi Kills and Killing Sprees, and go as follows:

• Multi Kills:

• Double Kill - 2 kills, each no more than three seconds apart
• Multi Kill - 3 such kills
• Mega Kill - 4 such kills
• Ultra Kill - 5 such kills
• Monster Kill - 6 such kills
• Ludicrous Kill - 7 such kills
• Holy Shit! - 8 or more kills

• Killing Sprees:

• Killing Spree - 5 kills without a death or suicide
• Rampage - 10 kills
• Dominating - 15 kills
• Unstoppable - 20 kills
• Godlike - 25 kills
• Wicked Sick - 30 or more kills

Weapons

File:UT2K4 screenshot.jpg

Screenshot of Onslaught mode in Unreal Tournament 2004 on Ons-Torlan

Unreal Tournament 2004 features 16 default 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, as well as reflecting some hitscan beams, such as the Shock Rifle's. Shield gun "ammo" regenerates quickly.
• Assault Rifle - Primary fire is a weak and inaccurate hitscan bullet fire; secondary shoots time-detonation grenades with force proportionate to how long secondary fire was held. The Assault Rifle may be dual-wielded if the player picks up a second rifle (this will increase the maximum primary fire ammunition limit from 200 to 400, as well as the maximum alternative fire grenade limit from eight to sixteen). Dual Assault Rifles will increase the primary fire rate; the alternative fire grenade launch remains the same (the rifles alternate grenade fire). It is one of two weapons automatically granted to a player when respawning; however it is the weakest weapon in the game.
• Bio-Rifle - Primary quickly disperses small globs of sticky, poisonous goo; secondary can be held down to charge up a much larger, splattering glob. Any charge currently being held will be discharged when the player holding it dies. A single glob from a fully charged Bio-Rifle is enough to wipe out a fully-shielded opponent.
• Mine Layer - New in Unreal Tournament 2004 - 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, or if they run into unsurmountable terrain (walls or steep slopes).
• Shock Rifle - Primary shoots a hitscan shock beam; secondary shoots a slow-moving shock core. Hitting a shock core with a primary beam produces a huge explosion, called a "shock combo", which uses up additional ammo. This weapon can also cause players it hits to move, and therefore can cause kills just by knocking players into an abyss or causing them to die from fall damage.
• 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 using secondary fire with their link gun at a team member carrying the Link Gun as well, who will have their power for healing or damage multiplied by the number of linked teammates.
• Minigun - Primary fire spits medium-damage hitscan bullets most effective against infantry; secondary shoots more accurate, but less rapid hitscan bullets that do more damage to vehicles, better used for farther away and less aware targets.
• Flak Cannon - Primary fire shoots a hail of glowing metal chunks; secondary launches a single shell which bursts into radiating flak chunks on contact. This is, in a way, Unreal's version of the shotgun featured in other games.
• Grenade Launcher - New in Unreal Tournament 2004, and exclusive to the Editor's Choice Edition bonus pack - Primary launches up to eight "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 two to three rockets (depending on how long the trigger is held) which are then launched simultaneously; using primary fire while loading launches the rockets in a tight spiral. If the crosshair is held over a target for a certain amount of time (about 1.4 seconds), the rocket launcher will beep and any rockets fired while the crosshair remains on the target will home in on it.
• AVRiL - New in Unreal Tournament 2004 - A weapon designed to take down enemy vehicles. Primary fire shoots relatively 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. AVRiL rockets can be shot down. AVRiL stands for Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher; the "i" in the name is to make it pronounceable. Any players in a vehicle that is being targeted by an AVRiL will receive a message saying "Missile Lock Warning", as well as a beep that can be heard by anyone in the vicinity of the vehicle. The weapon can damage humans but is very inefficent.
• Lightning Gun - Primary fire shoots a hitscan bolt of lightning at the target. Secondary fire zooms. Although the shot is hitscan, there seems to be a slight delay between the trigger pull and the actual lighning projection. Users are made vulnerable by the patent trail of lightning originating from the gun.
• Sniper Rifle - Returns from Unreal Tournament. Primary fire shoots a hitscan bullet and momentarily obscures the view with a puff of smoke; secondary fire zooms. Is only 5/6 as powerful as the Lightning Gun.
• Redeemer - Primary fire shoots a miniature nuclear missile in a straight path; secondary fire shoots the same missile but with full steering capability using the missile's eye-view camera. Although the missile can only be accurately guided with secondary, doing so leaves the player completely vulnerable. It is perhaps the most powerful weapon in the game; just one blast from a Redeemer can knock out an entire power node in Onslaught, and can drain 30% of a power core's life. The missile can however be shot down by enemy fire, with a "denied" message going to the player who fired the missile and the one who shot it down. Only one missile per weapon.
• Ion Painter - Primary paints a target which after two seconds of stillness with the user is then fired on by an orbital ion cannon; damage style is similar to that of the Redeemer's missile, but is approximately half as powerful. However, it is somewhat hard to position correctly. Secondary fire provides zoom.
• Target Painter - New in Unreal Tournament 2004 - 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 fairly easily using hitscan weapons such as the lightning gun or stationary turret beams, however, it is impossible to lock onto the bomber using either the AVRiL or Rocket Launcher. The Bomber, once shot down, will produce a Redeemer-sized explosion wherever it lands.

In addition, Unreal Tournament 2004 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, and has been made even more difficult than in the original Unreal Tournament.

Vehicles

Unreal Tournament 2004 is the first in its series to contain vehicles, which are used primarily in Assault, Onslaught, and in the recently-added Vehicle Capture the Flag.

Standard vehicles

• Manta - a hovercraft that is aided off the ground with two wings, each having spinning propellors. It is the weakest vehicle in the game but the fastest land-moving vehicle; it does best by running over enemies. Has only one player position, but others can hop on for the ride on its two side wings; this tactic is frequently used to speedily capture flags in Vehicle Capture the Flag. Primary fire shoots a somewhat-powerful but weak blaster, while secondary lowers the manta close to the ground, which can be used to easily run over and kill enemies. Due to the exposure of the player driving, he himself can take body damage while driving.
• Scorpion - a four-wheeled buggy-like cruiser that has room for only one, but others can easily fit on top. Primary fire shoots out a plasma ribbon that wraps around enemy targets and is quite destructive; secondary fire unleashes super-thin blades (according to the game guide, just one atom in thickness) that can slice through enemy infantry). Drivers can take body damage while driving.
• Hellbender - a three-seat truck with considerably powerful armament, a lot like a futuristic Humvee. The three positions are the driver (who does not fire any weapons), a side gunner (who shoots out a shock-rifle like blaster), and rear gunner, who shoots a heavily powered twin turret. The rear turret can zoom in. Players in any of the three positions can take body damage while operating.
• Raptor - a one-seat flying craft. Primary fire shoots a stream of lasers, while secondary function shoots missiles, which home in on other Raptors, Mantas, or the ECE vehicle Cicada. It is possible for other players to ride on top of Raptors, but is almost never seen done.
• Goliath - a two-seat equivalent of an Army Tank, and is commonly referred to as just "tank". The driver also mans a powerful cannon which can kill any Manta, Raptor, Scorpion or human in just one hit, and the secondary gunner fires a less powerful minigun turret, which can still aid against targets that the main cannon cannot hit. Both guns have zoom functions. Despite lots of armor and power, the tank is slow to move, and targets like Mantas and especially Raptors can down a Goliath with ease.
• Leviathan - a five-seat monster that rides on four large wheels. Although being the slowest of vehicles, it has by far the greatest armament. While undeployed, the driver can shoot a rapid array of missiles that can lock onto any enemy target, and while the vehicle is deployed, movement is impossible, but a negative singularity cannon that comes out of it can cause destruction unlike any other weapon. Only two hits are needed to destroy a power core, and anything in its blast radius is almost instantly annihilated. The four other players operate as turrets, which aid in defense of the driver. Although the vehicle has by far the most health of any, its slow movement speed and exposure when deployed (to enemy Raptors) make it somewhat vulnerable. The vehicle is also the rarest, only appearing on some maps, having very long respawn times after destruction, and low quantity (usually only one in the whole map for a team).
• Energy turret - A weapon often found at Power Cores and Nodes, use to defend them. Turrets at nodes can only be operated if the team controls it, and the twin blasters have shock ability.
• Ion Plasma Tank - A vehicle exclusively found in the Assault Map Glacier. Its primary fire shoots a charged beam of ions that can annihilate many, and the secondary fire shoots a mini-gun turret.

ECE bonus vehicles

These vehicles are only found in ECE-version maps.

• Self-Propelled Mobile Artillery (commonly called "SPMA") - a two-seat truck that is best used as a siege weapon. Primary fire simply shoots a giant flak cannon that rains down powerful and often lethal fire on the target. The secondary fire shoots a deployable "camera" that will give the driver a crosshairs, allowing him to exclusively pick his or her target. However, cameras can be shot down with ease, and even give players with an AVRiL the ability to target the SPMA through it. The secondary gunner in the vehicle operates a shock cannon much like the Hellbender's side turret.
• Paladin - a one-seat, ten-wheeled craft primarily used to defend targets. It is actually slower than even the Leviathan but then again serves its purpose often just by defending the area where it spawns. Primary fire shoots out a plasma beam nearly as fatal as the Goliath's main cannon, and secondary fire creates an energy shield around the cannon. A combo of using the shield and firing a primary shot is also do-able, and quite devastating.
• Cicada - a two-seat flying vehicle that can easily take care of ground targets such as Power Nodes and infantry. The driver (and primary gunner), shoots a volley of curving missiles that can do formidable damage. Secondary fire loads up a trajectory of missiles and shoots them at a target that lights up with a scope. The other gunner can use a rapidly-firing minigun weapon to aid in the fight (primary mode) and can use missile-disrupting flares with secondary, which can divert AVRiL missiles (however, not Raptor missiles). Despite all of the power, a Raptor is much better as an air-to-air fighter, and thus Cicadas are quite vulnerable to them.

Mods

• Total conversion mods, which contain little trace of the original Unreal Tournament 2004 in their gameplay, include Red Orchestra, Alien Swarm, Metaball, Air Buccaneers, COR, Uskaarj, and Frag Ops.
• More conservative mods include Jailbreak, Wehtam Invasion III, and Clone Bandits.
• The Editor's Choice Edition pack includes the aforementioned Red Orchestra, Alien Swarm, Air Buccaneers, Frag Ops, Jailbreak, and Clone Bandits, as well as ChaosUT2, Domain, Rocketeer, Deathball, and the UnWheel caste of gametypes.

See also

• Vehicles in Unreal Tournament 2004

Resources

Stratos Group's Unofficial Guide To Unreal Tournament 2004

External links

• Unreal Tournament 2004 - official site
• Onslaught Central - Unofficial North American ONS game type forums
• Unreal Tournament 2004 mods and tutorials - at the Mod DB
• UT2004 wiki guide at StrategyWiki (previously hosted by Wikibooks)