May 27, 2005 - It would have been easy, and completely expected, for Epic Games and Midway to simply port Unreal Tournament 2004 to the Xbox. Unreal Championship, the original, had been a port and so had Unreal II: The Awakening. And although both those games felt rushed and lackluster on console, Unreal Tournament 2004 is one of the greatest multiplayer games of all times on the PC. What better way to show the Xbox community the true meaning of “It’s Good To Play Together” than with Unreal Tournament 2004’s massive maps, vehicular mayhem and extraordinary gameplay? But instead, Michael Capps (President of Epic Games and Lead Designer for Unreal Championship 2) and the folks at Epic decide to start over from scratch and build the new game from the ground up for the Xbox. They also decide to mess with the tried and true Unreal formula by adding a third person melee mode. And if that weren’t blasphemous enough (Unreal fans have a tendency to think of these things as sacrilegious) they limit the number of players per map, make the maps a lot smaller and remove vehicles altogether. In the gaming industry, this is called madness. Anywhere else, it’s referred to as suicide. So how bad is Unreal Championship 2 then?

Well, let me make a series of bold statements here (each followed by obligatory exclamation mark) which I believe to be 100% true:

• Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is without a doubt the best Unreal to date!


• Third person Unreal is more fun than first person Unreal!


• Guns are great, but melee weapons are so much more entertaining!


• Selket rocks! (Personal plea to Epic Games: Please give us Necris Selket as DLC)


• Michael Capps and the folks at Epic are ingenius! Mad, crazy geniuses with serious testicular fortitude.


• Epic loves Xbox gamers!

While Unreal Tournament/Championship has (and will always be) a game to be played against others, a large portion of Championship 2 has been devoted to the lone player. The primary offering, and one that should be played through in its entirety to learn all the nuances of the new game, is The Ascension Rites campaign which revolves around the events of this year’s Grand Tournament. While it may serve as a tutorial, it also offers up a fun story with amazing cutscenes that are both informative and a joy to watch. The Ascension Rites campaign follows the exploits of Anubis returning to fight in the Grand Tournament (to become Emperor and save his planet) and also settle some unfinished business with Selket and a few others. Longtime Unreal fans will be please to see some old friends like Malcom and Lauren along for the ride. And while the story may not be groundbreaking, this mode is a clever way to introduce (and unlock) the various new modes of Unreal Championship 2 as well as the new melee and third person action. Single players will also have the opportunity to take each unlocked combatant through their tournament ladders as well as attempt to beat the Challenge Modes.

A note on difficulty should be added here: Unreal Championship 2 is a game that should be learned on novice difficulty, but played (and enjoyed) on a higher level for a real challenge. And a challenge you shall get. The A.I. in Unreal Championship 2 is maddeningly ruthless, cunning and realistic. Even Unreal veterans will want to hurl controllers at their walls from time to time, but while the A.I. may seem “unreal” at times, it never feels cheap. The game is beatable on any difficulty and at worse, it’s a great primer for playing against friends and online. The other good news is that the bots on your side are just as smart as the bots against you, so your skills are usually the determining factor in team games.

Quick, take everything you know about Unreal and forget it. Even if you know Unreal backwards and forwards, nothing will prepare you for this. Yes, the game lets you play using weapons in first person, but the real fun of Championship 2 comes from third person view. In this mode (which plays just as fast as the first person view) you now have more visibility, more mobility and more agility at your disposal. Your can jump, double-jump, reflect projectiles, perform combos and perfect your Coup De Gras (Championship 2’s Mortal Kombat lineage). Adding melee weapons to the mix was a stroke of brilliance. And while the new view and new button layout will take some serious getting used to, the controls are spot on and play fast. Epic has also gone out of its way to balance the game perfectly, both with regards to weapons (energy, explosive, melee & race specific) and character/adrenaline skills. The difference between characters is instantly noticeable in terms of size, mobility and usable weapons, but never feels like there is one “all powerful” character or weapon for that matter. Also to note, while previous Unreal iterations have used adrenaline skills, they were used sparingly and generally signaled the end of a match. Now, adrenaline can be used over and over and is mandatory for success. Proper adrenaline management can sometimes be the key to turning the tide of a particularly close match. A clever balance between ranged attacks and close quarter (in-your-face) combat is the other. Many gamers will focus on the new melee weapons early on and completely forget about the rocket launchers and the shock riffles. To those, I wish good luck.