What Is The Best Unreal Tournament?

[DSC]

I've recently become very interested in the UT series, so I've come to ask: of the two most popular entries of the series, which one should I get?

[Redneckerz]

Both for different reasons.

 

Spoiler

UT99 obviously.

 

[MrFlibble]

3 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

Both for different reasons.

I've been asking the same question as the OP and would love to know more!

 

I have very limited experience with arena shooters generally. I enjoyed playing through the UT99 demo several times a good while ago, and equally enjoyed the demo maps from UT2003 and UT2004. But it's pretty hard for me to tell which is better (if at all), or if I could get a comparable experience from one of several FOSS arena shooter projects (I don't play online so it's against bots only).

[Redneckerz]

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

I've been asking the same question as the OP and would love to know more!

 

I have very limited experience with arena shooters generally. I enjoyed playing through the UT99 demo several times a good while ago, and equally enjoyed the demo maps from UT2003 and UT2004. But it's pretty hard for me to tell which is better (if at all), or if I could get a comparable experience from one of several FOSS arena shooter projects (I don't play online so it's against bots only).

If you like modern multiplayer, than UT2004 with its vehicle support.

If you like classic multiplayer, than UT99 withs many modes.

[HLRaven]

Honestly if you can, I'd get both. They are both equally great for me!

 

Spoiler

Thank god you didn't put unreal tournament 3, that game sucked

 

[Denim Destroyer]

It is hard for me to pick but I would say 99 over 2004 mainly for the former playing faster than the sequel. With that said Onslaught is a lot of fun in small doses plus it is hard to find any non-source engine game with the amount of custom content UT2K4 has.

[Mr. Freeze]

2004. Spent ages playing that way back when. 

[vyruss]

2004.  Can't tell you how much fun I had playing that game competitively during high school years.  UT99 was great too, but I didn't get into it until it's waning years.

[Vic Vos]

2004 is bae

[doorlock]

Just cannot get into 2004 despite 99 being my favourite game. The graphic style in 04 I just find unappealing like everything is made out of plastic and the weapons don't have the same punch as their 99 counterparts.

[seed]

Both ofc.

[Doom_Dude]

I voted for 99. I had a blast playing that back in the day. When I got myself online in 2000 I was using a free internet service, then sometime later switched to a cable provider and they ran game servers for Quake 2 and UT99 and it was pretty sweet. After UT99 I bought 2003 and by the time 2004 came along I was done with Unreal for awhile so I never picked 2004 up.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Doom_Dude

[Pirx]

12 hours ago, Doom_Dude said:

I voted for 99. I had a blast playing that back in the day. When I got myself online in 2000 I was using a free internet service, then sometime later switched to a cable provider and they ran game servers for Quake 2 and UT99 and it was pretty sweet. After UT99 I bought 2003 and by the time 2004 came along I was done with Unreal for awhile so I never picked 2004 up.

 

 

pretty much this. i played ut99 a lot, especially instagib and ctf. when ut2004 came out, i didn't have that much time for gaming, and my pc was rather slow for it, so i stayed with ut99's simpler graphics. which doesn't mean ut2004 was bad, but i prefer classic fps to this day, i'm a footsoldier and less of a vehicle guy.

[Murdoch]

If you are more a straight deathmatch type ut99.

 

Onslaught in ut2004 though was an absolute blast. I've never played online all that much but ut2004 Onslaught is second only to left 4 dead 2 versus for number of hours for me.

[DSC]

Ended up downloading UT99. I had a blast playing through the campaign! Currently tyring to find some good custom maps to try out.

[MrFlibble]

On 2/6/2021 at 1:43 AM, Redneckerz said:

If you like modern multiplayer, than UT2004 with its vehicle support.

If you like classic multiplayer, than UT99 withs many modes.

Problem is, I'm a complete noob in this as I mentioned earlier. These days I have to make a choice what I want to invest my time into, and honestly I feel like I'd rather pick a FOSS arena shooter for casual play (playing Nexuiz against bots made a good impression on me); at least I won't have that uncomfortable feeling of having bought something and not using it. But I would certainly like to know and understand what exactly I'd be missing when not playing UT games -- if it is possible to explain in a few short words that is.

 

For now, after having played the demos of UT99, UT2003 and UT2004, save for the vehicle stuff that I personally have not developed much of interest/liking, and marginally prettier graphics in the case of 2004, I do not really feel/understand the difference between any of the UT titles and Nexuiz. I know there are all these factors like movement speeds or weapon balance that differentiate the games of these kind between one another; or the level layouts. But at least theoretically, there is a certain common element in all arena shooters against which the differences are evident and can then become the basis of payer preferences.

 

I do feel the difference between UT and Q3A though because I never had trouble playing the UT demos (on normal difficulty), but could not survive more than a handful of seconds in the very first Q3A demo level on normal difficulty. I did not give it a lot of tries but I think the difference is there (maybe UT just labels the easy level Normal for new users to feel more comfortable, like StarCraft II does; don't know). From what I understand, OpenArena is as close to Q3A as possible gameplay-wise, which I guess is one of the reasons I've not tried OpenArena yet.

[DSC]

Just another question... I've heard the game devs say they consider the new content that makes up half of UT2004 to be superior to the UT2003 half. Would you say thats true?

[AnotherGrunt]

Unreal Tournament (1998). Best UT ever.

[Grain of Salt]

UT2003, 2004 and later botched the "assault" mode, made the announcer and other voices 10% cheesier (fatal) and added a game mode that seems to be inspired by american football, so these games are unforgivably bad, whereas UT99 is good.

 

Didn't they also change "domination" so there are only two control points per map.... what the fuck

[Dark Pulse]

If you like Quake, UT2004. If you like fun, UT99.

[ReaperAA]

UT2004 is by no means a bad game (infact it is my favorite FPS from 2004) but UT99 for me is definitely more fun.

 

I would go on to say that I enjoy UT3 (once it is patched and modded) more than UT2004.

[magicsofa]

Never bothered to play 2004. I shouldn't even be allowed to vote, but I did.

[lazygecko]

UT99 had the better deathmatch. 2004 had the better content and mods overall. I thought for deathmatch 2004 just leaned way too heavy on the acrobatic stuff and damage felt lower overall, which just made combat encounters feel like a drag.

[Kokoro Hane]

UT99, hands down! I do still like 2004, it's fun and all, BUT UT99 IS WHERE IT'S AT! To this day, I just love the voice clips, the mapping, the graphics (sure it's a little dated to today's standards but something about the first Unreal engine's graphics still mesmerizes me to this day), and the music.... oh I just LOVE the music!

[Naked Snake]

UT99 and 2003 / 2004 are pretty fun, I never really played any of the newer ones so I can't really say much about those. I recommend the Operation: Na Pali mod for UT99 because not only does it add a fun single player campaign but it adds the ability to change out between Unreal 1 and UT99 weapons individually, power-ups, and other stuff, it's pretty much a mandatory upgrade IMO.

[Endless]

UT 99 is the goat, but next to it my favorite is probably UT 2004. The OST, the fun new weapons and the MASSIVE roaster of maps is just fucking amazing. While I really dislike the GoW aesthetic of UT 3, the graphics are amazing and the weapons are very close to the originals and feel great.

[Azuris]

I like 2K4 more.

It also has a great Support of Skins, Models and Mods.

 

 

[Rytrik]

Why is there not a 3rd option of 'Yes'?

[SyntherAugustus]

It's too bad Epic isn't using their unlimited cash flow to make a ut99 remake.

 

I liked all three, but I wish UT3 followed more of the old games and didn't experiment with trying to look like a gears game. 13 years later it looks the most dated despite being the more recent game. It has the splitscreen mod which gives it a slight edge.

 

UT1 and UT2004 I like for different reasons. I agree with the UT2004 gameplay a little more, but the music in UT99 was fire compared to any of the other three. Some good OGG music tracks came out of the ut2004 modding community though.

[MrFlibble]

I was wondering, maybe the experienced arena shooter players will enlighten me, if someone is really into this and plays regularly, which is more likely in general: playing one game extensively and exclusively (or at least most of the time), or alternating between several titles that are equally interesting?

 

I'm asking because apart from the UT series and Q3A/TA which are the genre's juggernauts as far as I can tell, there are also less widespread commercial titles as well as FOSS projects (OpenArena, Alien Arena, World of Padman, Nexuiz Classic/Xonotic etc.), and I'd really like to know how they compare to each other, in the opinion of experienced players that know the genre inside and out.

 

BTW, I vaguely remember there was a game based off the UT2004 code called Warpath. I even downloaded the demo a while ago but never got around to install it. Anyone know that game, is it any good? Also there were titles that I think tried to experiment with the gameplay formula a bit, but these changes did not really pick up, like Firestarter (?). And that game which evolved from Q2 (?) mod called Purge, which I think it multiplayer only (no bots, or at least none in the demo that I tried out) and was based on the same LithTech engine as AvP2 if memory serves. Anyone played those? Or is Purge more like TeamFortress with classes and stuff?