Comparisons and Conclusion
Comparisons
Battlefield 1942 – Two years old now, and starting to show its age. Great multiplayer value though, just a shame single player was so poor.
Far Cry – Not a pure deathmatch game, although it does have a traditional multiplayer mode. Great single player game with loads of action and suspense. Highly recommended!
Quake Arena – Still an old favourite among many who can’t face the fact that the Unreal Engine far outpasses the Quake engine. Classic game none the less.
Conclusion
Good
- Loads of levels. 95 in total!
- Onslaught mode rules. Vehicles are interesting to learn
- Assault mode has returned!
- Pretty sharp visuals
- Some pretty cool music at times
- Funny verbal taunts
- Player models are all fairly different and unique
- Well polished game
- The best of the UT series, if not the best deathmatch experience out there
Bad
- Gets a bit repetitive
- New weapons aren't anything dramatically new
- Invasion mode is shear plop
- Comes in an immense 6 CD’s, totally over 5GB of HD space!
- Team management in campaign mode is nothing great
- Feels like its all been done plenty of times before
Summing Up
Unfortunately for me the deathmatch era is gone, which you can probably tell by the overall tone of my review. It’s not strictly UT2004’s fault, but I personally can no longer play hours upon hours of continuous frag fests. If I play deathmatch games nowadays I only play for about 20 minutes a time. They are great for a quick blast, but then it becomes incredibly repetitive and I end up switching it off. UT2004’s adds nothing dramatically new for me to change that, apart from Onslaught mode and its lovely new visuals. Certainly nothing to entice me back and make me love this genre all over again.
Nevertheless in saying all this, as a PC games critic I can see that UT2004 is a cool game which many will enjoy and love. Simply put you will NOT get a better deathmatch game out there. With its old time rivals like Quake Arena light years away now UT2004 is now the undisputed god of the deathmatch world, and at the peak of its genre. Although one has to wonder if it’s about time this genre gracefully retires on such a good note?
Rating – Excellent
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