" I would have to say its the number one first-person shooters if you just love action and don't want a whole but of story crap or excessive realism getting in the way. "

      Title: Unreal Tournament 2003 by Atari

      Format: PC FPS

      Reviewing Monkey: Reader Michael Storey

      The Hype: One of the most successful FPS of all time makes it's new tournament debut with updated graphics, a few new game modes, and a ton more attitude. But is it enough to carry on the legacy or will it telefrag its way into obscurity?

      What This Monkey Thought...

      Graphics: The Graphics are unstoppable, especially when compared to a lot of what else we've been getting right now. Keep in mind with good graphics, a good powerful computer is needed, and Unreal 2003 is no exception. I had to put around $200 into my computer to make it run UT2003 to its max, but it was worth it hands down. This game is detailed to the point of every scorch mark from you gun, every blood stain from your enemy, and every urine stain from your opponent is rendered in lush detail (well, maybe not the urine stain...). 5 out of 5

      Playability: The "Playability" is awesome, and may well be the best of the "deathmatch" games out there. It is, at heart, more of the same twitch game deathmatching we've gotten in the past but it's been well updated and polished for the new version. The game has so many levels of AI you can choose from that you can never get to good and the AI never gets too predictable. It also includes a "auto-adjust" box you can turn on that will match the computers skill to you own, the better you get, the better they get, which makes it the best training possible. The game has so much in it that you'll never get bored and, the best part, is that its never ending and constantly updating. Online people are constantly using the Unreal Engine to base their own versions of games with whatever there mind can come up with and many of those "mods" are fantastic. 5 out of 5

      Multiplayer and Replayability: Multiplayer is a little bit of a downfall, as the game is so complicated and detailed that you have to have a DSL to get it up to speed, and so online play can be a real downer. Still, the LAN element is fantastic...if not more of the same...and you'll definitely find cause to pull your buddies together for a quick match now and again. Still, if that's not an option, don't fret too much because the AI is just as unpredictable as a human player. 3.5 out of 5

      The Verdict:

I myself don't play online because I have 56k, but the rest of the game is spectacular. The fact that once you start getting bored of the game, you can go online and download a whole new version and experience a rebirth of the game is fantastic. I would have to say its the number one first-person shooters if you just love action and don't want a whole but of story crap or excessive realism getting in the way.