Anyone Else Want Some?

Unreal Championship. Two simple words that have filled the Xbox® gamer with equal parts anticipation and fear for many months, ever since it became common knowledge that the latest version of the long-running PC shooter series was going to be an Xbox Live® launch title.

Would Atari and developer Digital Extremes be able to recreate the fast-paced action and detailed worlds of the PC version while still appealing to the tastes of the console gamer? And what about those folks without access to Xbox Live? Would UC still offer enough game on its own?

I'm happy to report that the answer to all these questions is a resounding "Yes!" Unreal Championship perfectly translates a PC-style online FPS with a bang, a crack, and an endless supply of explosions. Throw down on Xbox Live, face each other head-on using the same Xbox, in a pitched System Link battle, or in solo action that serves to prepare you for the ultimate challenge: a bloody ongoing tournament against the most vicious opponents in the known galaxy. Dominate the enemy and protect your team, and you will become legend throughout known space. Fail, and you're ground beef.

First off, some advice: play the tutorial. Sure, you've beaten Halo®: Combat Evolved on all four difficulty settings, but that doesn't mean you're quite ready for the Championship. The quick and simple tutorial will show you the basics in a low-threat environment, such as picking up weapons, how each power-up performs, how to switch guns, etc.

More importantly, the tutorial is the only place to learn the special commands that allow you to use Adrenaline to create one of four special effects in-game (more on that later). Finally, the tutorial gives you the chance to get a really good look at the game's stunning graphics engine, awe-inspiring lighting effects, and lovingly detailed bump-mapped surfaces. Enjoy it while you can, from here on out you'll be lucky if you slow down long enough to read your next victim's gamertag.

Unreal Championship is pure, adrenalized action that never pauses long enough to let you catch your breath. Even battle-scarred veterans should play through the game's rock-solid single player mode, which is essentially advanced training for the big show.

You and your AI-controlled team face increasingly skilled Bot opponents in several tournaments focusing on the varied game types, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Survival (one-on-one gladiator-style Deathmatch), Capture the Flag, Domination (which revolves around controlling certain checkpoints), and Bombing Run (sort of like football, only with a lot more guns and a field the size of Delaware).

Each game type gets a different slate of eye-popping maps set in diverse environments and climates, and you can modify each game with "mutators" like Big Heads (pretty self-explanatory) or Slow Motion Death (no real effect on gameplay, but the bodies fall very dramatically). Even without Xbox Live, all this would make for a great game. Add the option to go up against real, living opponents over a broadband Internet connection, and the sky's the limit.

UC lets you choose one of dozens of individual characters plucked from eight different species (including several variations on good ol' homo sapiens) that possess wildly diverse skills, attributes, and fighting styles. The basic Human, for example, has got fairly high starting health of 120, a good physical constitution, but doesn't jump very well.

A member of the alien Gen'Mokai race, however, starts with only 70 health but also presents a small, armored target that's tough to finish off. An Artificial Intelligence (i.e., a robot) can jump like a kangaroo, boasts decent hit points, and excellent speed, but has something of a glass jaw.

You've got two primary ways to affect your avatar's skills. You might simply shut off the species skill adjustments in the pre-game menu, or collect Adrenaline doses, which look like giant cold pills scattered around the map. Once you collect 100 Adrenaline, this all-purpose miracle drug can boost the damage you inflict, regenerate your health, grant you temporary super-speed, or even make you invisible for a short time.

Aside from the skills and powers endemic to you species, you'll want to make sure your character's favorite weapon is also your own. The favorite weapon is the one with which you spawn, so if you're all about the sniping, choose an avatar that starts off with the lightning gun (the only weapon in the game with a zoom feature).

Other UC weapons include the classic Unreal flak cannon (with a shotgun-like primary fire and a shrapnel grenade alternate shot), your basic rocket launcher (one rocket with primary, up to three at a time with alternate, hold the crosshairs on your target for a homing shot), a Gatling-style minigun, several deadly energy weapons, and a shield gun for those times when you run out of ammo for everything else.

Online or off, Unreal Championship stands as one of the best-conceived and executed first-person shooters on Xbox or any game system. If you've got access to Xbox Live or just want to experience non-stop carnage and eye-popping mayhem on a single Xbox, UC will not disappoint.

By Ben Barker