Classics I Can Return To - Part Six

Last March we delved into seven more classics that I routinely return to. If you read the headline of this article, then you can probably guess that I'm about to do so again-- this time with seven new titles that I just cannot get enough of. From modern classics to games over a decade old, Part Six of Classics I Can Return To begins now!

If you missed a previous part of this long-running series and want to check past games listed, look no further than these links:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Splatoon (Wii U)

When it launched back at the end of May, Splatoon has a decent enough amount of content. However, over the past few months, the game has seen a steady stream of new content in the form of multiplayer maps, modes, weapons, and soon to be the ability to have private online matches with friends, a feature that I cannot wait to be able to try out. Along the way, Splatoon has surprised me with just how addicting the gameplay really is, and even when one is not winning, you're still making progress towards unlocking and purchasing new gear and weapons. Splatoon wasn't perfect went it launched by any stretch of the imagination, but now that it has seen so many continuous upgrades, it's darn close.

Rayman Legends (Multi)

While I don't hold it in as high of a regard as its predecessor, Rayman Legends is a fantastic 2D platformer that I enjoy whether at home on my Wii U for some local cooperative play or on the go with my PlayStation Vita version. Playing with my older brother is a blast on the Wii U version with him moving about the Murfy levels and me using the GamePad to arrange platforms and level quirks to save his bacon. The standard platforming levels where we're playing as Rayman and Globox (or whoever we decide on) are just as strong as ever. It's a game that I didn't know if I'd still be playing many years after its release, much more buying two versions of the same game!

Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

Even though Mario Kart 8 still gets a lot of playtime in the Stortzum household and with friends at their dorm rooms, Mario Kart 7 has started to suck me back in. It's amazing how much slower the game feels compared to the Wii U game, especially after speeding through the 200 cc expansion of Mario Kart 8. Regardless, I still love playing Mario Kart 7 with friends and family, and one of the most important reasons is because the amount of excellent, memorable, and fun tracks, both new and retro, is almost unmatched in any other Mario Kart. Mario Kart 8 might have the more interesting track design due to the anti-gravity portions of track, but Mario Kart 7 has more tracks that I absolutely love.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (Multi)

I've covered Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing's successor, All-Stars Racing Transformed, on a previous installment of Classics I Can Return To. This time we're talking about Sumo Digital's first racing game starring Sonic and the whole SEGA crew. Having a much better cast of characters to race as, at least in this writer's opinion, a wide variety of well crafted race tracks, an awesome mission mode, and less bugs compared to Racing Transformed. Despite their being more content in Transformed, I've by far spent more time playing and enjoying the original Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. Whether it's on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or heck, even my iPhone (albeit the latter is a much different game), this kart racer remains one of my favorites to this day.

Batman: Arkham City (Multi)

There was a lot of poking fun at Nintendo, specifically Reggie Fils-Amie, the main face of Nintendo of America, regarding his "not the same game, not the same content" PR spiel regarding Batman: Arkham City arriving on the Wii U very late compared to the other versions. While for many there was no reason to return to Arkham City after they had already played in on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or PC, I felt compelled to do so because I loved the game so much. I beat it on the PS3, and then I went ahead and jumped in to the Wii U version near launch. It remains my favorite Batman game to this day, and being able to make up an excuse to play it all over again was fantastic. Now, I think I'll go back to the PlayStation 3 version and tie up some loose ends by getting some more trophies...

Unreal Tournament (PC)

I got into Unreal Tournament really late. It'd be like me coming to my 2004 high school graduation in 2014. It was a long time before I finally got the pleasure to play UT, suffice to say. Starting out with the weak PlayStation 2 port (yes, I know, I know), I managed to enjoy my time against the game's incredibly smart computer opponents, learning the game's seemingly endless amount of maps, getting a grasp of the different weapons, and fragging all that I saw fit to frag. Moving to the PC version, I quickly adapted to the mouse and keyboard controls. Sure, I still totally suck when compared to other players, but I enjoy myself regardless.

TimeSplitters 2 (PS2, GCN, XBX)

The final game on this edition of Classics I Can Return To came from the minds behind GoldenEye 007, Free Radical Design, a core group of Rareware developers who left prior to Perfect Dark's completion. They took some of the aspects of those games and created this awesome futuristic first-person shooter. The amount of multiplayer content rivaled Perfect Dark, offering multiple bots, well designed arenas with plenty of hiding spots, camping spots, and points of contention, modes, and options. The single player offered so much replay value with the harder difficulties giving players more to do and longer levels to survive. Through my tour of the TimeSplitters series, TimeSplitters 2 is the one I recall fond memories of most.

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Eternal Wings and the Facing Worlds Edition

A new work week at SuperPhillip Central nearly always means it's time for SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs, a segment where I deliver unto you five new video game themes that I consider to be excellent ones. This week is a mishmash of music from games like Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' first arcade outing, some more RPG action with Xenosaga III, and to cap things off, some stuff from Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- and Unreal Tournament! Before we get down to the gnitty gritty, check out the VGM Database where all past VGM volumes are located!

v931. Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (GCN) - Start on a Voyage

It seems like Motoi Sakuraba is a soul that just can't let SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs go. He seems to always be here, or at least every other week! His work on Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is fantastic, as is most of his composition profile. Start on a Voyage brings memories of roughing it on the rough waves to travel from location to location.

v932. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ARC) - Boss Battle

Let's get some arcade action into SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs with this VGM volume! It's the boss battle theme from an absolute classic of the arcade scene, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Although it's hard to track down an arcade cabinet of this game nowadays, you can jump in to the Xbox Live Arcade and download it for both local and online play.

v933. Xenosaga III (PS2) - Godsibb

The final boss theme of Xenosaga III, the final chapter of the Xenosaga... er... saga, gives off a haunting feeling due to its wonderfully magical female vocals. What starts as a mysterious theme turns into a rocking one with percussion, guitar, and strong strings.

v934. Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (ARC, PS4, PS3) - Fizz

We rock out to this theme from Guilty Gear Xrd's expansion, -SIGN-. This is the character select theme for the game, and it almost makes you not want to choose a character to play as. Or it at least makes you want to linger on the menu longer than you otherwise would, thanks to this awesome theme.

v935. Unreal Tournament (PC) - Foregone Destruction (Facing Worlds)

This track is a familiar one to most Unreal Tournament players. It plays during the Facing Worlds map, which is devised up of two towers with a branching duo of paths in the middle. It's all over an outer space setting that players can fall into if they're not careful. Facing Worlds is indeed one of Unreal Tournament's most popular maps.

Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume Fourteen

Can you believe that SuperPhillip Central is on its fourteenth volume of Best Levels in Gaming History? It only seems like yesterday I was thinking up a new segment for the site about some of the most fun and some of my most favorite levels of all time. This fourteenth entry in this now-long-running series of articles takes us to even more awesome areas in video games including some from Super Mario 64, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, and even some from some shooters I find enjoyable.

If you want to peruse earlier volumes of Best Levels in Gaming History, look no further than these thirteen links!

Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine
Volume Ten
Volume Eleven
Volume Twelve
Volume Thirteen

Now, that you've caught up, click onward to see the five new levels that will be part of SuperPhillip Central's Best Levels in Gaming History!

Multiplayer Madness: My Favorite Multiplayer Games

To cap off SuperPhillip Central's month of multiplayer madness, I have the first in a new series of articles based on my favorite multiplayer games, whether online or off (mostly off since that's what I'm accustomed to). Whether nailing an opponent with a red shell to make that last second come-from-behind victory in Mario Kart or making an opposing player eat lead in an arena shooter, these are my most beloved multiplayer experiences. After you've seen my picks, let me know what games you personally enjoy the multiplayer modes of most!

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Wii U)

These first two games on my list of favorite multiplayer games will most likely be mentioned during April 1st's (no April Fools there-- honest!) Nintendo Direct. The first is Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, which is set to get a new Miiverse stage and new Mewtwo character soon. Even without that, the content for mulitplayer gamers is astronomical. Maybe that's hyperbole, but not by much! There is just so much to do with friends and family, hopping online to take someone from across the country down a notch, playing together in Classic or All-Star modes-- once unheard of in the series, and battling across one of around 30 stages with over 40 fighters! There is no question why my family's Wii U still regularly houses our Smash Bros. disc, and it's not because the system lacks good games-- that much is for sure!

Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)

There are but three absolutes in this life: death, taxes, and an increase in people playing online in Mario Kart 8 when downloadable content is made live. The second batch of DLC for Mario Kart 8 is due out next month, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear some words about it at tomorrow's Nintendo Direct. If you don't ever bother to download the new tracks and characters, you're still getting your money's worth, online or off. For the first time in a Mario Kart game since Double Dash!! on the GameCube, multiple players can vie for the top spot in a Grand Prix. Versus and online modes offer even more Mario Kart madness. No wonder Mario Kart 8 continues to be played in the SuperPhillip household to this day. It's just plain crazy fun!

New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)

One of two big launch titles from Nintendo for the Wii U was New Super Mario Bros. U. While a game like that with a modest presentation doesn't scream "the new generation", the gameplay remains as accessible and well designed as 2D Mario games of the past. Yes, I even mean beloved (and rightfully so) classics like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. Although four players is absolute mayhem-- and depending on your mood and game desires, that can be a good or bad thing-- playing through New Super Mario Bros. U with my brother made it that two skilled players were having fun helping one another out and having a sensational platforming adventure together. And oh, what an adventure it was!

Perfect Dark (N64, XBLA)

The quintessential first-person shooter in my book, Perfect Dark is indeed forever, as the ending credits do say. The game's multiplayer mode offers SO much customization, from the multitude of bot types and personalities (e.g. ones that go after the player in first place, suicidal bots, bots that only attack with their fists, etc.) to the myriad of expansive maps with plenty of choke points, hidden nooks and crannies, and places to battle it out. You can choose what weapons spawn on maps, what music is played, and so much more, and you can save your favorite scenarios for future multiplayer sessions. Literally hundreds of hours have been spent with Perfect Dark's multiplayer, and I haven't even touched the Xbox Live Arcade version.

TimeSplitters 2 (PS2, GCN, XBX)

The successor to Perfect Dark's throne, TimeSplitters 2 was made by Free Radical Design, made up of many team members who designed GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. It only makes sense, then, that TimeSplitters 2 made me, an migrant from Perfect Dark, feel right at home. Through completing missions in the Arcade League, you can unlock new characters, modes (of which there any many), and arenas in the full multiplayer piece of TimeSplitters 2. My brother and I found a lot of joy in blowing and blasting bots away in the multiplayer, and then hopping into the cooperative campaign to save each others' hides-- or at least having one of us (usually my brother) being bullet bait. While not exactly as near the magnificence of Perfect Dark's multiplayer, TimeSplitters 2 delivers plenty of similar feelings to that game.

Unreal Tournament (Multi)

While the gaming world knew of Unreal Tournament's excellence over a decade and a half ago, I am relatively new to the world of frags and bags. Containing four wonderful multiplayer modes that each possess their own set of well crafted maps and arenas, Unreal Tournament is a blast to play even to this day. There are a plethora of reasons players keep coming back to UT, and just a sample of those include fast and frenetic action, great guns that give highly satisfying kills, and insanely smart AI to help train newbies like myself to be good enough to battle it out online against human intelligence (or in my case, lack thereof).

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Wii U, 3DS)

This next game may be old news thanks to the release of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the Nintendo 3DS, but some of my favorite online multiplayer memories (Wii U version owner here) come from playing with a group of three other hunters and attempting to take down some ferocious beast. It is still fun to lose and suffer defeat, but it's even more delicious to pull out an unexpected victory. The stress and excitement levels are intensified thanks to a lack of a health meter for monsters. All you are helped notified by are different stances by the killer creatures and possibly broken off pieces from said behemoths. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is the type of a game where the multiplayer is so good that you don't mind fighting against the same foes dozens of times just to get that last desired material to complete your armor set.

Resistance 2 (PS3)

Before the servers were taken offline (RIP), Resistance 2's multiplayer received a lot of playtime by yours truly. While the massive multiplayer deathmatch and team deathmatch modes allowed for a multitude of players to rush across maps, fragging others, the real enjoyment from Resistance 2's multiplayer was in its cooperative modes, spread out across multiple maps. Each had several objectives for players to take care of and complete together, three different character archetypes like offensive and medic, and insane open-ended missions to play through. Sadly, Sony doesn't have infinite money, so the servers were taken offline, an unfortunate casualty of the online multiplayer machine.

Bad Levels in Gaming History - Volume Seven

WARNING: Mild spoilers for the following games:

• Unreal Tournament (Multi)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)
• Mega Man X6 (PS1)
• Whomp 'Em (NES)

Besides technical problems like screen tearing, poor performance, clunky controls, and a host of other issues, another problem that games can suffer from is bad level design. It usually isn't even the level design of an entire game, perhaps just a level itself. As you'll see with this edition of Bad Levels in Gaming History, even some of the better games out there can suffer from one or two annoying, tedious, or just not-fun levels. 

Ocean Floor - Unreal Tournament (Multi)

With the alpha of Unreal Tournament's newest incarnation available for PC players to fool around with, it seems like a smart chance to talk about the first UT game. Assault in Unreal Tournament is a fantastic mode which has one team serving as the attacking team and one team serving as the defensive team. The attacking team has to complete a series of objectives, usually to encroach on the defensive team's turf or destroy something important. Meanwhile, the defensive team obviously enough has to prevent the attacking team from accomplishing their goal(s). Both teams get a chance to serve on both sides, and the team that completes the attacking part of the mission the fastest is the one that is determined as the winner.

Nearly all of the maps of Assault in Unreal Tournament are well designed for this type of setup. All but one, in my opinion, and that's the Ocean Floor map. Even if you're just playing against the AI, you can easily get wrecked regardless of what side you're on.

The attacking team starts in a base overlooking the underwater complex which houses a series of four terminals that must be destroyed. You have to leap into the ocean, swim through the depths, and reach one of two entrances into the complex where auto-turrets and most assuredly your enemy awaits. Die, and you have to spawn all the way back at your base, being forced to slowly swim back towards and into the underwater compound.

On defense, the offense from the other team can be instant. Facing the AI, you can quickly find yourself with all of the terminals destroyed before you get a chance to blink. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but that's what it feels like. Ocean Floor is one of the only maps in Unreal Tournament that feels heavily lopsided in favor of the attacking team over the defensive team. It's what makes it a disliked map of mine that otherwise has a cool setting and architecture.

Water Temple - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

Now, now. Weapons down, ladies and gentlemen. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is without a doubt my favorite video game of all time. It is just a ticket to masterful game design... well, except one place in the game, and that's a dungeon that even the director of the game has apologized for.

Yes, I'm referring to the Water Temple, a dungeon within Ocarina of Time that suffers from two annoyances that pop up multiple times throughout Link's journey through its depths.

The first is the need to raise and lower the water level of the dungeon on various occasions to make the floating platforms rest where they need to. A bigger pain in the rump was the need to constantly switch between having the Iron Boots equipped and having them unequipped to Link. This process was further made aggravating by having to enter the pause menu to equip and unequip respectively. When you're being forced to equip the Iron Boots so much to sink down into the watery depths, the time wasted adds up.

Both of the Water Temple's main problems were rectified in what I consider the definitive version of Ocarina of Time, the Nintendo 3DS remake. Not only are the paths to the places where the water can be raised and lowered displayed with color-coded lines leading to them, but now the Iron Boots are like any other item that can be put on and taken off with a tap or touch of a button. Now, that's progress! It makes what was an otherwise overlooked part of Ocarina of Time's Water Temple design no longer an issue.

Carnival Night Zone Act 2 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)

While Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is one of my favorite entries in the Blue Blur's long line of video games, there is one particular sour spot that gets my girdle bunched up. THIS:

It's an ugly note in an otherwise near perfect gem of a Genesis game. Carnival Night Zone as a whole has a multitude of red and white barrels throughout it. However, the only one that is absolutely necessary to pass is near the end of Act 2. Nowhere in either act does the game display how to pass them. What occurs, then, is that players will try an assortment of tactics to pass by this dreaded stopping point for many a-player. The most popular is to jump up and down on the red and white barrel. Seeing a tactile response in the barrel beginning to bounce up and down, it only makes sense to continue this strategy.

However, one who continues this practice will cruelly never get that their incessant jumping on the barrel is for naught. It's simply not the right way to get passed this obnoxious obstacle. Instead, what you're supposed to do, as part of one of the most counter-intuitive gameplay mechanics I've witnessed, is hold up on the d-pad and then hold down, alternating between the two.

Few ever solved this unassuming puzzle on their own. Instead, they called a Sega hotline for game tips. I'm quite certain the developers of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 intentionally made the solution to the red barrel of doom so obscure and obtuse just to get extra money from suckers like me who called their $1.00 a minute hotline! Okay, maybe not, but it was indeed a place in the game that was needlessly vague in helping the player learn how to pass the obstacle on their own. A simple design decision like throwing a sign in the background would have made this preventable problem go away. Then again, as they say, hindsight is 20/20...

Gate's Laboratory - Mega Man X6 (PS1)

Instant death. That's what the final stages of Mega Man X6 award its players with after eight long stages that were just as awkwardly crafted and sometimes designed in such a way that are just offensive flat out.

Gate's Laboratory is a series of three stages that fill players with nothing in the way of fair difficulty, instead going for total cheapness. It's as if the developers and designers of Mega Man X6 had to be coaxed into creating the game kicking and screaming, and their ultimate revenge for this dishonor was making Mega Man X6 hellishly difficult in a myriad of unfair ways.

Spikes lining the walls, requiring pixel perfect jumps to avoid them? Got 'em. Enemies just placed at random locations and in great numbers? Got 'em. Blind jumps that only a psychic would know about? Got 'em. Finally, multiple challenging bosses that don't give you any sense of accomplishment in beating them? Yep, you guessed it. Got 'em.

It says something about Gate's Laboratory 2 when it's actually quite possible to be unable to progress in the level if you're the wrong character in the wrong armor. There is a jump that many call a leap of faith that is impossible to make if you're playing as X and you're not equipped with the correct armor. That alone speaks the loudest about Mega Man X6's problematic level design, and Gate's Laboratory stages are a crash course in bad design.

Final Level - Whomp 'Em (NES)

NES games are known for being something called "Nintendo Hard", and up until the final level in the Mega Man-inspired Whomp 'Em, the difficulty of the game is rather fair. When you reach the final level that our Native American hero has to deal with, you'll be asking for a dreamcatcher to catch this nightmare of a level so you won't have to ever contend with it ever again.

Let's start where we should-- the beginning. You're in the sky with several clouds serving as the platforms of the first part of the level. Some of these are storm clouds and will unleash on our hero a shock to his system. That's not all, however, as there are columns that must be maneuvered around, too. Oh, and don't forget the enemies that can come out of nowhere and pass through these otherwise solid objects.

After a vertical section of scaling small and short cloud platforms, the second floor of this final level is made up of columns of ice, more clouds, and more enemies that can quickly come out of nowhere to damage you. To add to the player's misery, falling down at this section of the level means you have to start from the first floor, going through that hot mess all over again.

By the time you reach the third floor of Whomp 'Em's final level, the game throws in an entirely new gimmick with no time for preparation given to the player. You have to immediately learn how to propel yourself with the protagonist's primary weapon, a staff, through an area with no gravity. This is all the while defeating or completely avoiding enemies. Very hard to do when you haven't mastered a totally brand-new game mechanic that is thrust onto you.

Then, there's the final boss, which is weak only to one weapon which takes off a bar of health each and every time you use it. If you don't decide to use the boss's weakness against him, prepare for an incredibly difficult battle, as the boss will use near impossible attacks to dodge.

No matter how you slice it, Whomp 'Em's final level is a blight and a horrid note to end on for an otherwise competent and capable Mega Man clone. It is marred by poor design, unfair challenges, and a mechanic that comes out of nowhere for the player to be forced to somehow master.

Unreal Tournament (PS2) Retro Review

I have a special theme for a lot of the games to be reviewed this month. It's going to be a multiplayer-focused month of reviews here at SuperPhillip Central, and we start off with one of the greatest multiplayer arena shooters around. The caveat? This is the PlayStation 2 version. How well does it hold up almost 15 years later? Let's find out with my review of Unreal Tournament!

A Tale of the Quick and the Fragged

As a gamer growing up I stayed towards consoles. Thus, I grew up on games like GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark while those who played on PC had a renaissance of arena shooters with games like Quake and yes, Unreal Tournament. With a new edition of Unreal Tournament coming down the pipes soon, I felt like it was about time for me to see what the fuss was all about. Even with only playing the PlayStation 2 version, I can definitely see why UT has such a large fanbase.

Unreal Tournament has four unique modes of play, and each possesses its own set of maps to master. In fact, there are over fifty unique maps with Unreal Tournament-- a mind-blowing amount that is further made crazy by most being masterfully designed. The PlayStation 2 version contains some maps that are exclusive to that version, adding some incentive for UT fans to pick it up. Rather it would have been had these maps been up to the same level of quality as the base game. Sadly, they are not.

Deathmatch is your standard FPS mode, where you score points through earning frags, shooting or blasting other opponents dead. Deathmatch supports the most amount of maps to fight and frag on, and the maps for the most part are designed to maximize the amount of strategy, fun, and entertainment available for players.

Why, what a big gun you have!
Are you overcompensating for something?

Domination is akin to a King of the Hill-type game match. There are three icons serving as control points that can be held by either team's color. While an icon is under a team's color, it slowly scores points for that team. Holding all three points of interest on a given map means a faster amount of points that are accumulated for that team. It's often a mad scramble to move from one point of interest to another, as control points are traded between teams like baseball cards of undesirable players.

Capture the Flag is probably a mode that I could do without explaining, but for those uninitiated, it has two teams with two bases. The goal here is to take the other team's flag and triumphantly march it back to your own base on top of your own team's flag to score a point. When a player with a flag is fragged, the flag is dropped and must be touched by a player of the opposing team to have it return to their base.

A mainstay of the arena shooter,
the Capture the Flag mode!

Assault is one of the more popular modes within Unreal Tournament with fans, and as an UT newbie, I can definitely see why. It pits two teams against one another, an attacking team and a defending team. The goal is for the defending team to disallow the attacking team from successfully completing a certain set of objectives. In the Rook map, the attacking team must destroy the chains that hold the castle's large door leading to freedom closed. By destroying these chains, the front castle door will open, allowing the attacking team to escape. It's the defending team's duty to prevent this at all cost.

You're about to get bathed in
a shower of bullets.

Each team gets a chance to serve as the attacking and defending team. The team that attacks first tries to do so in as fast an amount of time as possible. This sets how long the next team has to successfully complete their objective. If that team beats the other team's time, then they win. If neither team is able to complete their objective, then the entire match is a draw.

While Assault is a fantastic mode to itself, some maps have unclear goals to them as to what the attacking team must actually do. This can cause an unfair advantage to the other team when you're just aimlessly wandering a map, unaware of what the objective is. That said, it does lend itself well with the general rule of arena shooters in that knowing the maps is key.

Known more for its multiplayer madness, Unreal Tournament supports play for single players, offering a series of matches against bots in all four match types. The bots can range in difficulty from very easy to inhuman, where they can mow you down instantly and use very smart strategies. By completing every match in a given mode, you earn a gold trophy. Earn all four trophies, and you unlock a mode where you fight four one-on-one matches against a boss character, a fictional champion of the Unreal Tournament circuit.

The explosion of body parts after a kill is
still pretty gratifying.

Unreal Tournament on the PlayStation 2 is a blast to play, though using the PS2 controller is not the best substitute for a keyboard and mouse. Turning can be very slow in comparison, and when being fired on from above, you can be dead before the time you're able to turn around. Confusingly enough, the default controls have strafing mapped to the left analog stick while movement is mapped to the right. Thankfully, this can be changed within the controlling settings option menu.

As for the gameplay of UT itself, the fast-paced fragging action fans have grown to love with the franchise is ever-present in this PS2 version. Combatants move at a steady speed, able to jump around, and access locations on maps otherwise inaccessible. Maps range from small to large, offering an abundance of popular battle locations, areas of high traffic, sniper points, camping spots (though camping is not recommended, as one should always be moving so they're a harder target to hit), and locations for weapons, armor, health, boosts, and ammo.

The Impact Hammer is one of two
weapons each player starts a match with.

When a match begins and when a player is revived after being killed, they start with a close-range weapon and a relatively weak gun. Through exploring the map and acquiring weapons that spawn in each arena, players can obtain a mighty powerful armada of weaponry. Such weapons include a massive rocket launcher, a gun that sprays explosive bursts at other players, a bio gun that launches toxic bubbles, and a mainstay for shooters, a sniper rifle. Each weapon comes equipped with a secondary firing function. For instance, the Shock Rifle not only shoots out fast-moving bolts of lightning, but a player can fire a slow electrical orb that can take out foes in a jiffy.

We're going to tear-a Tara a new one!

The PlayStation 2 version of Unreal Tournament is sadly the weakest on the market. Not only are there tremendous frame-rate issues when the action gets fierce, but the visuals are rather weak. Multiplayer is available for up to four players (Multitap peripheral required for this amount of humans), but this astonishingly only allows a paltry 11 maps for skirmishes. Seven of these are Deathmatch maps while the other four are Capture the Flag. Yes, you read right. Three-quarters of Unreal Tournament's maps are locked away from multiplayer, and two of the game's modes are not able to be played with other humans. Considering those two modes are some of the most interesting in the package, this is a great loss for the PlayStation 2 version that offer incarnations such as the PC and Dreamcast versions have.

Despite being the black sheep when compared to other versions of the game, Unreal Tournament on the PlayStation 2 is indeed a entertaining arena shooter that still manages to play and hold up well to this day. Even the dated graphics and performance of the PS2 version don't detract from Unreal Tournament being a total blast to play whether alone with highly competent bots or with friends locally. It's gameplay that stands the test of time and offers a game that delivers total adrenaline rushes and fast and frantic fun. The fact that this arena shooter is still so popular 15 years after the fact is quite simply unreal.

[SPC Says: B-]