Unreal Tournament 2004
Encyclopedia
Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter
computer game developed by Epic Games
and Digital Extremes
. It is part of the Unreal series of games and is the sequel to 2002's Unreal Tournament 2003
and the original Unreal Tournament
.
Among significant changes to gameplay mechanics and visual presentation, one of the major additions introduced by Unreal Tournament 2004 is the inclusion of vehicles and the Onslaught game type, allowing for large-scale battles.
The game features most of the content of its predecessor, replacing it on the shop shelves. Unreal Tournament 2004 boxes sold in the United States include a $10 mail-in rebate requiring that a short form be completed and sent to the publisher along with a copy of the manual cover for Unreal Tournament 2003. Versions sold in the United Kingdom had a similar offer, but required sending in the play CD for Unreal Tournament 2003 instead.
Its successor, Unreal Tournament 3, was released on 19 November 2007.
The game was developed by multiple studios, with Epic Games leading the project. Lead programmer Steve Polge described the role of each company involved:
Epic Games
Digital Extremes
Psyonix
Streamline Studios
On February 11, 2004, a playable demo was released for multiple platforms, including Windows
, Mac OS X
, Linux
on x86-32
(February 13, 2004) and Linux on x86-64 (February 15, 2004). An updated demo version, including all the bugfixes from official patches and some original content, was released on September 23, 2004.
Unreal Tournament 2004 was released on March 16, 2004 for the PC
(Linux x86-32/x86-64 and Windows), the Mac OS X version (DVD only) followed on March 31, 2004. The version for Windows x86-64
was released as a downloadable patch on October 1, 2005. At release consumers could purchase the game on CD, or a limited-time special edition DVD
version that came with a Logitech
microphone-headset and a second DVD filled with video-tutorials on how to use the included UnrealEd
. A single DVD version with neither microphone nor tutorials was also released in Europe. The CD version of the game came on six discs. On April 13, 2004, Unreal Tournament 2004 was re-released as a special edition DVD.
In summer 2004, Epic and Atari, in collaboration, released an XP Levels downloadable mappack, which included two new Onslaught maps, ONS-Ascendancy and ONS-Aridoom. The pack is free for download and use on any system capable of running the game.
On September 21, 2004, Atari released in stores the "Editor's Choice Edition" of Unreal Tournament 2004 which adds 3 vehicles, 4 Onslaught maps, and 6 character skins to the original game, and also contains several mods developed by the community as selected by Epic Games. This extension (excluding mods) was released as a Bonus Pack by Atari on September 23, 2004, and is available for free download.
In December 2005, the Mega Bonus Pack was released online by Epic games, which included several new maps, along with the latest patch and the Editor's Choice Edition content.
In November 2006, Unreal Anthology was released which bundles Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening
, Unreal Tournament
(Game of the Year edition), and Unreal Tournament 2004. On March 17, 2008 the game was released standalone and as part of the Unreal Deal Pack on Valve's digital distribution service Steam, followed later in the year by the 'Editors Choice Edition' on GOG.com
("Universal acclaim").
The game also received awards for Multiplayer Game of the Year (IGN, Gamespy, Computer Gaming World) and Best Value for 2004 award (Computer Games Magazine).
In 2004 Epic games held the "Make Something Unreal" contest, which rewarded the creators of the best submitted modifications with prizes in cash, computer hardware, and, ultimately, a license for commercial use of Unreal Engine 2 and 3. Red Orchestra, a total conversion modification based on the Eastern Front of World War II
and focused on realism-oriented gameplay, was the winner of the contest and is currently available as a retail title on Steam.
Alien Swarm was the winner of Phase 4 of the Make Something Unreal Contest for best non-FPS modification. In 2010, the game was released as a standalone game for free, based on the Source engine instead of the Unreal engine.
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game developed by Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
and Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes is a Canadian computer and video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, specifically noted for its part in the highly successful Unreal series of games...
. It is part of the Unreal series of games and is the sequel to 2002's Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming. The game is part of the Unreal franchise's series of games, and is a sequel to Unreal Tournament ....
and the original Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament is a futuristic first-person shooter video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. It was published in 1999 by GT Interactive. Retrospectively, the game has also been referred to as UT99 or UT Classic to differentiate it from its numbered sequels...
.
Among significant changes to gameplay mechanics and visual presentation, one of the major additions introduced by Unreal Tournament 2004 is the inclusion of vehicles and the Onslaught game type, allowing for large-scale battles.
The game features most of the content of its predecessor, replacing it on the shop shelves. Unreal Tournament 2004 boxes sold in the United States include a $10 mail-in rebate requiring that a short form be completed and sent to the publisher along with a copy of the manual cover for Unreal Tournament 2003. Versions sold in the United Kingdom had a similar offer, but required sending in the play CD for Unreal Tournament 2003 instead.
Its successor, Unreal Tournament 3, was released on 19 November 2007.
Development
UT2004 was built with Unreal Engine 2.5 and the content of its predecessor, UT2003. It addressed many of 2003's shortcomings, including almost doubling the amount of content available.The game was developed by multiple studios, with Epic Games leading the project. Lead programmer Steve Polge described the role of each company involved:
Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
- Enhancements to the Unreal Tournament 2003 game types, the new UIUser interfaceThe user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
, Voice over IP and bot voice command support, engine enhancements and optimizations. They also made an improved single player game, and improved community and demo recording support, in addition to thirty-one new playable characters. A Sniper Rifle similar to the one included in the original Unreal Tournament was added. They created one Onslaught map, and developed AIComputer game botA bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch, team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player. Computer bots may play against other bots and/or human players in unison,...
support for Onslaught. 16 new DM maps, 5 new CTFCapture the flagCapture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
Maps, 2 new Double Domination maps and 1 new Bombing Run map were added. The Assault gametype design and implementation were also reintroduced from the original Unreal Tournament.
Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes is a Canadian computer and video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, specifically noted for its part in the highly successful Unreal series of games...
- 3 new DMDeathmatch (gaming)Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
maps, 6 new CTF maps, 2 new Bombing Run maps, and 3 new Double Domination maps, 2 new playable characters, the new HUD design; new weapon models for the Assault Rifle, Shock Rifle, and Link Gun.
Psyonix
- The Onslaught gametype design and implementation, with 6 new vehicles, 4 new weapons (Grenade Launcher, Spider Mine Layer, Anti-Vehicular Rocket Launcher (AVRiL), and the Phoenix target painter), and the Energy Turret. They also created seven Onslaught maps, and collaborated with Streamline StudiosStreamline StudiosStreamline Studios is an independent outsourcing and game developing studio. It was founded in 2001 in Hilversum, the Netherlands.-History:Streamline Studios worked on Gunman Chronicles , Unreal Tournament 2004, Saint's Row, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 3 among others.Black Hole Recordings, an...
on the popular map ONS-Torlan. Finally, they made the new model for the Translocator.
Streamline Studios
Streamline Studios
Streamline Studios is an independent outsourcing and game developing studio. It was founded in 2001 in Hilversum, the Netherlands.-History:Streamline Studios worked on Gunman Chronicles , Unreal Tournament 2004, Saint's Row, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament 3 among others.Black Hole Recordings, an...
- The single player introduction movie and ONS-Torlan in collaboration with Psyonix. Streamline Studios created the Assault map AS-Confexia as a test for ONS-Torlan, which they released for free.
Release history
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on x86-32
IA-32
IA-32 , also known as x86-32, i386 or x86, is the CISC instruction-set architecture of Intel's most commercially successful microprocessors, and was first implemented in the Intel 80386 as a 32-bit extension of x86 architecture...
(February 13, 2004) and Linux on x86-64 (February 15, 2004). An updated demo version, including all the bugfixes from official patches and some original content, was released on September 23, 2004.
Unreal Tournament 2004 was released on March 16, 2004 for the PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
(Linux x86-32/x86-64 and Windows), the Mac OS X version (DVD only) followed on March 31, 2004. The version for Windows x86-64
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition released on April 25, 2005 is an edition of Windows XP for x86-64 personal computers. It is designed to use the expanded 64-bit memory address space provided by the x86-64 architecture....
was released as a downloadable patch on October 1, 2005. At release consumers could purchase the game on CD, or a limited-time special edition DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
version that came with a Logitech
Logitech
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers...
microphone-headset and a second DVD filled with video-tutorials on how to use the included UnrealEd
UnrealEd
UnrealEd is the level editor used to create levels for Unreal. It was also used for other games based on the Unreal engine, such as Deus Ex and Lineage II, although it has changed along with the engine for later games...
. A single DVD version with neither microphone nor tutorials was also released in Europe. The CD version of the game came on six discs. On April 13, 2004, Unreal Tournament 2004 was re-released as a special edition DVD.
In summer 2004, Epic and Atari, in collaboration, released an XP Levels downloadable mappack, which included two new Onslaught maps, ONS-Ascendancy and ONS-Aridoom. The pack is free for download and use on any system capable of running the game.
On September 21, 2004, Atari released in stores the "Editor's Choice Edition" of Unreal Tournament 2004 which adds 3 vehicles, 4 Onslaught maps, and 6 character skins to the original game, and also contains several mods developed by the community as selected by Epic Games. This extension (excluding mods) was released as a Bonus Pack by Atari on September 23, 2004, and is available for free download.
In December 2005, the Mega Bonus Pack was released online by Epic games, which included several new maps, along with the latest patch and the Editor's Choice Edition content.
In November 2006, Unreal Anthology was released which bundles Unreal Gold, Unreal II: The Awakening
Unreal II: The Awakening
Unreal II: The Awakening is a first-person shooter video game, designed initially only for a single-player campaign. The game is part of the Unreal series. It was developed by the now defunct Legend Entertainment, published by Atari and released on February 4, 2003 for Microsoft Windows...
, Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament is a futuristic first-person shooter video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. It was published in 1999 by GT Interactive. Retrospectively, the game has also been referred to as UT99 or UT Classic to differentiate it from its numbered sequels...
(Game of the Year edition), and Unreal Tournament 2004. On March 17, 2008 the game was released standalone and as part of the Unreal Deal Pack on Valve's digital distribution service Steam, followed later in the year by the 'Editors Choice Edition' on GOG.com
GOG.com
Good Old Games is a computer game sale and distribution service owned by Polish company CD Projekt.- History :The service sells older PC games. In order to ensure compatibility with newer versions of Microsoft Windows, some games are pre-patched or bundled with Open Source emulation and...
Reception
Unreal Tournament 2004 was greeted with positive reviews and community reaction, with critics citing unique, fast-paced, fun and challenging nature of the game as the main selling points, while fans touted the post-release support and extensive modding capabilities. The game holds a 93/100 score on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
("Universal acclaim").
The game also received awards for Multiplayer Game of the Year (IGN, Gamespy, Computer Gaming World) and Best Value for 2004 award (Computer Games Magazine).
Vehicles
There are many vehicles available in Unreal Tournament 2004. Most of them make an appearance in the Onslaught game type, while a few feature in Assault. The full set consist of aircraft types and vehicles. There are also two spacecraft which only officially feature in one Assault map, and different types of gun turrets which players can take control of.Mods
The game includes extensive modification support which allows users to easily create maps, models, gamemodes as well as various other additions to the game. The game features a flexible modification system which seamlessly blends custom content with the original, as well as allowing for easy tweaking of the game with the "mutator" system.In 2004 Epic games held the "Make Something Unreal" contest, which rewarded the creators of the best submitted modifications with prizes in cash, computer hardware, and, ultimately, a license for commercial use of Unreal Engine 2 and 3. Red Orchestra, a total conversion modification based on the Eastern Front of World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
and focused on realism-oriented gameplay, was the winner of the contest and is currently available as a retail title on Steam.
Alien Swarm was the winner of Phase 4 of the Make Something Unreal Contest for best non-FPS modification. In 2010, the game was released as a standalone game for free, based on the Source engine instead of the Unreal engine.
External links
- Unreal Tournament 2003 & 2004 official website
- Unreal Tournament 2004 at GOG store
- Unreal Tournament 2004 at MobyGamesMobyGames-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
- UT2004 Stats – Official gameplay stats tracking