Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice Edition - IGN (2024)

A second DVD includes the video tutorials on all things mod-making which originally shipped in the UT2004 Special Edition.

Of course, the heart of the Editor's Choice Edition is UT2004 itself, which is essentially unchanged from what Atari initially released. Here, we're just going to look at what's new in the Editor's Choice Edition. If you need to get caught up on what we thought of the original package, be sure to check out the original full review. Quick crib sheet hint: we really liked it.

It's worth mentioning that Epic has made various fixes and small improvements to UT2004 since March, and those updates -- available for download as patches -- are included here. Vehicles in Onslaught now reflect the color of their team, for instance. The HUD while in vehicles has been improved with a power meter reflecting weapon or jump charge. Most of these changes are subtle, and of course most are behind-the-scenes (related to net code and the like), but they add it up UT2004 feeling more polished than ever.

The SPMA, or Self-Propelled Mobile Artillery, is a doozey, though. A two-seater rover, the SPMA's salient feature is its main cannon, which fires highly explosive shells. That alone would be dull. But pressing alt-fire deploys a camera shell soaring over the battlefield. Once you're over your target, press alt-fire again and the shell will fix in place, hovering menacingly above earth and projecting a target reticule on the surface below. One more click of the button and your SPMA will send five warheads to wreak sweet havoc on the target area. Yes, it's fun.

The second seat of the SPMA lets another player fend off pesky attackers with a flak cannon while the main gunner gets on with the work of remotely delivering pain. We didn't see both seats occupied very often, but even manned alone, the SPMA's bombings can be a nasty thing to meet in a fight.

Epic has also given us the Paladin, a one-seater mini-tank with a fairly potent plasma core primary fire. The Paladin gets its tank-nature from its secondary fire, which actually deploys a shield over a limited area. The shield won't stop troops or vehicles, but it fends off fire handily. As you might guess, the shield doesn't last for ever -- only a few moments per charge, but used judiciously with the main fire, the Paladin can slowly make its away across a battlefield without taking too much damage. That is, until the Raptor you didn't see starts laying on the missiles. Actually, the one thing we don't like so much about the Paladin is its slow speed. While this balances the vehicle's potency, we often weren't as ready to jump into the Paladin, especially when an easier-to-manage Goliath would do.

Finally, on certain Onslaught maps you'll now find the Cicada, a two-seat cousin to the popular Raptor. The Cicada isn't as spry as its older brother, but then, it's not intended for dog-fighting so much as dishing out ground damage. It's quick climb and dive rates let it drop in to unleash its rockets, then hop up and out of the way if need be. What we like best about the Cicada, though, apart from its very cool looks, is the second seat. Get a friend along for the ride and he can deploy flares to confuse enemy AVRIL rockets. Nice.

As with the original vehicles in the game, the most powerful of the new craft -- the SPMA and Paladin -- are fewer and spawn less frequently than other vehicles, helping to balance play overall. The new vehicles offer some freshness to Onslaught without really changing the feel of the mode. Given how nicely tuned UT2004's meatiest mode was, however, this is a good thing. Let's not muck around with something that works so well. If anything, the new vehicles' best feature may be that they'll offer seasoned players new challenges, as all three require some mastery to reach their real potential.

You'll be taking the new wheels for a spin on six new Onslaught maps included, all of which present the thoughtful, polished design of the original roster. A few stand out in particular, however. Aridoom is another small-scale, single-node-path map where action remains focused and intense, especially around the map's center mode. If your Torlan sessions are getting to heady and strategy, pop in Aridoom for some forced frag fests.

The other map we especially like is Urban, a dark-city, Bladerunner-style setting filled with twisting streets and tall buildings. This makes for a refreshingly different feel from most of the other Onslaught maps, which take place in large, mountainous environments. Matching the street-heavy action, here's where you'll also find the Cicadas most prominently featured.

As if putting all this Unreal content -- classic and new -- on one DVD weren't enough, Atari and Epic also include 11 user-created mods, most of which were culled from the Make Something Unreal contest. While the mods vary in quality, as one would expect, all of them are worth checking out, and a few are particularly nice.

Red Orchestra continues to shine as one of the best UT2004 conversions available, turning the game into a steadier WWII shooter, complete with realistic weapons, vehicles, and settings. Alien Swarm gets big style points, as it changes UT2004 into a top-down, squad-based shooter. The controls take some getting used to, but it's obvious that Alien Swarm's designers have put a lot into their sci-fi/horror action game. You'll also find the hot air balloons-meets-pirates action of Air Buccaneers, which, like Red Orchestra, already has a strong following in the community. Air Buccaneers really isn't like anything else we've played, as you have to separately steer your balloon, rotate your cannon, and, then, at last, fire. The action is deliberate and complex -- miles from UT2004, but great in its own way.