Unreal Tournament 2003

Unreal Tournament 2003
Developer(s)Epic Games
Digital Extremes
Publisher(s)Infogrames[a]
MacSoft (OS X)
Designer(s)Cliff Bleszinski
James Schmaltz
Shane Caudle
Programmer(s)Steve Polge
Composer(s)Kevin Riepl
Starsky Partridge
SeriesUnreal
EngineUnreal Engine 2
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS X, Linux[3]
ReleaseWindows
  • NA: September 30, 2002
  • EU: October 4, 2002[1]
  • AU: October 16, 2002[2]
Mac OS X
  • NA: June 20, 2003
Linux
  • EU: October 4, 2002
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Unreal Tournament 2003 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. The game is part of the Unreal franchise, and is a sequel to 1999's Unreal Tournament. Like its predecessor, the game is designed mainly for multiplayer gaming.

The game saw a record 1.2 million downloads when the demo was released.[4] In addition, the Unreal Engine has been widely licensed for games such as the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series, Splinter Cell, and America's Army.

An Xbox port, Unreal Championship was released on November 12, 2002. Unreal Tournament 2003 would be updated into Unreal Tournament 2004, which was released on March 16 of that year.

Gameplay

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The available combat modes are:

  • Deathmatch: Frag other players as much as possible to gain the highest score.
  • Team Deathmatch: Two teams go head to head to be the best fragger.
  • Capture the Flag: Players must invade the enemies' base, capture their flag and bring it back to their base in order to score.
  • Double Domination: Two teams must control two points on the map. Holding both locations for a certain period of time gives points to the controlling team.
  • Bombing Run: The player with the ball has to take it into enemy territory and score in the enemy force's goal. Players can pass to other teammates. Getting killed causes the ball carrier to fumble the ball. The ball launcher is used to carry the ball; it is not a weapon but heals the carrying player when they are at low health. Three points are awarded for field goals (shooting the ball through the goal), and 7 points are given for touchdowns (carrying the ball through the goal), although the levels are often designed such that this kills the ball carrier.
  • Last Man Standing: All players in this gametype spawn with a limited number of lives. The last remaining player to still have lives wins the match.
  • Invasion: A co-op gametype in which the players attempt to kill the invading alien AI. Each player has one life.
  • Mutant: Mutant is similar to a "Juggernaut" or a "King of the Hill" type of gameplay. The first person to make a kill becomes the mutant, which gives them unlimited ammo, camouflage, and super speed. The mutant then tries to get as many kills as he can until he is killed. The person who kills the mutant then becomes the mutant.

Reception

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GameSpot named Unreal Tournament 2003 the best computer game of October 2002.[9]

Unreal Tournament 2003 won GameSpot's annual "Best Graphics (Technical) on PC" award, and was nominated in the "Best Multiplayer Action Game on PC" category.[10] During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the game received a nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.[11]

Sales

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In the United States, Unreal Tournament 2003 sold 360,000 copies and earned $13.6 million by August 2006. At the time, this led Edge to declare it the country's 45th-best-selling computer game, and best-selling Unreal title, released since January 2000. Combined sales of all Unreal computer games released between January 2000 and August 2006 had reached 1.8 million units in the United States by the latter date.[12] In December 2002, the game received a "Gold" sales award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD),[13] indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[14]

In its first month, Unreal Tournament 2003 sold more than 800,000 copies worldwide.[15]

References

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  1. ^ "Unreal Tournament 2003". uk.infogrames.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2003. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  2. ^ "Unreal Tournament 2003". Gameplanet. Archived from the original on September 29, 2003. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  3. ^ "A mixed welcome for Unreal Tournament 2003 on Linux | Joe Barr". joebarr.sys-con.com. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  4. ^ ATARI'S UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2003 DEMO EXPLODES ONTO THE INTERNET Archived July 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Atari Press Release, September 24, 2002.
  5. ^ "Unreal Tournament 2003 Review". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  6. ^ Osborne, Scott (October 4, 2002). "Unreal Tournament 2003 Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  7. ^ Sulic, Ivan (September 27, 2002). "Unreal Tournament 2003 Review". IGN. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  8. ^ Brown, Rich (2002). "Unreal Tournament 2003 Review". Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  9. ^ GameSpot (November 2, 2002). "GameSpots Game of the Month October 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 17, 2003.
  10. ^ GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  11. ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Unreal Tournament 2003". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  12. ^ Edge Staff (August 25, 2006). "The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century". Edge. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
  13. ^ "UD-SALES-AWARDS Dezember 2002". Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland. December 2002. Archived from the original on February 23, 2003. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  14. ^ Horn, Andre (January 14, 2004). "VUD-Gold-Awards 2003". GamePro Germany. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018.
  15. ^ Davidson, Neil (November 21, 2002). "Unreal success of made-in-Canada game means big sales, big name". Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune. p. 56. Retrieved January 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  1. ^ Released under the Atari brand name.
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