Unreal Tournament

From Sega Retro

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UnrealTournament title.png

Unreal Tournament
UNREALTO vmu.png
System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Infogrames, Inc. (US), Infogrames (EU)
Developer:
Peripherals supported: Visual Memory Unit, Jump Pack, Dreamcast Keyboard, Dreamcast Mouse, Panther DC, Broadband Adapter, Dreamcast Modem, Dreamcast VGA Box
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1-8
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Dreamcast
US
$39.9539.95[1] T-15125N
Sega Dreamcast
EU
T-15113D-50
Sega Dreamcast
DE
T-15113D-18
Sega Dreamcast
FR
T-15113D-09
Sega Dreamcast
UK
£39.9939.99[3] T-15113D-05
Sega Dreamcast
BR
197336
Non-Sega versions

Unreal Tournament is a first person multiplayer shooter developed by Epic Games as a spin-off of the Unreal series. Originally released for Windows PCs, it was ported to the Sega Dreamcast in 2000 by Secret Level.

Gameplay

Unreal Tournament is a multiplayer FPS, and thus games always feature two or more players navigating a map from a first person perspective. Similar to other Unreal games there are weapon and item pickups, however gameplay is centred around competing against other players, rather than in prior games where the goal was to get to a specific point on the map.

Game modes

The Dreamcast version of Unreal Tournament features four main modes of gameplay;

  • Deathmatch - The player with the most frags wins.
  • Team Deathmatch - Two teams compete to earn the most frags
  • Domination - Two teams compete to take over marked areas by touching icons that earn points for the team overtime. The team with the most points wins.
  • Capture the Flag - Two teams compete to capture the other team's flag and bring it back to their own flag.

These can be played either in single player (where the player competes against computer-controlled "bots") or local multiplayer. In North America online multiplayer was also an option until the servers were shut down in 2003 - this feature was removed from PAL versions[3].

Control options

Controllers and accessories can be mapped to specific players.

Unreal Tournament for the Dreamcast is compatible with a number control options which can be configured by the user. Along with the standard controller, the MadCatz Panther DC as well as the Dreamcast Keyboard and Dreamcast Mouse are compatible with the game. As the mouse and keyboard configuration requires two controller ports, it is possible to map individual players to two devices in split-screen multiplayer. During three or four player matches, each player can only use one controller, keyboard or Panther DC. The game does not consider the mouse alone as a control choice.

During online matches, the Dreamcast keyboard can also be used for text chatting between players, or between team members during team games.

Characters

The Dreamcast version only features male avatars as playable characters and bots. Up to eight players/bots can play at once. All instances of other genders and races have been removed, and the Dreamcast has taken the class types down to Soldier only.

  • Harlin
  • Slain
  • Malcom
  • Wraith
  • Vector
  • Rankin
  • Manwell
  • Othello
  • Radkin
  • Tensor
  • Johnson
  • Kregore
  • Riker
  • Drake
  • Matrix
  • Brock
  • Arkon
  • Von
  • Bruce
  • Kosak
  • Jared
  • Necroth
  • Cecil
  • Otavio
  • Diax
  • Drimacus
  • Whitman
  • Raynor
  • Boris
  • Karag
  • Zenith
  • Graves
  • Luthor
  • Obrand
  • Ramirez
  • Barak
  • Adams
  • Bertka
  • Grail
  • Bretz
  • Kakuschke
  • Itchys
  • Kern
  • Jensen
  • Clark
  • Gordon
  • Blake
  • Gorn
  • Aquino
  • Pride
  • Kragoth

Techniques

  • Killing Sprees
  • Multi Kills
  • Double Kill
  • Multi Kill
  • Ultra Kill
  • Monster Kill
  • Headshots
  • Dodging

Mutators

In Unreal Tournament, "mutators" are used to significantly adjust the game rules.

  • InstaGib
  • Low Grav
  • Slomo
  • Hyperspeed
  • No Redeemer
  • No Powerups
  • Instant Rockets
  • Pulse Arena
  • Rocket Launcher Arena
  • Shock Rifle Arena
  • Jump Match

Items

Weapons

Some guns have alternate firing modes that cause more damage but are less accurate.

Most weapons in the game feature two different firing modes. Some firing modes may be disabled through the use of Mutators.

  • Impact Hammer
  • Enforcer
  • Shock Rifle
  • Ripper
  • Rocket Launcher
  • Flak Cannon
  • BioRifle
  • Sniper Rifle
  • Minigun
  • Pulse Gun
  • Chainsaw
  • Redeemer
  • Translocator

Health

  • Health Vial
  • Health Pack
  • Keg O' Health

Armor

  • Thigh Pads
  • Body Armor
  • Shield Belt

Power-Ups

  • Damage Amplifier
  • Invisibility
  • Anti Grav Boots

List of maps

Unreal Tournament allows up to four players on more maps than the Dreamcast version of Quake III Arena.

A number of levels have been converted, edited or created exclusively for the Dreamcast version (As well as the Playstation 2 version,) to accommodate for the maximum player count of eight. Certain levels can only be played splitscreen depending on their size and system resources. SegaNet subscribers were given access to two exclusive maps if they subscribed to Sega's now defunct online service. Below is a list of levels and the maximum number of players allowed for each both online and offline splitscreen.

Deathmatch
Map Max Players Online or Bots Max Players Split-screen
Agony 6 3
Babylon 4 3
Barricade 8 4
Blockparty 6 3
Brickyard 6 3
Canyon Fear 4 3
Codex 8 4
ColdSteelPressure 4 4
Core 4 3
Curse 8 3
Damnation 4 4
Deck16 6 4
Depot 4 3
Dust 4 3
Flux 4 3
Gearbox 4 3
Girder 4 3
Google 4 2
Halberd 6 3
Healpod 6 4
Hyperblast 6 4
Industrial 6 4
Infernal 4 3
Instinct 4 3
Liandri 6 4
Loathing 4 4
Malevolence 8 3
Megaplex (SegaNet Map) 6 3
Morbias 4 2
Morpheus 6 3
Nebula 6 3
NeoTokyo 4 3
Oblivion 4 2
Outskirts (SegaNet Map) 6 1
Paladin 4 4
Pantheon 6 3
Phobos 2 2
Pressure 8 4
Sector9 4 4
Singularity 6 4
Sorayama 6 4
Spacenoxx 4 4
Stalwart 6 3
StalwartXL 8 4
StationControl 4 4
Underlord 4 3
Capture the Flag
Map Max Players Online or Bots Max Players Split-screen
Command 8 4
Coret 8 4
Dreary 8 3
EternalCave 8 4
Face 6 4
Face2 6 2
Gauntlet 8 2
Lavagiant 8 1
Niven 8 2
Phalanax 6 4
Sepulchre 6 4
Spirito 6 4
Stormfront 6 4
Sundial 6 4
Domination
Map Max Players Online or Bots Max Players Split-screen
Cinder 8 3
Coagulate 6 4
Condemned 6 3
Gearbolt 8 2
Ghardhen 8 4
Hood 4 4
Lament 6 4
Olden 8 2
Osiris 6 4

Versions

Much like the Dreamcast port of Quake III Arena, there are cosmetic differences between the PC and Dreamcast versions of the game in terms of features and censorship. On the Dreamcast, only a maximum of eight players can compete in offline practice matches, either with seven bot players or eight players online, or a maximum of four players on one console through split-screen multiplayer.

Some of the content was redrawn due to difference in standards between platforms.

The Dreamcast version of Unreal Tournament is based on the PlayStation 2 version of the game, which was created in-house at Epic Games. The publisher, Infogrames, commissioned developer Secret Level to convert the title to Dreamcast.

The Dreamcast's 8 MB VRAM was sufficient for all of the game's polygons and textures, with the framebuffer and polygons using 3.5 MB, while the PowerVR CLX2's hardware texture compression was used to compress the textures into the remaining 5.5 MB of VRAM.[4] However, the Dreamcast version is missing some features, including instances of dynamic lighting, reflective surfaces, simpler water textures, and in some levels, a skybox. Several levels were downscaled in terms of geometry, effects, and size. Due to RAM limitations, certain levels become unavailable for split-screen multiplayer. Several features from the PC version are also missing, such as the "Assault" game type due to map sizes being too large, and the female, robot and Nali War Cow avatars are not selectable player types.

Texture filtering differs considerably between the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 platforms (with the Dreamcast having more texture filtering), and the Dreamcast version runs with an uncapped 60 FPS frame rate (as opposed to a locked 30 FPS on PS2). The Dreamcast maintained a stable frame rate of around 40 FPS on most maps, while peaking at 60 FPS, but occasionally struggles with larger maps, sometimes dropping as low as 15 FPS when under strain. The Dreamcast version's frame rates are comparable to how the PC version ran on early 2000 PC hardware, which maintained an average frame rate of around 40 FPS with graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce 256, GeForce 2 GTS and ATI Rage Fury Maxx.[5]

At the time, Unreal Engine was still being primarily developed for PC use, as console support did not become a major feature until Unreal Engine 2 (2002) and would not hit mainstream console development until Unreal Engine 3 (late 2005). It was thus not optimized for Dreamcast hardware. With 200-800 polygons per scene for the backgrounds and 300-400 polygons per character, the original PC version of Unreal Tournament peaked at 7100 polygons per scene (with 16 characters),[6] while the Dreamcast version peaked at 4000 polygons per scene (with 8 characters), a small fraction of what other Dreamcast games rendered while maintaining 60 FPS (e.g. up to 52,000 polygons per scene for the backgrounds and 9246 polygons per character in Dead or Alive 2). Dynamic lighting was also used to much greater effect in the Dreamcast version of Quake III Arena,[7] which rendered up to 10,000 polygons per scene.[8]

The game has also been lightly censored in order to comply with standards and practices established by Sega at the time. Certain textures featuring nudity have been redrawn, however the PlayStation 2 version lacks any form of online play, and still lacks the amount of content seen in the PC version.

SegaNet members were granted access to two exclusive levels, Megaplex and Outskirts, via a paying membership. Due to the discontinuation of the Dreamcast's network capabilities and SegaNet, the feature can no longer be obtained through normal means. To unlock them without a SegaNet acount, with the Dreamcast Modem plugged in, navigate to the Network screen, select Account2, and enter the following variables:

Login: [email protected]
Password: tenages
Area Code: (Enter any three numbers.) Then select Connect and save settings.

Leave the other variables to their defaults, then select "Connect" and save settings. The two levels should then be unlocked.

Magazine articles

Main article: Unreal Tournament/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #137: "December 2000" (2000-10-30)
also published in:
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Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #141: "April 2001" (2001-03-06)
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Artwork

Loading screens

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 [11]
87 [12]
60 [13]
Sega Dreamcast
79
Based on
3 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
100% Consoles (FR) NTSC-U
86
[14]
576 Konzol (HU)
95
[15]
Bonus (YU) PAL
96
[16]
Consoles + (FR) PAL
90
[11]
Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel (FR) PAL
60
[17]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
87
[2]
Edge (UK) PAL
60
[13]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
73
[18]
Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU)
81
[19]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
83
[20]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
76
[21]
Neo Plus (PL)
70
[22]
Neo Plus (PL)
90
[23]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
75
[24]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
80
[25]
PSX Extreme (PL) PAL
67
[26]
Revista Oficial Dreamcast (ES) PAL
100
[27]
Sega Dreamcast
81
Based on
17 reviews

Unreal Tournament

Dreamcast, US
UnrealTournament DC US Box Back.jpgUnrealTournament DC US Box Front.jpg
Cover
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Disc
UnrealDCUSInlay.jpg
Inlay
Dreamcast, UK
UnrealTournament DC EU Box Back.jpgUnrealTournament DC EU Box Front.jpg
Cover
UnrealTournament DC EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, FR
UnrealTournament DC FR Box Back.jpgUnrealTournament DC FR Box Front.jpg
Cover
UnrealTournament DC EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, DE
UnrealTournament DC DE back.jpgNospine-small.pngUnrealTournament DC DE front.jpg
Cover
UnrealTournament DC EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, BR
Unreal dc br backcover.jpgUnreal dc br frontcover.jpg
Cover
UnrealTDCBRManual.pdf
Manual
UnrealTDCBRInlay.jpg
Inlay

Technical information

VMU features

Unreal Tournament can utilize VMU storage to save progress. It can carry eight save games for the Single Player mode and levels that are unlocked for play in Practice Mode.

Unreal Tournament Save Data
Name File Name Comment File Size Icon
UNREAL TOURNAMENT UNREALTO.SYS UT SAVE DATA 8 blocks UNREALTO vmu.png

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Press release: 2001-03-13: Infogrames, Inc. Blasts Onto SegaNet(TM) With Unreal(R) Tournament for Sega(R) Dreamcast(TM) - In Stores This Week
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 22" (UK; 2001-05-17), page 50
  3. 3.0 3.1 Official Dreamcast Magazine, "July 2001" (UK; 2001-06-21), page 53
  4. INTERVIEW WITH DREAMCAST UNREAL TOURNAMENT TEAM, IGN
  5. Tom's Take On NVIDIA's New GeForce2 GTS, Tom's Hardware
  6. Unreal Modeling Guide, Unreal Developer Network
  7. Quake III Arena vs Unreal Tournament (IGN)
  8. [PC Magazine, December 1999, page 203 PC Magazine, December 1999, page 203]
  9. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "Holiday 2000" (US; 2000-11-28), page 58
  10. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "March 2001" (US; 2001-01-28), page 86
  11. 11.0 11.1 Consoles +, "Mai 2001" (FR; 2001-0x-xx), page 82
  12. Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 34" (UK; 2002-04-25), page 50-55 (50)
  13. 13.0 13.1 Edge, "June 2001" (UK; 2001-05-21), page 78
  14. 100% Consoles, "Avril 2001" (FR; 2001-0x-xx), page 98
  15. 576 Konzol, "Április 2001" (HU; 2001-xx-xx), page 40
  16. Bonus, "3/2001" (YU; 2001-04-25), page 38
  17. Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel, "Septembre/Octobre 2001" (FR; 2001-0x-xx), page 38
  18. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "May 2001" (US; 2001-04-03), page 104
  19. Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 287
  20. GamePro, "April 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 94
  21. MAN!AC, "07/2001" (DE; 2001-06-06), page 72
  22. Neo Plus, "Kwiecień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 40
  23. Neo Plus, "Kwiecień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 54
  24. Next Generation, "June 2001" (US; 2001-05-22), page 88
  25. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "July 2001" (UK; 2001-06-21), page 50
  26. PSX Extreme, "04/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 32
  27. Revista Oficial Dreamcast, "Julio 2001" (ES; 2001-xx-xx), page 48