Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

Publisher: Midway

Platform: XB

Category: Shooter

Rating Info

Release Date: 22/04/2005

Member Rating:

Number of Players: 1-2

Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict Description

The first Unreal Championship on Xbox was an adaptation by Digital Extremes of the PC deathmatch yardstick and physics engine showcase Unreal Tournament. The game took advantage of the Xbox's abilities, offering five multiplayer game modes: Deathmatch, Survival, Domination, Bombing Run and Capture the Flag, which could all be played either by four players on one machine or with up to 15 players on Live! The online service offered a decent spread of support, with downloadable content, online scoreboards, and the possibility of joining a clan. As well as the multiplayer mode, the game also provided a single player game, in which players could face various enemies alone or lead an AI team in Capture the Flag and others. Just over two years later and we have a follow-up to UC, subtitled The Liandri Conflict. The title showcases a feature new to the Unreal franchise: acrobatic melee combat. The creators claim that the fast FPS action that UC fans can expect is combined seamlessly with this gameplay addition, which gives players access to deadly hand-to-hand techniques. Melee attacks allow you to freeze opponents and administer a really heavy blow and deal out a humiliating coup de grace. Characters are more mobile than ever before, and can leap, spin and backflip as they duel with their enemies. The game features an adrenaline meter which allows you to use special abilities, and this is filled by performing flashy finishes. Six multiplayer modes are available: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Nali Slaughter, Overdose, Survival and of course Capture the Flag. All are fully customisable according to the wishes of the players. All the classic Unreal weapons are there: Rocket launchers, Ripjacks and Flak Cannons, along with new firepower like Grenade Launchers. You can play online with eight players on Xbox Live, or you can directly link your consoles together for a clutter-free LAN party. Like it's predecessor, Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict also features a single player game. Story mode includes the Ascension Rites campaign in which, as a soldier in the Nakhti Imperial Legion, you must stop a corrupt businessman becoming emperor. As well as that, there's a load of Tournaments and Challenges to test you while you are on your own, many of which you'll have to unlock as you progress. Featuring a load of outlandish UC characters and more than 40 maps to battle on, as well as the all-new gameplay, this new edition looks to stretch the scope of the Unreal franchise even more.

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Write a review of Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

Reviewed by:	Date: 12/12/2005	Rating:
Now THIS is a good game. I'll start by saying that Unreal Championship 2 is not Unreal Championship 1. The original Unreal Championship on the big black box was a mere port of the fantastic PC title, Unreal Tournament 2003. Naturally, You would assume that the next game in the long-running PC Unreal franchise, Unreal Tournament 2004, would be be ported onto the Xbox for the sequel. This is not the case. Epic have started over. Threw Unreal Championship 1 out of the window, and created a whole new gaming experience. A frag-fest of visual splender, and a game that fully takes advantage of the Xbox, in terms of control Scheme, Gameplay, and Visuals. First off, The inclusion of a third person view. At any time, You can switch to a third-person perspective and back again - a fantastic addition to the franchise. It allows for things that simply cannot be done in a pure first person experience - acrobatics, wall running and close-range combat never looked so good. Yes, Acrobatics. The developers included a range of acrobatic moves and abilities to ensure that your are as agile as possible, and boy do you need to be. You'll be dodging rockets, plasma blasts and flak-shells before you know it, wall jumping and backwards flipping you're way to victory. But thats only the half of it, Third Person Viewmode also allows for some of the coolest Melee combat you've ever seen in a first person shooter. Gone is the close range crowbar fights from Half Life, Or the Gauntlet Chainsaw duels from Quake. Now you and an opponent can take each other on with a variety of Melee combar weapons, from Staffs to Swords - each one character specific. The Melee combat is fast paced, fun, and surprisingly easy to master. After you've learned the basic controll's you'll be whacking, smacking and dam right thwacking your way to pole postion - bouncing missiles back at your enemies using your staffs, then closing in for the final forefit, a swift smack in the chops. And what a painfull smack in the chops that will be. Lets just say that Unreal Championship rips a page out of Mortal Kombat's book when it comes to finishing off your enemies. As with previous Unreal games, Unreal Championship 2 features fantastic online play. Xbox live is where its at - any of the maps can be played online with other contestants in a action packed frag-fest, in a variety of gamemodes such as death-match and capture the flag. 8 players may seem a little low, but beleive me, you wont need any more. I'm actually kinda glad the developers set the Max online players at 8 - any more and the matches would be to hectic and chaotic. You also have the fantastic offline modes, Instant Action lets you play in any of the maps, with some of the brilliant bots that you expect to see from an Unreal game. Bots that bounce around the levels acrobaticly, outsmart you and, on the higher difficults, are frightingly accurate with a rocket launcher. The bots are great for practise or challenge, and offer a reason to purchase the game even if you dont have Xbox live. As does the single player campaign. For the first time, Epic have crafted a single player campaign that follows an actual storyline, with characters and events being explored through some cool cut-scenes. Though not the focus of Unreal Championship 2, the single player game is still great fun and you will want to keep playing to the end just for the story. It may sound daunting to the FPS fanatic, it was to me - but the whole Third Person\ First Person switching thing is very easy to master. Switch to third person for you're melee weapon, switch back to you're charcter's eyes for your rocket launcher. Or, use your rocket launcher in third - its up to you, however you play it, you're garenteed to find the perspective change system seamless and surprising to use. What about Content? You'll find everything you expect from an Unreal game here, 30 fantasticly designed arena's for use in offline and on. Each and every one of the 12 Characters boast unique combat abilities and weapons - and of course, the good old collection of classic Unreal favorites. The Flack Cannon, Gloop Gun and Shock Rifle all return to the Fight, along with a few very old favorites for long time Unreal fans to enjoy. The visuals? You've never seen a game push pollies like this before. Unreal Championship 2 crams so much detail into both its arena's and characters, its a true wonder the game runs at all. No problems here, though, the game is locked at a very welcome 60 frames per second, making for a brilliantly smooth, action packed experience. In all, Unreal Championship 2 is one of the greatest games on Xbox. Gone are the elements from the medicre original, Epic have crafted a true beast, a brilliant game that more than just holds its own against the large sellection of Xbox online and offline games. First Person Shooter fans, you owe it to you're self to check this game out.

Reviewed by: NoMessinBen	Date: 21/12/2005	Rating:
This game is just brilliant you gotta have it if ur an Fps lover. dont worrie the game aint all first person if u dont like the first person view. just switch the view to third (if u preffer it) then just sluaghter who ever is in ur way:)

Features

Bone-crunching melee combat - For the first time in an "Unreal" franchise game, players can battle using hand-to-hand weapon combat seamlessly melded with Unreal's trademark fast-paced shooter action.

Unprecedented player mobility - Combat takes on a whole new dimension. New third-person navigation makes it easy for players to pull off incredible acrobatic combo-moves. Levels are designed to allow the players to maximize their movement skills and take combat to a high-flying vertical level, never seen before in an action shooter.

Adrenaline Powers for fighting - New Adrenaline Powers enable players to deflect projectiles and invoke powers for new offensive and defensive tactics.

Unparalleled multiplayer action - The "Unreal" experience is optimized for Xbox Live, enabling players to take on adversaries from around the world. System Link provides the ability to play against others by directly linking Xbox consoles.

Intense single-player excitement - Players are immersed in a two-part, single-player tournament experience that allows the player to take on the role of a variety of uniquely-skilled characters, as well as the role of heroic Anubis as he fights to reclaim his people's Rite of Ascension tournament from the omnipotent Liandri Corporation.

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