Unreal Tournament. This name should be familiar to all first-person shooter fans above the age of 20. If it's not, I have no idea where you spent the years following 1999. It most certainly couldn't have been in front of your beloved PC. Or did you perhaps prefer Quake III to Unreal Tournament? I'm not going to pass judgement, but regardless of whether you did or not, the name Unreal Tournament should ring a bell. UT was published in the late winter of 1999 and achieved legendary status shortly thereafter. The critics loved it and so did most FPS fans (except the die hard Quake fans), which led to a great number of trigger-happy people starting to play it online, looking for fame and glory. What made the game such a success was its killer graphics and its large amount of game modes. The game was made for online and LAN playing and was unique in offering other modes than just your regular deathmatch. Anyhow, the game was a success and sequels followed, some more popular than others. Eventually, though, other games such as Team Fortress 2, Modern Warfare, Battlefield etc. gained a bigger following and today there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of people playing the UT games online.
Despite the fact that gamers moved on to newer and greener (?) pastures -- and I don't blame them -- Unreal Tournament still entertains some people. I was a huge UT fan back in the day and it might just be the game I've dedicated the most time to of all my beloved games. At least it's coming pretty close. I would literally play the shit out of UT, both in pitiful LAN games consisting of just my brother and I and online. And it was fun. Especially those times you would go online and get into a server where players didn't accuse you of using an aim bot, or blame their poor performance on bad ping or server lag. Ahhh...damn near brings a tear to my eye. UT 1999 was followed by UT 2003, UT 2004 and finally Unreal Tournament 3. I have played all of them, but the first one will always be my true love and the one I've played the most. I'm not going to give a detailed account of my relationship with the Unreal Tournament-series, but it's been a couple of years since I played any of them on a regular basis. That is until I decided to try Unreal Tournament 3 again some weeks ago when I found myself bored in front of the computer. I wasn't surprised to see that there aren't many people playing it anymore. After all, people move on after a while. When I started playing, I imagined it was just something I did to kill some time then and there, but it grew into something bigger...
No, I don't spend all my free time playing UT 3 now, but I have played it on a weekly basis for some time now and I actually enjoy it! Who would have thunk my love for UT 3 would blossom again after years of barely touching it. The love between a gamer and his game(s) is a special thing. And guess what? I mostly find myself playing good ol' deathmatch games, or team deathmatch to be exact. I've come across a server that's usually populated with people in the late afternoon and evenings, and especially so during the weekend. And they're not bogger-eating teens either. At least they don't act like it. Anyway...I usually keep busy with school work and other stuff, but when I have time to kill there are few things that are more rewarding and fun than killing people online. With big guns and without substaining any scars yourself. Thank God for games. I' m not the player I used to be, so I get my ass handed to me quite often, but it's still fun to play. And occasionally even I pop some heads or rocket launch some bastard to oblivion. Since I started playing UT 3 again, I've started to think about the good old days and all the enjoyable hours I've spent playing the Unreal Tournament-series. That's also why I decided to put my thoughts and impressions on this sheet of online paper. It's sort of a declaration of my love for gaming, and especially the Unreal Tournament games. Long live deathmatch! ;)
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