Breathtaking! That's the best word to describe the graphics in Unreal Tournament on the PS2. Closely resembling it's PC counterpart, UT shines in this department. Characters have a good amount of detail and there are tons of them to choose from, along with many more that you can unlock as you progress through the levels. And there are oh so many levels to see. Each game mode has it's own set of levels, so you certainly will not get bored with your surroundings. Each level is fairly expansive and all have their own feel and character, yet they all share the common denominators of gloominess and mystery. Some are industrial, some are gothic or archaic and many have a very 'other world' feel to them. I caught myself often gawking at the beautiful environments and getting shot up because of it. Stare out of the window on a space ship and you'll see another ship flying close by. Stand in the hull of an old battle ship and watch water flow back and forth over the floor. Many small details make UT the stunning visual treat that it is. The soundtrack is moody and orchestral, fitting each level perfectly, and even the battle tunes playing at the menu screen are powerfully motivational. A+ in this department.

Unreal Tournament has got gameplay to spare. Hands down, this is the most fun I have had so far on the PS2. I found myself glued to the game from the time I popped the disc in. For those not familiar, UT is a first person shooter. No - UT is THE first person shooter. Finally, this stellar game makes its way to a console, and the PS2 is the perfect choice for this port. There are many game modes to choose from, including Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, Assault and Challenge. Deathmatch is your basic free-for-all, pitting you against either bots or human opponents or both, the object being a certain number of frags. Capture the Flag is just what it says, get the other team's flag while keeping them from getting yours. Domination involves maintaining control over key points in the level, and was one of my favorites modes of play. Don't read anything into that, please. :) Assault is where you storm the other team's base and then they get to try to storm your base in a shorter amount of time. Challenge is just you against another bad-ass, blasting each other into oblivion. Some modes are better than others, but they are all great fun. There is also a Practice mode to beef up on your fragging skills, but of course, the most fun is testing your mettle with human opponents in multiplayer.

Unreal Tournament has very flexible levels of difficulty and includes Novice, Skilled, Master and Unreal modes. In Novice mode, the bots you fight are not so bright, but then so are the bots that are on your team. Ugh. As you make your way through the levels, the difficulty dials up and tougher bots are progressively added in each level. This gives you a fair opportunity to learn the game and the system works very well. The controls are a bit awkward for someone unfamiliar with FPS's, but become intuitive with a little bit of practice. Of course, the other modes are harder and Unreal is damn near impossible. Be prepared to have the crap kicked out of you on a regular basis.

For starters, there are a number of ways to configure your controller, so you tweak freaks out there will be very happy. For beginners, the controls may seem rather foreign, but will become second nature with some practice. They are very tight and work quite well. During team play, you can hit your Select button and bring up an Orders menu, where you can issue orders to either your entire team or a certain team member. This works quite well in modes like Domination and Capture the Flag, because you can have a team member guard a certain area, attack or even follow you into battle, covering you. Very nice. Of course, one of the best things about UT is the constant trash talk as bots kill each other. Sure, some of the comments get redundant, but they are always fun to listen to and you'll more than likely find yourself screaming comments of your own at your TV. I know I did.

If you are new to the FPS genre, I can't think of a better game to break you in than Unreal Tournament. You may as well start off with the best. Infogrames was wise to port this title to the PS2 and the game has been faithfully recreated for those of us who don't go for PC games. All in all, UT is an excellent pick if you are looking for an FPS fix for your brand new PS2. Highly recommended.