When that whole Quake 3 - Unreal Tournament contest was going on sometime in '99, I was firmly in the UT camp. I'd had a few Q3 sessions at game parlours, but it paled next to the thrill of a well co-ordinated Assault round or the see-sawing nature of Capture the Flag matches on Facing Worlds and November Sub Pen that went on to become stuff of legend. When UT2004 came out, that further cemented it - the awesome new Onslaught mode, with vehicular battle guaranteed to result in new levels of carnage, became a staple in my gaming diet. And now that the next installment is finally on the horizon, I'm thinking it might be time to get out the party hats once again.

With this beta demo, you get to try out 2 Deathmatch maps - Heat Ray and Shangri-La - and one Vehicle CTF (popular mod for UT2004, now a legit game type) map - Suspense. Starting out, there's a new profile login system before entry. At this point, it doesn't make much difference - I suppose it's mostly for online play. Jumping into the game, the new changes are easily evident - normal mapping, prettier lighting effects, sharper texturing, increased polygon counts. None of it revolutionary, but enough to convince you that you are in fact playing the sequel and not the last one. I say that because the UT framework is so solid that drastic changes would not be possible without affecting its spirit.

Far as I can tell, none of the weapons have been tweaked. Sure the design and the firing effect on some of them are new and fancy, but otherwise everything's intact. The Enforcer's gone back to its pistol incarnation (as opposed to the automatic rifle from UT2004) and gangsta-style sideways firing gets back on the menu as a result. The Redeemer's now a bulky control console with an attached rocket, and while using the secondary mode of directing the rocket's flight from first-person, visual feedback is suitably grainy and a bit out of focus. Nice touch.

The DM maps are a nice contrast - Heat Ray is dark and grimy, like a broken-down futuristic Chinatown. It gets its name because every once in a while, a dropship comes and deposits this gigantic mech called the Darkwalker that can be manned by any player. Once in its cozy confines, you're free to dish out massive amounts of damage using the mounted heat ray. It's also fairly flexible, able to stoop and squeeze its way into some back alleys where other players might have huddled, thinking themselves safe from its wrath. Muaahahaha! I wonder about the game balance of this thing - it seems like a match winner most times, and even though it can be taken down after several attacks, I'm yet to see a co-ordinated effort to destroy be of much effect with a single strike. Of course, this is only at the 'Experienced' AI difficulty, but then, I'm only getting to grips with controlling it myself. Let's see how it goes.

Shangri-La on the other hand is a typical tranquil monastery which seems to look on in a benign manner as bloodthirsty critters run around inside its walls, delivering death and a variety of curses. I found it easier to get to grips with than the other map. Well, for me, half the match is won if I can zero in on where the Flak Cannon is kept, and here it was stored in a passage just off the central court, so haha! Death by Shrapnel!