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Unreal Championship was one of the original compatible games available at the Xbox Live launch, and it quickly became a favorite amongst gamers looking to get their frag on. Essentially, it was a port of the PC hit Unreal Tournament 2003 with the same game modes like Bombing Run and Double Domination and features such as adrenaline combos. The game was a surprisingly well done re-creation of its PC brother, and that in itself was a pretty big accomplishment at the time.

But people who had hoped for something more than just a straight port were left stranded. A couple years have passed, and now Epic Games is seeking to blow everybody away with Unreal Championship 2, a game optimized for the Xbox and featuring plenty of additions that are not only Xbox exclusive, but that have never been done in any Unreal game before.

For the first time, character selection actually matters, and before each match, you have to select a fighter in a screen not unlike one in a fighting game. Each character has varying attributes that are balanced between strength, agility, and quickness. You'll want to pick a character that complements your playing style, as each character plays drastically different. For example, if you pick one of the Skaarj, you'll have a very strong character, but the faster characters will be able to run circles around you. Each character also has different species-specific weapons as well as melee weapons.

You might be wondering: why would I want a strong character if all I'm going to be doing is firing guns? Well, as lead designer Cliff Bleszinski says, "You're bringing a knife to a gun fight." For the first time, melee combat is a big focus. In fact, two of the biggest features in Unreal Championship 2 go hand-in-hand: melee combat and a third person perspective view. Every character has a melee weapon that varies from sais to lightsaber look-alikes. To level the playing field against an opponent carrying a rocket launcher, melee weapons have the ability to deflect attacks and even to reflect them back at the enemy.

To activate powers like this and other combos, you have to collect adrenaline pills that are scattered around the level. Other examples of combos at your disposal are offensive attacks like a flashbang-type effect that blinds nearby opponents and a headache spell that makes a targeted opponent completely disoriented so that the screen bobs and weaves out of control. Defensive combos such as increased speed are also available. Each character has the ability to perform only certain combos, yet another differentiation between the characters.

Perhaps the ultimate move with a melee weapon is a Mortal Kombat style fatality move that can be pulled off when you have stunned an opponent. Stunning is one of the combos available, and once stunned, the enemy freezes for a couple seconds, giving you time to lock on and pull off a spectacular move to finish off the enemy. If performed successfully, the in-game announcer roars "Coup de grace!" and the message shows up prominently on everybody's screen. It will definitely become one of the coolest humiliation kills on Live.

To make melee combat feasible, Epic Games has added a controversial third perspective view. The great thing is that you can toggle from first to third at the press of a button, and the transition is perfectly seamless. When equipped with a melee weapon, you have no choice but to attack in third person, but you have the option between first and third when armed with a projectile weapon. You might think that firing guns in first person would be the better choice, but surprisingly enough, the game plays incredibly well either way. In fact, third person might even be preferred sometimes with an agile character, as you'll be jumping around all the time and can have a better look at the surrounding environment.

As is a trademark of all games using the Unreal engine, Unreal Championship 2 looks gorgeous on the Xbox. One of the coolest aspects is that the optimized engine uses depth of field blurring techniques so that what you're actually looking at is sharply in focus while the background is slightly blurry. Playing the game with this feature built in is absolutely incredible and unlike any visual technique I have ever seen. Aside from this, the game just flat out looks amazing. Colors are vivid, textures are detailed, and the particle effects and color trails from swinging melee weapons are awesome.

Unreal Championship 2 will ship with two single player modes, a tournament ladder a la Unreal Tournament plus an actual campaign mode. The multiplayer on Live of course will also be a very prominent feature. Without a doubt, Unreal Championship 2 was one of my favorite games at E3; it was one of the reasons I came back to the Microsoft booth over and over. This is truly a game that was designed for a console in mind, as playing the game is extremely intuitive and plays fantastic with a controller. In fact, the way the game is set up, this might be one of the few times I would prefer playing a FPS with a controller. Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict definitely will be a great buy this fall, yet another feather in the cap for the Xbox library.

Publisher: Microsoft  Developer: Epic Games  Release Date: October 18, 2004