The network play seems much tighter than UT2003, not to mention the fact that they finally brought back Assault (my favorite UT game mode), and added in Onslaught, a mode which I have become obsessed with. I’m on a mission to be able to conquer the “Torlan” stage in under five minutes. I’ve come pretty damn close too.

That said, I feel a lot like Gabe; I can’t find a reason to justify playiing online. The bots are good enough, no whining, no lag, just fun when I want it. That said, I’ll tell you the one thing about Onslaught that pisses me off to no end; when I reach a power node, jump out of my vehicle to claim it and power up, and one of the bots on my own team decides to hop into it and take off. Especially with Raptors, the bots never utilize them as well as I do, and they are only generated at the bases and the middle node. Irritating to say the least. Why can’t I force the bot to give up any vehicle I want?

Also, the bots don’t handle the vehicles as well as I’d like. I watched a bot drive a Manta into a wall over & over for about, oh, four minutes. I left the area, came back, and the bot was still driving it into the wall. Unbelievably stupid.

That said, I still want the full version of this game, moreso than either of the previous Unreal Tournaments. The “Buy Now” message at the end of the demo taunts me every time…I would buy it, if I could! The end of March can’t come fast enough.