It turns out that all the original release needed was to be played in a much higher screen resolution and framerate than was possible at the time. Coming back to it now, I'm having a lot more fun than I expected, and the racing feels much more satisfying now that I can actually see what is going on! Works fine with an xbox controller (enable it through the in-game options) and supports modern display resolutions (there's a separate configuration program for that).
The scale of this game is what really gets you. Battles can encompass thousands of units, artillery can shoot further than most tanks could travel in 5 minutes, but the largest maps are so huge that the only sensible way to cross them is with aircraft. The default unit set is vast - each side should have at least 10 mechs, 10 tanks, 10 aircraft and 10 ships - and adding extra units is as simple as downloading the unit file and placing it in the game directory. Definitely worthwhile for any RTS fan.
This is a perfectly functional game, but there are so many little things wrong with it that I found it rather un-fun, and I played it back when it was released. The plot and characters are awful, and you're forced to deal with them a lot. Even the ridiculous, gravity-defying cleavage of your second-in-command didn't stop me from wishing she'd shut up and go away, and I was a teenager at the time. In missions the player character feels really awkward: you're always an ungainly tank lumbering through the level. There's no sense of urgency when you're racing against time, and there's no suspense when you're creeping along a deserted corridor. The bewildering number of available weapons mean that you'll never have the right gun for the situation, and you'll spend more time choosing them than using them. I'm not sure if it would still be the case, but "quick" saving and loading always took forever, and my machine was quite capable of handling the (admittedly pretty) graphics. It's one of many factors that keep you from feeling any immersion in the game. In the end I just stopped caring, and left it unfinished. It plays (as has already been said) like a glorified tech demo: some interesting ideas and pretty things to see, but no fun. I have heard good things about XMP - the multiplayer component - but I don't recall it being any more interesting than UT2004. On the other hand, UT2004 is excellent...
Very similar game mechanic to Elite and X-Universe series, although lacking a certain amount of their complexity. This game's strongest point has to be the entertaining dogfighting, and the readily available and reasonably varied selection of missions. However, there is very little to the game that does not fall under this heading, so if you're looking for trading or exploration then look elsewhere.
Possibly the greatest space-sim ever made. The missions have plenty of variety, the campaign is well thought-out, and even the graphics have aged comparatively little. Given the massive mod community that still exists around this game, it has huge replay value too. Extremely addictive!
