Epic's Unreal Tournament series is one of the PC's most enduring first-person shooters. Now in its fifth iteration -- with the confusingly named Unreal Tournament 3 -- the futuristic FPS franchise is also one of the most mod-friendly properties to ever hit polycarbonate plastic (the stuff they use to make CD-ROMs and DVDs).

With over a hundred independent mods breeding like rabbits on the FilePlanet.com servers, UT2004 has generated the most third-party add-ons thus far and, before we even think about abandoning that chapter for the newer and shinier UT3, we're going to look at a pair of recent UT2004 additions that share a common, spacey theme. The first remains close to home on the red soil of Mars, while the second travels to a well-known galaxy far, far away.

MarsWars v2.0 (Unreal Tournament 2004)

Anyone familiar with Volition's popular 2001 first-person shooter Red Faction will recognize the scenery in Mars Wars right away because it's effectively the same stuff. Ditto for the weapons, vehicles, and characters, which were all updated to work with Epic's mod-friendly Unreal engine. Featuring a whopping 41 maps, thirteen custom weapons, six vehicles, and nine characters, this German-built 167MB download will completely transform your UT2004 landscape.


Into something red, that is. Set entirely on that burgundy planet a further orbit out from the Sun, Mars Wars delivers one of the most intense yet grounded multiplayer environments you'll find for the 2004 shooter. The Internet multiplayer component -- the real raison d'etre for the mod -- seems to be mostly off the grid right now (I couldn't find an active server after three days of trying) but Mars Wars' comprehensive "Instant Action" option with its multiple tournament-style game modes and configurable AI bots largely makes up for this. (If you really want to check out the multiplayer game, you're best off to try it over a LAN with friends or like-minded clanmates over the net).


Supporting a variety of popular game modes -- including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Vehicle CTF, Rail Arena (railguns only), Invasion and Vehicle Invasion -- Mars Wars delivers a nice blend of high-energy run-and-gun gameplay. The weapons aren't overly exotic (mostly near-future ballistic weapons) and the Martian scenery, which varies from barren outdoor craters to complex interior labyrinths, offers some nice eye candy with lots of tactical cover.

If you're a Red Faction fan, Mars Wars is a must-have.