Unreal Tournament 2007

Great As Previous incarnations of UT have been, there's never been a feeling of cohesion - a sense that the asteroid field or series of green mountains that you're killing people in are at all related. But now, as well as making us want to have its babies, (hyperbole, hyperbole, etc, etc), UT2007 wants to tie everything together a lot more securely. You're fighting on one planet - in its urban rubble, its industrialised robot factories and in the skies around it - and each fighting zone is set to be visible from the others. So, in one level you may be looking down on these neon-strip streets and by-ways, and the next you'll be fighting in the guts of them. Soon please.

The Bigger Picture

• Now That's A Screenshot

Woo! Look at that! These here vehicles will be a key part of the new Conquest mode, which is touted as havirg the same automotive feel as Onslaught - only packaged with the objectives of Conquest.

• Fake Computer Girlies

Well, the tank is lovely and everything, but we're more intrigued by the pink neon sign advertising Buck Love' with "Girls' and "Guns'. Quite a stage show really. Probably quite messy though.

• Just Wait Till You See It Moving

If there's ever been something that grabs you by the throat and screams at you until you upgrade your gaming rig, it's the thought of blowing this hovery-thing out of the sky. Class.

• Garish, Neon, Violent

It's hard to tell what tone Epic's aiming for with its city environment - perhaps a pinch of Blade Runner here and a smidge of Gotham City there - but its neon lights are set to cast some beautifully dynamic and colourful lighting effects over the chaos.

• The Familiar And The Strange

A full cast of technological monstrosities are expected to be returning in terms of weaponry. A redesigned link gun, the flak cannon, the shock rifle and (obviously) the rocket launcher are dead-certs.

• Faces Of War

If Malcolm's face looks particularly grumpy here, then it's because Epic has splashed the cash on a technology called FaceFX, a nifty pouch of middle-ware that creates facial animation of the very gods.

• Here In My Car

Look carefully here and you'll see Malcolm's little red mate getting run over among assorted physics mayhem. It's like a snapshot from one of those scary Christmas drink-drive aoveits. Don't do it, kids.

• Pivots, Levers And That

Half the challenge is building up the strength to carry that gun. With such advanced physics routines, how do they do it? I mean, surely Malcolm should fall arse-over-tit when nudged?