I must admit, I'm not a first-person shooting pro. I go to any given PC gaming center over the weekends and get handed my ass quicker than the Yankees on an off-night. I know how to play the games, but some of these players just walk right in and begin handing down chaos like it's the order of the day, and the only way to really prepare for it is to play the game off-line and try to see what the big deal is. The last time I really involved myself heavily into a tournament-based game was back on the Sega Dreamcast, when Atari's Unreal Tournament stormed the machine with authority and left quite an impression on me.

Afterwards, I gave Unreal Championship a try on the Xbox, and found it somewhat to my liking, but, again, I ran into a problem with compatibility in trying to get the experience down. I don't know if it was the shift in difficulty or if it was just the fact that I was getting a bit rusty, but something seemed off. It was a bit frustrating, but I just shrugged it off, figuring one day that I would just "get it" again and become a lethal competitor once more in the realm of first-person shooters. And that day has come with Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict, a better, more sophisticated sequel that should easily find a home in your library.

The game's plot is flimsy, but does set up for a mounting single player campaign. A long time ago, the Rite of Ascention tournament, a tournament built strictly to crown a champion of all-around galactic combat, was acquired by a sinister organization known as the Liandri Corporation. Tired of seeing this corporate conglomerate rule over the tourney with an iron fist, a mighty warrior named Anubis and members of his squad stepped up to challenge the corporation's best to try and reclaim the tournament as their own, awarding it back to the rightful hands. And thus, the action kicks off in a hurry.

The single player campaign slowly delves you into the feel of Unreal Championship 2, walking you through some brief training and then putting you into missions against all sorts of intergalactic opponents, ranging from blade-wearing aliens with bad attitudes to some hot-looking women who are no doubt not interested in just grabbing a drink. Each of the combatants in the game has their own set of lethal weapons and skills that they bring into combat rather quickly, be it with the likes of a cannon that scatters shrapnel or with some up-close-and-personal slashes from the blades on their arms.

The campaign can change in difficulty rather quickly, even on the Novice setting, but never to the point of overkill. The missions range from simply slaughtering your opponent a certain number of times before they finish you to rampaging through a peaceful monastery, laying waste to innocent figures like they were sheep. The variety of these missions remains mostly the same, but they're still engaging and help you build up your skills for battle. It's great to see a focus on this particular mode come, instead of just pitting you in a deathmatch that you consider impossible to win.

Let's talk about the combat for a minute. The game throws in the usual first-person perspective, where you can gain access to a number of different weapons throughout the match (some you can even choose later down the road, like the devastating rocket launchers), and each have their own firing and alternative firing option. If you feel that a typical blast from your gun won't do, the alternative fire method may provide a different kind of result, and it's worth a shot. Granted, some alternative fire options aren't so great, but the effect of the main weapons at hand never wanes, unless you obviously run out of ammunition.

But a new touch provided to Unreal Championship 2 is the ability to go behind the back of your player for a third-person perspective. It's sort of a drastic measure, but an necessary one, especially when you want to use your player's melee attacks. This is where the fighter at hand wields a weapon like side blades on their arms or a huge spear with blades on the end to strike at opponents quickly and efficiently in a multi-hit combo. You can also stick with your guns in this mode, which works in the same way as the first-person view in terms of targeting and power of weapons. The third-person view won't be for everyone, but it's something to get used to, especially if you want to give melee attacks a try. With melee, you have an easier lock-on method you can use on enemies, allowing you to move around defensively while getting in some lethal strikes.