Unreal

Graphics

In 1998 the graphics were truly great, the places were original and some Aztec inspired levels were very pleasant to watch, the different effects, the game is still nice today even if the graphics are very old. I loved the world of Na Pali with its alien creatures, the landscapes, the animals, it's something that no FPS have today. This game while it's close to a classic quake like, it has a particular charm.

Gameplay

The gameplay was truly great while it's not a great revolution, the weapons were pretty much original and even legendary since most of them were ported in to the tournament series. they have all a primary and secondary fire, and the most famous weapons were the ASMD which is the very first weapon with a combo fire, the flak cannon who is probably the most original shotgun ever made and the eightball gun who is one of the most functional rocket launcher in the world of the video games.
The monsters are fun to fight, and their AI is great mostly the Skaarj AI, these vicious monsters thinks to hide, dodge our shots and even simulate their death. There is also impressive monsters like the Titans who were very dangerous and could kill us in one or two shots.
One of the greatest things about this game was the atmosphere, while the graphics contributed to create a great atmosphere, the sounds and the great music allowed to be completely immersed in this game.
The level design was well thought, the temples, the bases and ships were well designed and there is also some alternate passages to get into some places. this game have a lot to explore, and one pleasant element was the enigmas who tells what we have to do without telling too much, most of them are easy, but the manner how they are made allowed us to imagine something. in therms of unique things I loved the floating islands, and even if the interaction with the NPCs is minimal, the Nalis felt like aliens, not like the stereotypical aliens who speaks English like in most games.
This FPS was one of the firsts to have bots to play in deathmatch, this was a great feature mostly for people who didn't have Internet at the time, which increased the value of this game.

Sounds

The sounds were one of the strongest points of the game, while before the patch some weapon sounds were a bit weak, the rest is just a gem, the music is probably the best music I ever heard in a video game, good rhythm and fitting with the level themes having several tones with intense and more "relax" periods. The environmental sounds were truly great, the monsters sounds hostile and dangerous for most of them. I loved the nalis screaming "Qupada" when they were afraid of me or a monster

Conclusion

This game was in my opinion a sort of spiritual successor of Quake 1, while Unreal was praised for its graphics, the game have several other qualities, that makes it a true classic, the game now must be cheap and is a great experience. While the game doesn't revolutionize the FPS gameplay, it was revolutionary by its universe and the fact how its arsenal was thought.