Nobody was all that happy with Unreal II back in February when it took the Max Payne approach and stayed resolutely short and single-player. Whether it was always in development and cut at the last minute or never intended for it, the game will receive a multi-player game as a free add-on.

So it's not quite as magnanimous a giveaway as Return To Castle Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, which anybody can play online without needing to have bought the game - but it's certainly good compensation for loyal fans from a company known for extended giveaways, as recently as with Unreal Tournament 2003.

The exact format of the multiplayer games is yet to be confirmed, but hopefully player movement will be given a much needed speed boost to avoid being as slow-paced a deathmatch game as Half-Life. Hopefully the remote sentry guns and base defence missions with and without AI assistance will figure largely in the add-on as they made for the best action in the singleplayer game. With the Xbox version of the original game in development We'll certainly bring you the details when it's released in an update to our review.

>> Atari - Official website of Atari