I dislike UT2K4's gameplay as well, but I don't know what your talking about with the graphics... When it was released, they were pretty much the best around. Each new version of Unreal Engine has a tendency of raising the bar for all other PC games.
The main reason I bought it at the very reasonable price of $30 was so I could play Red Orchestra before Ostfront was a glimmer in the developers' eyes, Alien Swarm, and Killing Floor, all great mods.