There are too many bad/confusing early levels for me to ever recommend Unreal unequivocally, but it is still firmly lodged somewhere in my heart. Unreal had the dubious benefit of providing some long-range geographic goals to its level progression (e.g., reach the Sunspire, which you can see in the skybox for several levels preceding it). In practice this meant that the best levels couldn't be shoved to the front of the game, as in the Doom/Q1 era, and the game suffers for it.
There is a lot of trial-and-error-y play where you are, and in the next ~10 levels, too, so I suggest skipping to Gateway to Na Pali (aka SkyCaves, level 20/38). Navigation is fairly straightforward, it's prettier than several of the intervening maps, and it starts off what is (unofficially) a ~5-map arc that culminates in Bluff Eversmoking (my favorite Unreal map and my pick for 'if you only play one more level from this game...').
In the console:
open skycaves
summon translator
summon flashlight
summon armor
summon automag
summon stinger
summon asmd
summon eightball
summon flakcannon
summon razorjack
summon gesbiorifle
summon rifle
summon minigun
Walk forward and pick up your item bundle. Level is beatable without extra ammo, but use console command AllAmmo if you're having a hard time on this or later maps.
Don't forget to save from time to time (there is a river to nowhere as I recall), and use the Translator when prompted (should be F2 to toggle by default). For the best experience, do not harm the NPCs (Nali), even via splash damage, as that will stop them showing you secret areas and doing their scripted routines (praying, patrolling, etc.). Enjoy!
I like parentheses.
