Thanks Bart - I think around 1500 polys is about right for the original Unreal Tournament.
I'm thinking of possibly switching engines to Unreal 2, as the poly count is much higher, and I'd be able to cram a lot more detail in there. Just need to get my hardware upgraded to a level that can deal with that kind of thing...
On a related note, I've just recruited a texture artist to work on the skins. Her previous work has been excellent, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with...