Unreal Tournament 3
Preview
Unreal Tournament is back for its third instalment
by Spoondan
previewed on PC
The New Wheels
For those who have played the series’ other titles, an important item that allowed quick access to the main fight was something called the Translocation. This item is used to quickly move a character over a short distance to get closer to the fighting right away. This option is still available while on foot. But when vehicles become involved a new item called the Hoverboard makes an appearance. A Hoverboard is exactly what it sounds like; a floating skateboard that allows you to get across the map faster than on foot.
Just think of the skateboard Marty McFly used in Back to the Future Part 2 and 3 (those of you who are old enough to remember that is), and you are on the right track. What makes the Hoverboard interesting is that characters who are riding it are unable to use their weapons and will be knocked off if hit by the fire of the opposing team and almost surely killed. On the other hand, it comes with a “grappling” feature allowing players to grab onto passing vehicles to hover along faster (also like Back to the Future parts 2 and 3). This grappling feature will come in hand during capture the flag games and make for epic raids on enemies flags and daring escapes.
Game modes
The new Warfare mode is also shaping up to be a great edition to the series. Fans will find it very similar to the Onslaught mode from previous instalments of the game. The premise of this battle is that teams must work to capture various nodes that give them access to advantages over their enemies. For example, if a team captures one node, it may provide access to tanks, which they can use to start blowing away the competition. It is shaping up to be a very neat and fun addition.
The Hardware
Much has been said in the past about the Unreal graphic engines and with good reason. It is after all the engine that powered the amazing looking Gears of War, and Epic has had an entire extra year to refine it. Needless to say, the game looks fantastic.
If you are playing the game on the PC you do not need an ultra powerful computer to play it, although you won’t get the same “wow” visuals that you could have if you did have a powerful PC.
With such a strong online community of players already built up there will be no wait times to jump into a game and start having fun. Even if you want to go solo you can set up a bunch of computer-controlled bots to go up against and just have a blast. So, if coffee and politics just doesn’t get you fired up… order some pizza and this game… and have some fun!
