Unreal Tournament 3
Review
Old school frag fest
by Chris Scott
reviewed on PS3
Game modes
It should be noted though if you are coming into Unreal Tournament III expecting a strong single player campaign, you will be disappointed. The Unreal Tournament series has always been a multiplayer focused game and that certainly hasn’t changed with this release, however the single player is serviceable. While it certainly doesn’t compete with story heavy games like Resistance or Call of Duty 4, the single player campaign gives you enough insight into the Unreal world. And prepares you for the multiple game types and maps that you will encounter when playing the meat of the game: the online component.
Heading into the competitive online mode is where the game really shines. The game sports three primary game modes are: deathmatch (solo & team), capture the flag, and warfare. Deathmatch is standard run & gun, die & respawn warfare with players clamoring to reach the kill limit. Capture the Flag is also pretty standard fare, although depending upon map layouts and objectives that need to be performed there can be some variety in the game mode. The final mode, Warfare, is a new mode that replaces Onslaught from previous Unreal Tournaments. Warfare is a territory based mode where each team attempts to capture nodes and eventually attacking and destroying it.
The game modes may seem simplistic but when coupled with the large variety of maps, vehicles, weapons and objectives each match is a unique experience. Unlike some of the more recent online multiplayer centric shooters (Shadowrun, Warhawk), Unreal Tournament III gets it right, featuring over 40 maps for you to sink your teeth into and a large assortment of weapons and some fun equipment, including the hoverboard. Of course no matter how many maps and other intangibles there may be, if a game of this type does not control well it might as well flush itself down the toilet. Fortunately it delivers. Console controls have improved immeasurably since the genre first started appearing on consoles, but die hard players will still want mouse and keyboard controls. Unreal Tournament III gives you that option. Mastering this game is going to take you a long time and with a steady stream of user generated content the game should last you quite a while. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a strong Unreal Tournament III contingent still playing this game in two or three years.
Not completely flawless
Not everything is great though, as there are some problems. The biggest being that voice chat is buggy at its best and outright not usable at its worst. This creates a problem when you are playing a large Warfare map and you need support at a particular node or want to pose a strike on a base. Sure the computer lets you know when you are being attacked but by then your teammate may have fallen. The game features some minor sound issues, with weapons or sound effects sometimes sounding over muffled. And there is no creation software for the PS3 release so the user-generated content will have to come from PC users. Overall though these issues pale in comparison to the sheer amount of fun the game produces.
Unreal Tournament III is not going to shatter any barriers in the console FPS market. It doesn’t have the cinematic feel of Call of Duty 4. It doesn’t have the ridiculous amount of gameplay that The Orange Box has. And it doesn’t have the options of Halo 3. It does have classic high speed frag fest gameplay that makes it a different game in a sea of top notch FPS. Is that enough to generate interest from the PS3 market? It should be as Unreal Tournament III delivers a gameplay experience like no other this holiday season and adds another solid title to the systems library. Long after you have called in your last air strike or jumped through your last portal, Unreal Tournament III will still be there delivering an intense frantic experience that reminds you of why you still play games to begin with. It’s just plain fun.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
