Logical, samey, and fun, but play it on the PC over consoles
Since 1999 Unreal Tournament has influenced the first-person shooter market with its twitch and adrenaline fueled gameplay. Each follow-up has spawned significant changes without actually overhauling the system gamers have become associated with over the years; Unreal Tournament 3 is no exception.
Fast, furious, and full of gratuitous gore Unreal demonstrates its power best when there are numerous bodies present, preferably human-controlled. But before I get too far, Unreal Tournament 3 is still the same game. If you were expecting something different you clearly haven’t been playing these games for very long. And if you haven’t played them just think of a large number of people fragging and respawning to technology you can only conjure up in your mind. Now speaking of extra bodies, one of the more surprising changes goes to the incorporation of a co-op mode. It’s nice to be able to go through the game with a friend but the story still is largely incoherent. The Necris destroyed your home and now you want revenge against Akasha, who was apparently the one in charge. As I was saying, you were expecting something different?
Practically all of the weapons make a return with a new aesthetic design and small tweaks thrown in toward the direction of Unreal veterans. For instance, paying homage to the original game the rocket launcher now fires grenades and the Enforcer makes a re-appearance. Thankfully you can cherish the design with regards to the Unreal Engine, which is hard at work and looks comparable to Gears of War, almost too much so. However I’ll give the edge to UT3 for its immeasurably satisfying explosions and absolutely gorgeous environments. All of which can be navigated (only the larger stages) via the new hoverboard which makes traveling much faster and less tedious.
It wouldn’t be Unreal without the crazy game modes and ridiculously awesome vehicles. Epic has outdone themselves in this department and added all new Necris vehicles that control in familiar fashion but do the unthinkable. A hoverbike whose bullets bounce off walls and is capable of carrying out kamikaze strikes? Or how about a giant walker that can house multiple people and fires beams of laser death? Perhaps a mega-tank that can transform into a stationary cannon tickles your fancy? As far as modes go almost everything returns including the widely loved Onslaught mode from Unreal Tournament 2004, renamed Warfare and still is one of the best. However everything good has its price and unfortunately Assault from UT2k4 didn’t make the cut and it’s a shame at that.
Being widely a multiplayer experience, it’s still possible to have fun with bots, but the real fun comes from the game’s online component. UT3 now keeps track of all of your stats in the game itself making it easy to view all of your accomplishments. The only drawback to the online is the fact that no one plays it on the consoles. That’s too bad because UT3 translated extremely well in a world where PC games really never come console-side in good fashion. Also a notable difference is the mod-community on the console-side. If you’re planning on making mods or experiencing them then the PC version is still the way to go. Yes, we know that they said the game was going to get community content but… that would be something different now wouldn’t it?
Unreal Tournament 3 is nothing revolutionary but it never had to be. The game is focused on fast and frantic fragging and it’ll probably never change. The graphical and weapon updates alone give reason for another installment to this classic franchise and it begs to be experienced
