Game Review: Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 - 4/5

Unreal Tournament is a "love it or hate it" franchise. For gamers looking for lots and lots... and lots... of shooting, exploding, fragging, and all-around mayhem, these games are among the best in the genre. Unreal took the gaming world by storm with it was initially released in 1999, and there have been a steady supply of sequels updating the graphics, gameplay, arsenals, and the like - meaning this is one of the most reproduced and updated game franchises out there, especially in the first-person-shooter genre. Rob and I picked up Unreal Tournament 3 for our new Xbox 360 the other day, the latest in the series. No, it's not the third Unreal game, but actually the eighth - the games are "numbered" differently according to the graphics engine they utilize, and thus this game is merely the third in the franchise to use the latest iteration of the Unreal rendering software... get it? Unreal Tournament 3 comes directly after Unreal Tournament 2004, but is actually #8 in the Unreal series. Now that that's cleared up...

Fans of the previous Unreal games should find much familiar ground here, enough to make the learning curve very small, if not non-existant. Players new to the series may take a little time getting used to the controls, different game types, and so on, but most of the content should be familiar to anyone who has played a shooter before - run around, shoot enemies, occasionally capture a flag or two. What sets Unreal apart from its competitors is a very smooth and fast gameplay experience and a lot of multiplayer support: This is a great game to play with a few of your friends, online or on the couch. One of the best, period.

Interestingly, UT3 has a Campaign or "Story" mode that moves away from the classic arena-style shoot-em-up game experience of Unreal games in the past. The fast-paced and relentless multiplayer modes are still there, but for some reason the game developers decided that players might be interested in the backstory behind these bloodbaths. I'm not sure I see eye-to-eye with the creators on this point, especially considering how... thin... the story seems to be. Suffice it to say it involes lots of flag capturing and tries humorously to explain the concept of respawning in combat, aided apparently by the help of little technological advancements call "respawners." No really, that's what they're called. And there's something about an alien invasion, I think... to be honest, I don't think anyone is ever going to care about the half-assed story behind the carnage. We just want to shoot each other... over and over again. And really, that's all the fans of Unreal have ever wanted.

Did I mention that one of the major NPCs talks like he's straight out of a 1980s rap video?

The plotline aside, I would recommend that one play through the Campaign mode before jumping into multiplayer, especially if you've never played an UT game before. And if you don't like the online scene, or don't have any friends to play with, there's always the "Instant Action" mode where you can pick a map, gametype, and gameplay modifiers (called mutators), and play against up to 15 computer controlled bots.

The graphics are nice, but not as nice as some other 360 shooters I've seen. It doesn't help matters that the screen is usually very busy during gameplay, with very visually distracting levels and tons of bullets flying across the screen 90% of the time. The game engine does allow for a very smooth experience, however, and once you condition your eyes and your trigger fingers you'll be getting Killing Streaks left and right.

We have yet to exhaust all the content, but I would imagine that once you've completed the Campaign, single-player or co-op, there would be a high amount of replay value, because there are several difficulty levels, each tier increasing the intelligence of the bot AI. A variety of gametypes and continued support on Xbox Live ensures a long replay life for multiplayer gaming, as well. All in all, a solid title, as long as you know what you're getting into: An epic story, this is not - this is blood, guts, and flak cannons, pure and simple. 4/5 nukes.