For the uninitiated, Unreal Tournament is an arena style first-person shooter that has classically been marked by the need for inhuman-like reflexes and spot-on aiming: a “twitch” shooter. With each new title, Epic usually changes things up and includes a new dynamic; however, diehard fans will notice that UT3 changes little from UT 2004. This doesn’t mean that the game is gimped for those vets, instead UT3 offers the same ability to mod, mutate and battle through classic gameplay.

This time around Epic has opted for a campaign with a character that strangely is reminiscent of their Gears of War protagonist. Ditching the do-rag for a pair of goggles, the Marcus Fenix look-alike is on a revenge mission with his sister and fellow Ronin compatriots. After their colony is attacked by the Necris, Reaper and his crew are hired as mercenaries to aid the Izanagi Corporation. Divided into five chapters, the campaign is made up of different game modes that are usually reserved for multiplayer matches—i.e. deathmatch, capture the flag, etc.

For those looking for a single-player, deeply narrative experience, this isn’t the game for you; the same goes for those that thrive on stealth, tactical shooters. In fact, the Unreal series is the complete polar opposite of those types of games. The campaign is held together with a few cut scenes as Reaper fights for revenge, but the story is really just a context for games that can be found in Instant Action or multiplayer games. Such becomes obvious when you return to maps that you beat before, and the only thing that has changed is the names of the enemies.

A shallow single-player campaign really shouldn’t come as a surprise as it is a departure from the kind of action-only based gameplay of past games. The Unreal franchise is a multiplayer experience, and trying to deviate from that feels hollow and misplaced. With that said, the game shines at providing an expansive multiplayer experience.

Like Warhawk, UT3 is a broadband-only game. You can choose to play Instant Action against multiple bots offline, but without the ability to play with a friend off the same screen—relegating the game to an offline-only experience would eventually bore any player. The problem isn’t completely in the AI—both enemies and teammates aren’t the brightest, but they’re not complete dolts either—it’s just, unless you have the difficulty turned all of the way up, tactics won’t change and you’ll get use to winning.

Online however, the game explodes into a completely different animal. All of the same maps, weapons, vehicles and game types from offline, translate to online games with complete customizability. Your standard games are present, with warfare acting as a king of the hill hybrid. In warfare, different nodes link together to cores and the goal is destroy the other team’s core. Cores can’t be attacked unless links are made between nodes, so battles rage at different locations and make for intense contests of aim and strategy.

The game comes stock with a good amount of different maps of varying size, but in-case you didn’t know, the Unreal crowd is a dedicated one that creates their own mods for maps, as well as mutations for in-game action. By simply transferring data from a USB flash drive to the console’s hard drive, UT3 is insured an ever-expanding catalogue of free maps for as long as people care to create.

Unreal isn’t only synonymous with twitch-shooting, but is also the name of the engine that many developers license to create their games. Epic has taken extra care to make a graphically appealing game in UT3 and it shows. Everything from the maps to the characters, vehicles and weapons looks amazing on the PS3. For all of its beauty, the game runs surprisingly smoothly, with only a few instances of dropped frame rate.

All of the sounds accompanying gameplay flesh out well also. In offline games, AI will let you know what’s going on, where enemies are, and where they’re headed. This is a nice little touch that will sometimes let you forget you’re only playing by yourself—although it’s not always right-on. Voice acting isn’t too over-the-top with dialogue that is believable and some subtle humor, but little feeling. Unfortunately, online games are plagued with voice chat problems that make communicating inconsistent and difficult when trying to coordinate action during warfare.

There a re also a few technical problems with textures popping in after loading maps and weird physics while controlling some of the vehicles. The game’s largest tank, the Leviathan, is a behemoth and must be fought over just to use. While driving it around it’s slow, but getting snagged on an obstacle can send it end-over-end like it’s a rag doll. These little problems luckily aren’t pervasive and do little to detract from the gameplay. Also, a clunky menu system can cause you to overlook the wealth of options available. However, through the magic of the internet, patches can always cure such problems.

Overall, UT3 is a must-own for any first-person shooter fan that is all about action. Conversely, if you’re into stealth and going undetected, chances are you might not find the game too appealing—although, you won’t know until you try. For a series that’s had its faults on consoles in the past, UT3 sets a precedent demonstrating that the twitch shooter can do well when not played with a mouse and keyboard.     

Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 9.5
Audio: 8.5
Lasting Appeal: 9.0
Overall: 9.0

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