Good old-fashioned deathmatch, TDM, and CTF are the game modes where this old-school but beautiful game shines.
Visually speaking, the game is phenomenal, with an engine that may not be so new as of 2009, but still looks absolutely great. it really shines in UT3's very meticulously crafted beautiful maps, which is where you can see the full potential of the engine. The lighting and particle effects especially are very pretty, from and artistic standpoint, and they stay true to UT's unique art design and feel. No complaints on this front
The Sound effects in the game are for the most part quite good, with the timeless beacons of success like "monster kill!" and "dominating!" making a glorious return. The macho voice acting is of course completely over the top, but this is really to be expected, and as far as I'm concerned, it comes with the territory.
The Gameplay is good, for the most part. DM, TDM, CTF, and every combination of vehicles in battlefield style flag capping and vehicle CTF make an appearance, along with a few more bizarre game modes, and of course good old fashioned duel. There are a plethora of maps, character models, and mutators to suit your particular fancy, and the weapons look, sound, and feel really satisfying and true to the series, with the rocket launcher and flak cannon making particularly gruesome returns. Puzzling, however, is the lack of objective based attack and defend game modes like in ut2004, which saw sides attacking objectives and progressing ultimately towards a final target with a time limit, and then teams would switch sides and try to do better. But wait, you say, ut3 has exactly that in the form of warfare. This is technically true, but ut2004 had some very map specific objectives in very creative scenarios that as far as I can tell are missing from ut3. Where is the space station assault mission? or the tram attack? Oh well, minor quibbles, all in all the gameplay is quite good.
As far as bang for your buck, UT3 is quite impressive, with 40 plus hours of gameplay at least, and theoretically much more. While the campaign isn't to interesting, these games have never been about single player, although the bots are quite adept if you choose that route. With the new Titan pack and the possibility of more free content, UT3 will last me a for a long time to come.
I can heartily recommend it as a purchase well worth the investment to any fan of shooters, especially those from an older generation, or previous fans of the series.