How it should have been 9 months ago, now with the content it should have had back then. Overall, a very good port job!
I originally bought UT3 for the PC and i have to say, i was very disappointed. It had lost it's original-PC-feel, plus bugs, plus a severe lacking in maps. The game however feels right at home on the 360 (saying something about Epic's new regime?). With 5 new maps the map count feels about right, and there's a few new characters too. The split-screen multiplayer is flawlessly implemented, it's also a first. Never before has a UT-franchise game offered this functionality, it works very well too.
The graphics are what we've come to expect from the incredible Unreal Engine 3.0, however with a few bonus points to remark upon. Splitscreen does not degenerate either framerate nor visual lustre. Also, the level of post-processing is a variable option in the Video options, which is nice. Some people love HDR bloom shining in their face, and glistening effects left right and centre. I'm one for a start. However some people find it distracting and wish to be rid of it, something Epic have allowed for for UT3 on the 360 still. The framerate is utterly perfect for the game, i'd say it's locked at 30fps at a guess, only rarely dipping a little to any noticable degree on high resolution screens.
The game remains a solid UT game, sticking to some grassroots of the franchise, but also displaying some intreguing new innovations, such as the hoverboard method of transport, by latching onto moving friendly vehicles. It's sad to see very few of the characters from UT2004 remain, for me most missed are the Gen Mokai, i'm not one for having a beefy body-builder as my avatar :(
The new maps are fantastic, they bring classics such as Facing Worlds up to date with the series and add a couple of new ones as well. Having 5 extra means that all the maplists look that bit more fleshed out.
Of course, you are limited to any further new maps because of the lack of support for community modding. However, there's nothing to stop Epic releasing new maps on Xbox Live for download if they so wish :)
Overall, i was very pleased with this conversion to 360. The controls are especially good, with decent configuration settings to match. Good framerates and a wealth of new content soften the no-mods, no-community-maps block. This however is what i was expecting from the game half a year ago. It's a shame i've had to drop the franchise from it's original base (PC) over to console (360), in order to get everything i was expecting.
Breakdown:
Graphics: 10
Sound: 8
Music: 7
Gameplay: 9
Optimisation: 10
I cannot give it higher than 9, simply because it's taken them this long to get the game in a decent, playable state. 3 years is far too long to be "expecting" a game release.