Unreal Tournament 3 doesn't innovate, but rather, it builds on what fans already love about the series. Those with mid-end rigs won't get the same visual quality as their high-end peers, but the sheer scale and frantic action remain the same. The crew at Epic (and for that matter, Midway) have chosen a practical approach by designing it so that mid-end users can still experience this awesome title. In the future, other PC game developers would be wise to do the same-it draws in a much bigger consumer base. Most PC gamers I know have mid-end rigs (2Ghz CPUs, 1GB RAM, nVidia 6/7 or ATI x1000s). While the cost of nVidias 8 series and ATIs x1500+ are coming down to the $100 range (a GeForce 8400 512MB is now under $120), most are still wary of upgrading. Until they do, UT3 will probably whet their appetites and encourage them to bump up for a new 512MB card. It has definetely convinced me to do so! If it rocks this hard on my 7300 256MB, it's going to blow my mind out of my skull on a 512MB card! The modes are, for the most part, the expected and demanded; DM, TDM, CTF...with an added treat-VEHICLE CTF and WARFARE! Vehicle CTF is as the name implies: CTF with vehicles and the huge and elaborate arenas that utilize them. Once you've played VCTF you'll wander how you ever tolerated not having it in your fav FPSs, trust me. Warfare is a wee bit like the old "BOMBING RUN" from UT2003: destroy the enemies core of their base. Each base (RED and BLUE) has a core that must be destroyed to assure victory. The core can only be exposed via the controlling of nodes. Their are (usually) 3 nodes per arena. Each team must gain control of the nodes by either destroying the protective casing or bringing an orb from their base to the respective node. Once the majority of nodes are in control of one team (example: RED team controls 2/3 nodes) the opposing teams core becomes vulnerable-blast off the casing and do a touch down dance. Of course, they've thrown in vehicles, turretts and specific nodes for unlocking them in some arenas to keep it interesting. The Campaign mode is basically a training mode with a story. And of course, if you prefer OFFLINE play, their are BOTS. The Bots are actually quite tactical: enemies are a pain in the ass, allies try to cover you and make a decent effort to accomplish the goals. The arenas themselves are practically stars of the show in their own right. From Asian themed to frozen wastelands to space stations orbitting planets (these usually have teleporters to allow you access to the very planets they orbit), the variety never dries up. If your rig can handle it (2Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM, nVidia 6800/ATI Radeon 9600) or you own a PS3/XBox 360, I highly recomend this game.
UT3 retains most of the features present in the previous UT games, the weapons and vehicles are similar, even some maps have been reproduced with higher detail. The game introduces a warfare mode, which is like onslaught... Read Full Review
The Unreal Tournament series is quite old now, soon it'll reach the 10 year mark. It's also one of the best FPS series around, a status it gained after bringing to the masses two phenomenal installments: the classic funf... Read Full Review
