Epic's grand UT franchise continues with it's latest installment, and the fourth game in the tournament series to date.
Just as ID software has made it's official grandiose mark on old - school gaming history with products like "Wolfenstein", "Quake" and yes of course, "Doom"; Epic Games, the creators most people now know for their "Gears of War" franchise and their latest release "Shadow Complex", came up with a very old and seemingly long - lasting universe - this was "Unreal" and "Unreal Tournament", respectively.
Seeing the first release of the acclaimed series back in 1999 [or at least, this was when the first tournament game came out officially, with the first Unreal predating it's relatives back into 98'], the series continued with Unreal Tournament 2003, and 2004 - the latter getting a slight edge over it's predecessor, especially from critic's standpoints, rather than the community itself.
Setting aside the historical aspects of the series, we have now finally seen the release of this highly - anticipated new installment in the UT franchise; on a need to know basis, the bottom line is as follows: Unreal Tournament 3 is a fast - paced and extremely retro - arcade style first - person/team - based [depending on how you play it] first person shooter, with highly customizable gameplay, which is alterable in a variety of ways in both offline and online modes [Though the latter is an overall better experience with more satisfying results in the end]along with the many differing gamemodes, causing the experience to hold a quite noticeable longer lasting appeal than it would have otherwise which in turn provides plenty of replay value.
Is it retro? Yes. Have we done it all already? Yes. Is it plain fun? Yet another yes.
Starting with the gameplay, which may come across as overtly shallow to some [especially if you were never a fan of any of the previous installments or any similar games of the time], the series packs in a lot of variety and firepower [=satisfaction], yet not too much depth; while this may seem like a bad thing, it actually makes the final presentation a slightly more accessible game, so there's nothing to worry about when on the terms of know - how or a lack thereof...
The options for gamemodes are pretty basic at first glance; there's pretty standard 32 - player deathmatch/team DM, there's CTF [and a novel vehicular version as well for players that prefer mounted combat], duels, UT's trademark Warfare mode [previously known as onslaught in Unreal Tournament 2004], and a few more - all based on over 100 unique maps.
As with previous installments, the customization of matches is essential, yet fairly easy to do if you have any simple knowledge of previous games. This is all done through "Mutators", or additional causes and effects/conditions [there are a fair few available at default, yet - custom mutators can be found on community content websites, which in turn supply modifications for both the PS3 and PC versions of the game], such as effecting the game speed, the camera style, the wide selection of guns/vehicles themselves, or even the size of a players given head - so it's pretty broad to say the least.
Other additions to the series include some light character customization along with a story - driven single player campaign with some noticeably high production values during cinematics, in order make the overall experience more immersive, especially for players wanting to get to know the style a bit before launching the game's true competitive component; multiplayer.
Visually, we're looking at the same engine that powered Gears back in 2006, along with quite a few enhancements to the environmental effects and world quality/detail, as well as variety - nothing too astonishing, yet - it serves it's duty in a game that doesn't really give players time to look, rather than do their job and shoot.
The game also runs fairly smooth, and the requirements aren't too high, so you won't need a monster - rig in order to run it well, with some of the graphics settings turned up to highest.
All in all, Unreal Tournament 3 is a pretty complete and satisfactory package for both old - school multiplayer fans or simply for people who wish to have an introduction into the Unreal universe alike, and while more or less intuitive rather than overtly flawed, it's still an accessible as well as easy to pick - up and play multiplayer first - person - shooter, and in my opinion, while not as groundbreaking as either of it's previous installments were on their release - it's the best yet, and it builds on many unfinished concepts of it's predecessors.