Unreal Tournament 3 (UT III) (Xbox 360)

...thrill of playing the original Unreal tournament and the hours of fun it provided me and my friends. As I played each subsequent installment of the game I was very happy with the improvements made and was delighted that the core of the game remained the same.

When I purchased Unreal tournament 3 (UT3), it was for the Xbox 360 and it was the first time I had played a UT title on anything but a PC. Right from the opening levels I was impressed ...
...keyboard to a controller brilliantly, leaving no awkwardness or lag when playing. The graphics were beautiful as well, showing that the Xbox 360 could cope with the frenetic action in the game.

One change from previous games was the single player campaign was no longer a competition, but rather a war fought against several enemy factions. I actually enjoyed this campaign layout more than previous games as it meant that I actually felt ... more

I remember the thrill of playing the original Unreal tournament and the hours of fun it provided me and my friends. As I played each subsequent installment of the game I was very happy with the improvements made and was delighted that the core of the game remained the same.

When I purchased Unreal tournament 3 (UT3), it was for the Xbox 360 and it was the first time I had played a UT title on anything but a PC. Right from the opening levels I was impressed with the controls, as they had transferred them from a keyboard to a controller brilliantly, leaving no awkwardness or lag when playing. The graphics were beautiful as well, showing that the Xbox 360 could cope with the frenetic action in the game.

One change from previous games was the single player campaign was no longer a competition, but rather a war fought against several enemy factions. I actually enjoyed this campaign layout more than previous games as it meant that I actually felt that there was more of an incentive to play through the single player mode. Another welcome feature was the inclusion of power up cards that offered extra perks, such as extra team members or increased health.

Through the campaign mode there are several different modes of play, each of which has their own charms:

Team death match (TDM) is a simple fight against two teams with points being scored by killing a member of the opposing team. The winning team is the first to reach a predetermined number of kills (or frags). As TDM has a fairly simple game mechanic, it is one of the easier modes to play, but as you progress through the game, it will become more challenging.

The second mode is another classic of first person shooters, capture the flag (CTF). The basic premise of CTF is to steal the opposing team's flag and bring it back to your base. Whilst this might seem like a fairly easy feat, it becomes a lot more challenging, especially with some of the maps available. In order to excel at CTF you need to be able to work well with your team. In the single player campaign, your team members are computer controlled, and although you can issue them orders, sometimes it can seem that your team mates just do their own thing. In UT3 there are two types of CTF, the classic version and one that includes vehicle, called Vehicle CTF. As the name suggests, vehicle are included on these games, which might not sound like very much of a change, but it does change the entire dynamic of the game. When you are facing players that move as fast as you and are just on foot, it is easier to avoid or dispatch them. As you cannot carry the flag in a vehicle, you have to run the gauntlet across the map being chased by all manner of vehicles, which is not the easiest feat. I got stuck several times on the vehicle CTF missions, as they can be quite challenging and usually ended in a stalemate with the computer, as neither side could successfully get a flag back to their base.
One thing that I was delighted about was the inclusion of my all time favourite map, CTF-facing worlds. It was lovingly recreated for UT3 (as it made it's debut in the original UT) and provided me with hours more enjoyment. In both games modes, the winner of the game is the first team to capture the enemy's flag a predetermined number of times.

The third game mode is called Bombing run, which pits the two teams against each other as they battle to throw a bomb through the opposing team's goal. I personally love this mode, as it is very tactical and team orientated as you need to work together to be able to get the bomb to the enemy goal. Whoever picks up the bomb will have the benefit of regenerating health and shields, which goes some way to protecting them against enemy fire, especially since they are unable to use any weapon whilst the bomb is their possession. This can lead to some very frantic dashes and makes the game a lot more balanced. As in other modes of play, the winner of the mission will have 'bombed' the enemy goal a certain number of times.

The forth mode in the single player campaign is warfare, where nodes on the battlefield must be secured in order to attack the enemy base. On the simpler warfare maps, there is only one link between your node and the enemy node, making it simpler to defend and secure each of the nodes. The more advanced maps have multiple routes to get to the enemy node, which means as well as concentrating on securing nodes in order to attack the enemy node, you must also make sure that the other routes are safe. Vehicles are available in warfare, which further enhances the action and tactics of the game. As I played through the single player campaign I did get stuck on several warfare maps as sometimes the enemy is at an advantage at the beginning of the game, but as I became more experienced this started to become less of a problem. Once your node has been linked to the enemy node, it is vulnerable for attack and when the hp of the enemy core reaches zero, you will win the match. One feature that was very useful was a mini map that showed the the condition of all the nodes on the map, which made it a lot easier to check who controlled which node and if your core was in danger.

The single player campaign was enjoyable to play through and due to several achievements being unlockable by completing it on harder difficulty settings I would say that it is replayable several times. UT3 also includes a co-op mode which allows you and a friend to play through the campaign together, which also unlocks further achievements. There were a few problems with the co-op campaign though, as when playing warfare maps, each player did not seem to have a mini map, which made navigation and general game play difficult.

There is another offline game mode called instant action, which allows you to play any of the above game modes, plus a few extra modes, using bots (computer controlled characters). You could also apply mutators to any game, which alters some aspect of the game. On previous games, as well as the PS3 and PC versions of UT3, you were able to download mutators and other modifications that were either officially released by Epic, or created by fans. This was sadly missing from the Xbox 360 version, which was a very big shame as it was one of my favourite parts of previous games. In my mind, the omission of downloadable mutators and modifications for the Xbox 360 version of the game has stopped it being an outstanding game and it is merely great. Mutators aside, the instant action mode is very fun, especially as you can play with other people on your console, which is can be very competitive.

Where UT has always come into it's own has been with the multiplayer element of the game, which pits you against players from across the world. Any of the game modes are playable online and provide a great deal of entertainment, especially when the offline mode starts to lose it's appeal. When I was playing online, I did not seem to suffer much lag and it was a hugely enjoyable experience, especially since I did not see any of the predictable behavior exhibited by the computer controlled characters.

The weapons available in the game are a mix of old UT favorites like the enforcer and my personal favourite, the flak cannon, and a few new guns that are still great fun. As there has been the inclusion of vehicles, there has been the addition of a new weapon, call the AVRIL, which is particularly effective against vehicles, balancing the game play. The vehicles themselves are very fun indeed, ranging from small, fast vehicles to great hulking tanks and even a huge war of the worlds-esque tripod that is truly formidable. Each of the vehicles are balanced, providing a trade off between power and durability.

All in all I would recommend the game to anyone who likes first person shooters, especially with a multiplayer element. It is very sad that there is not more mutators and modifications included with the game, or that there is no facility to download more. 

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