Unreal Tournament 3 review (PC)

The Unreal series has a long and varied history stretching from the original Single Player world traversing marathon with a surprisingly entertaining Multi Player mode to an MP focussed franchise that tended to give Single Player a back seat to improved network code and frantic shooting action; Unreal Tournament. Originally conceived as Unreal Tournament 2007 (following 2003 and 2004), deemed a big enough leap from its predecessors Epic Games rebranded this game Unreal Tournament 3 and has just released it upon the world in all its Unreal Engine 3 goodness.

From way back Deathmatching in Ariza there has been something special about the Unreal style, and UT3 takes a stand of replaying everything rather than reinventing it and seems like gameplay has stood still while the graphics have been given an upgrade. The game plays pretty much the same as UT2004; the flak cannon, bio rifle and other classic weapons returning to provide a wide variety of ways to take your enemy down. The impact hammer also returns, and the minigun and stinger combine to form the (any ideas?) stinger minigun. Generally quite balanced almost all weapons have a situation where they are useful, although the enforcer looks and feels like a necessarily rubbish opening weapon despite its instant hit.

MP is the focus

With the net-code always improving in further interations (and internet connections following suit) the online play was always going to be pretty lag free and instantly responsive which it achieves well. Gametypes include classic Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag (obviously), Vehicle Capture The Flag, Warfare (Remember back when UT was going to be called Unreal Warfare?) Gone is the structured battle style Assault, and no longer will we have the fun of Onslaught (although that’s technically Warfare now).

The DM and CTF levels work as you’d expect, and while the Vehicle CTF gives you much larger levels and a vehicle to get there, you can’t escape with a flag in one, instead being relegated to walking or using the brand new hoverboard (I loved Back To The Future too). With fluid visuals and a smooth style, the hoverboard allows you to traverse the larger areas with more speed, adding balance to the gametypes with vehicles just in case none are available at that moment, but with a slight twist. If you’re hit at all while riding your hoverboard, you’ll fall off in a mess of rag doll pain, clamber back to your feet and set off again, but your enemies can be pounding you into classic giblets as you recover. The previous vehicles all make a reappearance, but they are mirrored by Necris vehicles that accomplish the same kind of features but in a far cooler and more unique way. There’s something unrivalled about taking control of a Necris DeathWalker and striding around in a War of the Worlds style tripod death machine. Finally Mutators (little gameplay additions like InstaGib and Slow Motion) can be added to your game to give it a twist and add further variety.

Warfare sounds more like it!

The new gametype seems most like an extension of Onslaught rather than an entirely new type in itself. Within Warfare each team has a power core that must be destroyed, and to make it vulnerable you must grow a chain of power nodes within the map towards your enemy. To claim one, you must destroy your enemy’s note first, then step over it to begin building your own, using the link gun’s secondary fire to speed up the building. Once it’s built, you can attack nodes linked to it until you finally reach the core.

Some maps have some unlinked nodes, or non necessary nodes that will assist you in some way. One gives you control of a Tarydium mine that when held for long enough gives you access to the base busting Leviathan mega tank, and another when captured in tandem with another on the other side of the map gives you some auto turrets (that can be moved along a track) and raises your foes’ power core into the air making it much more vulnerable from afar. Finally, each team has an orb that one player can carry, which instantly converts an enemy node, or repairs nodes in close proximity. It adds a further strategic factor to the game type and generally works quite well, although sometimes a quick attack from the outset can claim enough nodes to win the match in a ridiculously short period of time whereas other times you may be battling for ages just to struggle your way towards the next node.

There’s effort here

Traditionally, in the Unreal Tournament series we’ve been privy to a campaign mode that lets you play through the majority of the levels in sequence against bots in a plot-less but progressive mode, and in UT3 they’ve taken it one step further. With some pretty snazzy cinematics (all originally rendered in-engine but captured for quality benefits on the lower spec machine) documenting the war between your faction and the newly included Necris, and trying to explain the reasons for playing this war in an arena, respawning after death in a contrived but worthy addition. Yes, even respawning is explained in the context of the war, and flags are… well… not exactly flags.

The campaign begins with your sister challenging you to a duel to help you relearn the ropes and while she taunts you in a friendly but slightly crazy way it seems a little strange to be blowing her up with rocket launchers even if she does just respawn afterwards. Throughout the matches some context specific dialogue is thrown up from your teammates, whether it’s the first time you’ve seen a new enemy vehicle or the discovery of a new area of the level and it adds much more to the characterisation and story aspect of the game. While the bulk of the game’s life is clearly going to be spent in Multi Player, the Single Player campaign is worth starting out with if only to get back into the UT way of thinking and to learn the levels; an essential part of doing well online, though the cinematics are definitely worth checking out too. The only downer is that while you can choose which levels (missions) to perform at certain stages, you do seem to revisit levels a few times within the campaign merely with different enemies. Sometimes you will be outnumbered for extra challenge, but if you perform well, you can unlock ‘cards’ that can be played before a level to give you extra team mates, more powerful vehicles or reduce the number of enemies faced which adds a little strategy to the campaign as a whole.

Upgrades

The game definitely feels like an upgrade of the previous well established series, not changing the basic concepts and feel that has proved so well received in the past, but enhancing a few features. Certain aspects stand out such as the team colours being far more pronounced from afar, making it easier to recognise friend from foe, and elements of design have been tweaked well requiring the jump boots be activated by a double jump so that you don’t waste them with the more necessary smaller jumps.

Obviously the most obvious factor is the graphics (and therefore the system specifications). UT2004 ran beautifully at a high resolution for me on my machine that seems to be aging well. UT3 threw me in with pretty much the lowest graphics options to ensure a smooth frame rate, and actually didn’t look as good as UT2004 because it wasn’t using its power to the max. Using a secondary and brand new machine was my only way for me to play it by the end of the review, running at full graphical settings smoothly and beautifully. The detailing and styling seems to have many links to Gears of War, while the design remains entirely Unreal Tournament-esque. Still, take away the seeming constant glow of practically everything in the game worlds and the pretty but distracting water and you’ll have a game that looks good but not outstanding in normal gameplay. The majority of fantastic views and must-take-screenshot moments seem to be found while looking around the environments in places that you wouldn’t generally see mid-game trying to blast your opponents.

PS3 version coming soon

The main pull for any gamer of a purchase of the PC version of UT3 (if you ignore the mouse/keyboard control situation) is the mod/editor features. Shipping with the editor straight out of the box it allows potential game creators and modders to design their own levels, characters, conversions and pretty much anything you could want provided you have the dedication and skill. Having experience in professional level design in the Unreal Engine I decided to fire it up and have a play, and while the basic setup looks familiar, it seems that there are plenty of changes to get used to in this new iteration of the engine. Understandably a wave of new user created content will be flooding the internet before too long, and this will be frequently added to the PS3 version, but the PC will be required to create it.

I really wanted to love Unreal Tournament 3, and in some ways I can’t exactly put fault to what is contained within the package, but with little additions to the franchise, a decent but not mammoth amount of maps, and some pretty standard gametypes saved by Warfare (that I’m not even so keen on) it’s only the extension to the Single Player Campaign that saves the score from being considered little more than an expansion pack. Unreal Tournament 3 is a great game with graphics that will push your system, and tried and tested gameplay, so if you’re into the series, have a powerful machine and want a franchise that is historically very well supported by the developer and the mod community, pick it up. It’ll last a while!