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Bringing the series back to its roots and moving it in a new
direction all at once, Unreal Tournament 3 reintroduces shooter fans to simpler
days, where weapons are both inventive and immensely out of this world, and
somehow participating cosmic gladiators, who are quite agile, have no problem
taking a rocket to the face! In a surprising turn of events, this year’s
arrival of Unreal Tournament 3 employs a storyline that finds its way into the campaign
mode. It’s no longer you and your team battling it out to win a tournament - you’re
waging war against other factions. As the story goes, your colony’s been
attacked by a group of badass called the Necris, and everyone throws a fist at
them. With this conflict for superiority, it’s inevitable that a war is going
to be waged. What’s amusing is that this war is really organized
multiplayer games with bots. Needless to say, all the traditional UT game-types are featured
here, from
Team Deathmatch to the all new Warfare (which we’ll discuss later).
Epic managed to form quite a story out
of the “respawning” concept, by using
objects called respawners and how
disabling these particular items
complete the objective of a match, and
you’re getting the congratulatory win in
the process. Winning such matches,
whether it would be single-player or
multiplayer offline and online, are all
extremely fun thanks to the classic
gameplay. The Unreal series has always
been about up-in-your-face combat, and
Unreal Tournament 3 is no different. The
simple game flow of spawning, picking up
weapons and killing people by shooting
things in their face is still just as
exhilarating as ever. Weapons vary from
dual pistols, to rocket launchers and
flak cannons (the equivalent of a
shotgun with grenade launcher). All
weapons have a secondary fire. For
example, the secondary function on the
rocket launcher lets you load up more
than one rocket to fire up to three at
once, while the alternate function on
the chain-gun shoots out high-powered
ammunitions.
One of the positive aspects about UT3 is that the game remains
balanced despite the massive collection of weaponries. Let’s say you don’t have
access to a rocket launcher or something else handy, you’ve still got plenty of
options, including a dodge technique and one-hit kill melee weapon. Players can
double-jump to reach higher ledges and pick up power-up items along the way. By
jumping sideways, players will be able to dodge incoming projectiles though it
will give them less vertical height. (Don’t worry as you have gained more lateral
movement when jumping sideways.) Some of the well-known game-types have been removed, but fortunately in their absence
the developer has added a cool feature called Warfare. A mixture of Assault and
Onslaught, Warfare involves the destruction of the enemy team’s base while
defending yours. In order to attack your enemy’s base, your team must connect
the nodes on the map by touching them and building them. After the nodes
are linked together, you’ll
be able to attack your opponent's Core; blow it up and you’ll win the match.
Returning in this year’s UT3 is two of
its classics: Death-match and Capture
the flag. Besides the fact that these
matches are playable on split-screen,
you will be able to ride vehicles as
well! It’s nice to know that whatever
multiplayer features available offline
are provided online. One thing you’ll
notice about the UT3’s gameplay is that
it didn’t change all that much from its
predecessors. It’s running at a slower
pace and much simpler than the 2004
version but what you’ve gained the most
is brutality, which is what the next
generation of Unreal players are looking
for. Graphically, Unreal Tournament 3 is
impressive. The animation is seamless
despite the multiple carnages going at
once on the screen. The environments
here are surreal, with large war-torn
industrial cities that convince players
that they are in hostile territories and
must keep their guard up at all times.
The game uses plenty of special effects
to relay a brutal message to stay the
hell away from one’s shooting lane or be
blown up into smithereens.
In the audio department, sounds effects
are amazing, delivering an authentic
warfare package, with weapons sending
off a merciless hit. The music, on the
other hand, is decent but upbeat,
keeping the pace of the action
relatively high. Some quirks
about the Xbox 360 version involve no
user-downloadable mods. In the Xbox Live
multiplayer, playing split-screen with a
guest is allowed, but sometimes both of
you end up on
opposite teams when you’re trying to
pair up! The controls are fine for the
most part, and those players familiar
with Unreal Tournament should be able to
adapt to this game with no problem.
Overall, Unreal Tournament 3 is an
excellent shooter, mainting its legacy
as one of the best FPS shooters. It's
another job well done by Epic, maker of
Gears of War, and there is no doubt it will go down into the history books
as another classic FPS title. This is
definitely an "Epic"
shooter you don’t want to miss out on. |