Review: ‘Unreal Tournament III’
Xbox 360 owners have been waiting more than eight months to experience Epic’s latest fragfest, “Unreal Tournament III.” Now that Midway has delivered the fast-paced shooter to Microsoft’s next-gen console, one question remains — was “UT3″ worth the wait?
You bet it was.
Featuring two new characters, five exclusive maps and all of the previously released downloadable content, the Xbox 360 version of “Unreal Tournament III” is the most fleshed-out edition of the game you can buy, though it lacks the create-and-share options found in other editions.
Originally released for the PC and PlayStation 3 last winter, “UT3″ is old-school twitch shooting at its finest. The action is frantic and intense, whether playing with friends online or in the single-player campaign. As with past iterations, the single-player mode is light on story, though the AI bots present enough of a challenge to keep things interesting.
Where “UT3″ really shines, of course, is online.
Up to 32 players can compete in a plethora of game modes, ranging from standard deathmatch and capture the flag to the vehicular combat found in Warfare. Another new addition to the Xbox 360 version is the return of split-screen multiplayer, which allows multiple users to go online from the same console. (Why isn’t this feature standard on every shooter?) All of the online games play silky smooth with no lag to speak of.
As with most shooters, the biggest hurdle that “Unreal Tournament III” had to overcome was the transition from mouse-and-keyboard to controller. Thankfully, “UT3″ has made this transition with ease, though using the left and right bumpers to select weapons is a tad clunky.
Visually, the game has held up well in the months since its release. The character models bear a striking resemblence to those of another Epic creation, “Gears of War.” The weapons are intricately detailed and the maps are varied and well designed. “Unreal Tournament III” certainly holds its own against today’s console shooters in the eye-candy department.
Competition in the console first-person shooter genre has never been hotter. And while “Unreal Tournament III” isn’t likely to usurp “Halo 3″ or “Call of Duty 4″ from the top of the charts, it certainly deserves a place among the best shooters on the Xbox 360.
Score: 8.4/10
