Unreal Tournament 3 is Epic's latest edition to the Unreal Tournament series, and as far as I can tell, it's the last. Epic stated a while back that they would wait a while before making another UT game (a while meaning 4 years). Unreal Tournament 3 is a game that's so mediocre it's shocking, especially with all the hype that Epic created over the single-player campaign.

First off, UT3 is a game that looks great. The problem is, it doesn't do much else. Graphically it's nice, but the majority of the maps are saturated with brown and gray colors. It just gets really old when practically every map looks the same in terms of colors. Likewise, the character models look good, but are also blandly colored. UT3 is very similar to Gears of War in terms of graphics, which doesn't exactly appeal to me.

UT3's sounds are generally pretty good. Weapons sounds in particular were well done. Music is also satisfactory; the problem is that thanks to the music system Epic implemented, you'll rarely ever hear a full track. Half the time, music isn't even playing in the background, and there's no way to change that.

Gameplay-wise, UT3 feels fairly clunky at times, but it's still much closer to the original Unreal Tournament. Dodge-jumping was mercifully removed, as were the adrenaline combos. Double-jumping, however, is still there. It's irritating how there are surfaces in some maps where one jump SHOULD be able to get you over, but it actually takes two due to bad use of blocking volumes. The weapons are actually balanced pretty well, which is a surprise, given the general lack of everything else in this game. The deathmatch gametype in UT3 is excellent; it may be just like every other deathmatch gametype before it, but the weapons are balanced enough that it's a lot of fun.

The AI is horrible, and when I say horrible, I mean complete crap. The AI is extremely unintelligent, even though Epic's CliffyB and Mark Rein promised otherwise. Bots struggle to move around certain areas, and there are times where they'll just get stuck and move back and forth randomly. As a result, a lot of the fun that could be had in Warfare and CTF is gone. Warfare was the most overhyped element of UT3 (aside from the single-player campaign). It's pretty much like an offshoot of UT2004's Onslaught, except there's an orb involved. The orb lets you instantly capture nodes and prevent other nodes from being damaged. Yeah, really revolutionary concept there, Cliffy.

The single-player is easily the most overhyped element of UT3, and it's by far the worst. We were told that it was going to be an epic campaign more like Unreal or Unreal 2. Epic decided to focus on Gears of War 2 instead of UT3, and it shows. The campaign is just a bunch of maps stitched together as a so-called campaign. It's not even an actual campaign. Luckily, it has CoOp, although it doesn't help that much. The story is so ridiculous that a 12 year old could have written something better. Unreal Tournament 3 is a misnomer because there's absolutely no tournament involved. It's just some lame Gears of War-esque war.

The multi-player community is essentially dead. It was died a long time ago, though. UT3 launch was just so horrid that it never managed to recover (you couldn't even save your settings at first!), and the gimmick Titan Pack only extended its life for a little while. Installing custom content is a pain. Uninstalling it is even worse. As a result, I don't have very many maps or mods installed, because I know it's going to be painful if I try to uninstall them.

As a game as overhyped as it was, UT3 is a consolized mess, and it's mediocrity incarnate. If you want to get UT3, get it if, and only if, it's really cheap. Otherwise, you're just wasting your money. UT3 was the last nail in the coffin for the once-great Unreal Tournament. This mess of a game just proves how little Epic cares about the series that made it what it is today.
Unreal Tournament 3 is Epic's latest edition to the Unreal Tournament series, and as far as I can tell, it's the last. Epic stated a while back that they would wait a while before making another UT game (a while meaning 4 years). Unreal Tournament 3 is a game that's so mediocre it's shocking, especially with all the hype that Epic created over the single-player campaign. First off, UT3 is a game that looks great. The problem is, it doesn't do much else. Graphically it's nice, but the majority of the maps are saturated with brown and gray colors. It just gets really old when practically every map looks the same in terms of colors. Likewise, the character models look good, but are also blandly colored. UT3 is very similar to Gears of War in terms of graphics, which doesn't exactly appeal to me. UT3's sounds are generally pretty good. Weapons sounds in particular were well done. Music is also satisfactory; the problem is that thanks to the music system Epic implemented, you'll rarely ever hear a full track. Half the time, music isn't even playing in the background, and there's no way to change that. Gameplay-wise, UT3 feels fairly clunky at times, but it's still much closer to the original Unreal Tournament. Dodge-jumping was mercifully removed, as were the adrenaline combos. Double-jumping, however, is still there. It's irritating how there are surfaces in some maps where one jump SHOULD be able to get you over, but it actually takes two due to bad use of blocking volumes. The weapons are actually balanced pretty well, which is a surprise, given the general lack of everything else in this game. The deathmatch gametype in UT3 is excellent; it may be just like every other deathmatch gametype before it, but the weapons are balanced enough that it's a lot of fun. The AI is horrible, and when I say horrible, I mean complete crap. The AI is extremely unintelligent, even though Epic's CliffyB and Mark Rein promised otherwise. Bots struggle to move around certain areas, and there are times where they'll just get stuck and move back and forth randomly. As a result, a lot of the fun that could be had in Warfare and CTF is gone. Warfare was the most overhyped element of UT3 (aside from the single-player campaign). It's pretty much like an offshoot of UT2004's Onslaught, except there's an orb involved. The orb lets you instantly capture nodes and prevent other nodes from being damaged. Yeah, really revolutionary concept there, Cliffy. The single-player is easily the most overhyped element of UT3, and it's by far the worst. We were told that it was going to be an epic campaign more like Unreal or Unreal 2. Epic decided to focus on Gears of War 2 instead of UT3, and it shows. The campaign is just a bunch of maps stitched together as a so-called campaign. It's not even an actual campaign. Luckily, it has CoOp, although it doesn't help that much. The story is so ridiculous that a 12 year old could have written something better. Unreal Tournament 3 is a misnomer because there's absolutely no tournament involved. It's just some lame Gears of War-esque war. The multi-player community is essentially dead. It was died a long time ago, though. UT3 launch was just so horrid that it never managed to recover (you couldn't even save your settings at first! ), and the gimmick Titan Pack only extended its life for a little while. Installing custom content is a pain. Uninstalling it is even worse. As a result, I don't have very many maps or mods installed, because I know it's going to be painful if I try to uninstall them. As a game as overhyped as it was, UT3 is a consolized mess, and it's mediocrity incarnate. If you want to get UT3, get it if, and only if, it's really cheap. Otherwise, you're just wasting your money. UT3 was the last nail in the coffin for the once-great Unreal Tournament. This mess of a game just proves how little Epic cares about the series that made it what it is today.