11/08/2008
What The Fuck: Fast and furious first person shooter that waves two fingers at strategy and storylines and focuses solely on killing other players as quickly as possible.
Who The Fuck: Anyone who likes the sound of a cross between Gears Of War and Doom.
Why The Fuck: Having launched way back in 1999, Unreal Tournament is the original in redefined online deathmatch gaming. The series is still the standard bearer for anyone seeking quick and easy first person thrills.
Arriving eight months late on a console positively bursting with decent first person shooters and lacking key features available on preceding versions, omens weren’t good for the 360 port of Unreal Tournament III.
Just spending ten minutes online with this tour-de-force of twitch gaming makes it clear that there was no need to worry. Although Microsoft’s overly fussy policies, preventing mouse and keyboard support and user modifications, have stifled some of the charm found in the PC and PS3 variants, developers Epic have packed in more than enough new features to make up for it.
This new 360 version has five exclusive maps, split-screen co-op and a couple of extra steroid-addicted freaks to play as. Given that Epic have also managed to craft a responsive control system for the 360 pad that is easily able to keep up with the furious gun-toting gameplay, it’s a fair trade.
The gameplay remains pretty much unchanged since Unreal Tournament first debuted on the PC nearly a decade ago. You run and gun and respawn and run and gun and respawn until your blistered thumbs and bleeding eyes can take no more. Subtle and innovative it is not. Bombastic, fun and seriously addictive, it most certainly is.
The number of game modes has actually been pared back since Unreal Tournament 2004 with the unpopular likes of Bombing Run and Onslaught ditched completely. The number of distinct modes now stands at just three (Deathmatch, Capture The Flag and Warfare) with a couple of variations on each (Team Deathmatch, Vehicle Capture The Flag and Duel). After spending plenty of time with the likes of Call Of Duty 4, Halo 3 and Gears Of War, most Live players will find the list a bit restricted, but it’s actually the purity of Unreal Tournament III that makes it the thoroughly enjoyable kill-fest it is.
It’s Warfare that Epic is clearly hoping will become the focus of the online experience and it’s certainly attracting the most players on Live at present. The aim is to capture and control various ‘nodes’ dotted around the map, which sounds simple enough but, in reality, success requires a great deal of strategic planning. At first it jars against the notoriously shallow Unreal experience, but the frenetic pace of the brutal vehicular combat more than atones for the slightly convoluted victory conditions.
While there is no doubt that Unreal Tournament III is a game to be enjoyed primarily online, it’s clear Epic have invested more effort than ever into the single-player component. Gone is the leaderboard aspect of previous versions, which sadly rather makes the ‘tournament’ in the game’s title redundant. In its place is a Campaign mode that shoehorns versions of the online game’s modes into am hilariously straight-faced macho futuristic war narrative. The bots are canny and unpredictable, but with a limited number of maps and gameplay styles, single-player soon becomes a chore.
But it doesn’t really matter. Unreal Tournament has always been about online gaming, and Live matches, which support up to 16 players, prove to be almost 100 percent lag-free, while the 360 is able to cope with the lavishly detailed graphics even during the height of battle.
Far from getting lost amongst the mass of shooters on the 360, Unreal Tournament III stands alone. From brilliantly antiquated touches like health and shield power-ups, to the fact that it looks absolutely stunning, the always breakneck and often brainless gameplay on offer here is totally refreshing. James Bassett |
