A couple of days before the holiday, I checked my mailbox to find a package from Midway containing
Unreal Tournament III within' the FedEX packaging (which was soon torn to shreds). I popped it in, played it non-stop for a few hours, and now, my verdict.
Unreal Tournament III is the first title I've come by within a few months (besides
Team Fortress 2) that I'm hooked on. Got five minutes before that wedding, I'd pop in
Unreal Tournament III. The fast paced first person action that this title brings inside it's sleek casing is truly addicting.
The game comes packed with a campaign mode, multiplayer mode, and the ability to apply mods to your matches. Currently, there are around five mods released for the PLAYSTATION 3 version of the game, but a converter for PC to PS3 mods is coming according to an
Epic Forums Moderator.
The campaign mode is nothing but an offline multiplayer mode with a story revolving around it. If for some reason, your online connection isn't functioning properly, this will keep you busy for the time being. Everything you'll see in the multiplayer mode are in this campaign mode. The story starts off with you training with your sister Jester to get the jist of things. That itself is a regular deathmatch. Thing about the campaign mode is that it would of been much better if they made it as a map that you follow through in one direction, and get to the end of the level. Something like
Gears of War or
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Multiplayer mode is
Unreal Tournament III's chocolatey center. The game modes included in the multiplayer are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch (stars), Capture the Flag, Capture the Flag with Vehicles, Duel, and Warfare. This being my first
Unreal Tournament game (I know I know, mock me if you will), the mode that was newest to me was Warfare.
In Warfare, currently my second favorite game mode, the objective is to destroy your enemy's core on their side of the map. To do that, you need to activate the prime node in the middle of the map, making the enemy's core vulnerable, but only till they regain control of the prime node. Each core has 100HP, first to get destroyed looses. I thought it was a unique new way to play with other people. Each match lasted long, and it's great when your looking for a match to take your time in.
Duel was another game type new to me. Duel is basically a one-on-one match with people waiting in line to play the winner. If you lose, you go to the end of the line. I played and stayed king for 2-3 matches, but then got owned. Even though I got owned, it was still a great gaming experience.
A new feature in a console version of an
Unreal Tournament game is that the PLAYSTATION 3 version of
Unreal Tournament III has the ability to import mods from your PC. Mods have to be customized for the PLAYSTATION 3 for obvious reasons, so far, Mark Rein has released only five mods, with four of them being maps, and one being a mutator. No worries, because
as stated above, a converter is in the works for easy mod converting. That means, soon, any PC mod you see will be able to be converted to the PLAYSTATION 3.
The graphics of this game may be one of it's best features. Between the one-two second loading of game textures, you'll still enjoy the smoothness that is their underskin. If you thought
Gears of War graphics were good, then you'll scream in excitement at this.
To conclude my review for this excellent game, I want to say that right after I'm finished writing this, I'm going to play
Unreal Tournament III. So if you really want a great title like this, read the scoring below, and go get yourself a copy.
Presentation: 9.3
Unreal Tournament III has grapics that might not top the PLAYSTATION 3's abilities, but certainly displays them well.
Gameplay: 9.5
Unreal Tournament III''s gameplay is fast-paced blood shattering deathmatches and duels that will keep you addicted for days to even years, considering the expansion of mods that will be coming.
Graphics: 9.7
The game''s graphics feature nothing but magnificent looking 3D images in this new release in the franchise.
Audio: 8.5
The title's audio matches the type of gameplay, and seems well made.
Replayability: 9.5
Like I said, you won't be able to stop playing this title for a while. If this game is considered a drug, I'm an addict.
Final Verdict: 9.3 out of 10
It seems the Japanese PLAYSTATION Store is always getting the good stuff. Maybe thats because it always is. Today, the Japanese PLAYSTATION Store received a bunch more PSone Games today. Let's cry for the favorite, Resident Evil 2 (aka Biohazard 2 in Japan). The full list below.
