Mini Review : Unreal Tournament 3

It does exactly what it says on the tin, to steal a line from years ago.

This game and previous Unreal games are not to everyone's tastes, this is fast and frenetic with no let up.
Unreal 3 also introduces vehicles into the mix for the first time and they all work perfectly, you can even use a hover board in certain game types for quickly moving around the map without having to drive.

Gameplay :
If you've played any Unreal game before you'll know what to expect. This is first person shooter action on speed.
You always start off with nothing more than your trusty pistol and a meaty impact hammer as a melee weapon, charge it up and watch your foes explode on impact. More weapons are scattered around each map in various locations but always the same place, find a flak cannon somewhere and it'll always be there, once it's had time to respawn.

You also get the usual Unreal power ups, UDamage makes your attacks much more devastating. Invisible is self explanatory. Invulnerablilty is again self explanatory. Finally Beserker makes you move twice as fast and also shoot twice as fast as normal.

The usual gametypes return along with a new one called Warfare. We've got Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Vehicular Capture the Flag.


Graphics:
They'll look very familiar to just about all gamers as so many games use the Unreal engine. Huge chunky characters with massive guns and plenty of blood being splattered everywhere. I've never noticed any frame rate issues but have experienced some lag when playing online. The maps are beautifully designed as well as being huge. This games graphics will still stand up against anything around on the 360 today.
I have no HD tv so can only comment on how they look in standard definition, sorry

Sound:
Fairly basic in that's all you need really. Each weapon has a very distinctive meaty sound. No real music as such other than what you get in the menu screens. Speech is ok and perfectly audible and you also get to issue taunts with a quick button press combination of the D-pad.

Difficulty:
Upto you really, it's got numerous difficulty settings from Novice (piss easy) right upto Godlike (nigh on impossible)
Come up against seasoned Unreal veterans online and you will probably get owned. You can however, set up games with bots and set their difficulty to whatever you want.

Achievements:
This is not an easy 1000 by any means. There's some absolute swines that I haven't even attempted yet. Discover every single powerup on every single map, now that's just being mean. Through consistent playing you should be able to rack up at least 500GS over a few months, maybe less if you really hammer it. There's quite a few weapon related and other achievements that you can grind away at on your own against bots, but that wont net you more than a few hundred gamerscore.
If you want to max this game out you'll need patience, skill and downright stubbornness.

Overall:
I'd say this is most definitely a Marmite game, I love it but have hardly any friends on my list that would even give it a second thought, wimps!!!
The main downside to the game is there's not really a single player. They created some half arsed story but all that consists of is a few cut scenes inbetween more frantic multiplayer action, played against the bots, though you can play the whole story mode online in co-op.
In short, rather ironic in what is suppsed to be a mini review, this is a no holds barred, bare to the bones first person shooter played at break neck speed.
One thing this game wont have though is campers. I've never seen anyone camp in an Unreal game.
I suppose I have to mention the slight over-powered-ness of the rocket launcher that is the weapon of choice for most people online, although I much prefer the mini gun combined with beserker power up

Score:
Like I said, it's a Marmite game, for me, this is easily a 9/10, but others might only give it a 3 or 4.

It's suppose to be a mini review lol, I've been meaning to get this game for a long time. May get it this weekend, who knows.

Sorry, I knew I was going on a bit too long but wasn't sure how to cut it down without leaving anything relevant out.
I looked at the way these things were supposed to written and followed that as best as I could.
It's probably because I really love the game and am passionate about it that I tried to get everything in there, although, trust me, there was quite a few more things I could have, and in all honesty, should have, mentioned.

Hope you do pick it up, if for nothing else other than so you can see how fair or biased my review was.
I'll also be more than happy to help you out with any cheevo's I can.

Might try another mini review for Conan and this time strive to keep it as short as I can.

kinmad4it wrote:Sorry, I knew I was going on a bit too long but wasn't sure how to cut it down without leaving anything relevant out.
I looked at the way these things were supposed to written and followed that as best as I could.
It's probably because I really love the game and am passionate about it that I tried to get everything in there, although, trust me, there was quite a few more things I could have, and in all honesty, should have, mentioned.

Hope you do pick it up, if for nothing else other than so you can see how fair or biased my review was.
I'll also be more than happy to help you out with any cheevo's I can.

Might try another mini review for Conan and this time strive to keep it as short as I can.

Haha, was only kidding. Perfect for a mini review, though it was close to a proper review. (New section! Medium reviews! )

But yeah I'm looking for a cheap copy right now.

All comments and constructive criticism are more than welcome. This time next year I should be able to write a nigh on perfect mini review after refining my style and process. Had a look at some of the official normal reviews and they look so professional I'm not sure I'd be willing to tackle something so daunting.

kinmad4it wrote:All comments and constructive criticism are more than welcome. This time next year I should be able to write a nigh on perfect mini review after refining my style and process. Had a look at some of the official normal reviews and they look so professional I'm not sure I'd be willing to tackle something so daunting.

I was able to do some good reviews (I hope). And I failed English the first time, so anyone can do a review. After reading this, I say give it ago.

All good members are always welcome to have a bash at full or mini reviews

Put your efforts in the mini review or UNofficial section

If your review is good enough then we will promote it to the full official section

Your mini thing for ut3 is good matey and it does show you could bash out a full one easily

I have no issues with minis being a bit longer here and there but the trick is just to belt out 1 liners for each section
If you want to elaborate then by all means chuck a fuller length effort into the UNofficial full review section


top stuff

i got this on release yonks ago, the facing worlds map with sniper rifle is awesome fun, as the sniper is incredibly accurate and easy o kill with. but the online play was just too mental. outrageously fast paced and massive explosions all round you every second

does it play a lot like gears?

i always liked the look of this game so may have a look for a cheap one

Gears? Not really mate. It's graphically similar but that's because Gears uses the Unreal engine.
Gears is about taking cover, being stragetic and picking your shots carefully.
Unreal is played at lightning speed and doesn't use any cover and there's not what I'd call any real type of stragety involved.
This is what most FPS's took their inspiration from, it's basic no frills kill or be killed.
I've heard it called the perfect example of a "twitch" shooter and that seems a pretty good description. You never have time to think, you just react and rely on lightning fast reflexes and a lot of pure blind luck in my case.

sounds pretty good may well look at this one as this is gonna be cheap this one

will keep looking round for it but i dnt see it many places that always have this in stock