Customer Reviews
Going In The Right Direction.. Slowly..
Before I start I'm going to
admit that this game is very fun and very intense. No doubt that it
contains way more action than it's predecessors. The only problem is..
it's not finished. And what I mean by that is that this game needs some
serious patching updates before I'd even consider it a full fledged
product release. Some players have embraced it's flaws with hopes of
fixes (like myself), but some people need to understand what they're
getting in to before they get disappointed.
When Epic released
the UT3 demo back in October it was released with GREAT anticipation.
FINALLY a glimpse at an Unreal game that contained lifelike characters
with bigger and badder action like never before. Created with the Unreal
Engine 3, the characters and environments alike are definitely sweet
eye candy.. which leads me to believe that the last several years this
game has been in development have been merely to make it look good. The
Beta contained a LOT of bugs, which is normal considering its a "Beta
Demo," but when it was announced that UT3 had gone gold in a matter of
weeks many had their doubts that the bugs that plagued the Beta Demo
would be fixed in the retail version. Many of the bugs had remained. One
such bug has the players viewpoint very close to the ground. It's like
playing UT3 with little people instead of the proper height of the
character models.
Much of what made UT2k4 and UT99 so great have
been stripped from UT3. If you're a fan of the movement styles of 2k4
then you'll be greatly disappointed as the jump dodge has been removed.
Jumping in itself is bad enough because some obsticles just aren't low
enough for the character to jump over even with double jump. Fans of
both eras will notice that the colors are washed with 100 types of gray
and brown. The absense of bright colors (on players and environments)
tend to make the game depressing and grundgey. Only a few levels even
contain color and even so they're just lights. The game is also drowns
in bloom and distance fog. Sure, the bloom and fog give the game more
realism, but they also hinder sight when playing the game. At one point a
players screen can get so bright (due to power ups coloring the screen)
that it makes it even more difficult to see anything.
The User
Interface (menu system) is very consolized and not PC friendly. Because
the game is coming out for the PS3 and 360, Epic decided to give PC
users a very consolized looking menu. Many areas do not have tabs or
drop down menus for easy navigation. You find yourself going menu after
menu then going back to a previous menu only to go forward again. It's a
real hassle. Deep customization is gone from this game. PC users cannot
control many of the graphic settings they could control in previous
Unreal Tournament games. It's either all or nothing by sliding "World
Detials" and "Texture Details" 1 through 5 with 5 being the max detail
settings. If you REALLY want Unreal Tournament 3 to be truly customized
you would have to go into the game's .ini files and edit the code by
hand. And even when you do so, your game still needs to connect to the
internet where Epic and/or Gamespy have servers that SAVE your .ini
files. Yes, Epic and/or Gamespy have servers that store your game's .ini
files on their servers. The mothership does call. Sometimes your
changes stick and sometimes they don't.
Epic chose Gamespy, much
to the "delite" (sarcasm) of UT players everywhere, as their choice of
software for finding game browsers online. The browser in both the beta
and retail have not changed. You MUST create an online profile for
yourself in order to play online. Sometimes, when you want to play
offline, the game still asks you to connect to the internet. It's very
annoying. One problem is that when browsing for specific games (like
having the option to not show empty servers or full servers), you
finalize your decision and then when the game list shows up.. it didn't
even filter out what you're looking for. So you have to go back, redo
everything and try again. There are no favorites tab, you cannot see
who's playing on any of the servers, and you cannot spectate any server.
The
single player campaign in itself is a fun addition to those who just
want to play offline. There is a story that goes along with many many
battles. You play all the gametypes (except duel) with your team
(Ronin). The bot AI on the enemy team is very good... but I can't say
the same about any bot AI on your own team. You'll have to experience
that one for yourself.
Warfare is a fun addition to the game
along with the other classic gametypes. It's one big game of capture the
flag mixed with Onslaught (a gametype from UT2k4) with a ball. My only
gripe is that Warfare has a LOT of maps, while gametypes like CTF and
vCTF (Vehicle Capture the Flag) have a handful. A small handful.
Character
customization is not as deep as it could have been and there aren't as
many characters to choose from. You have to play through single player
mode to unlock new characters such as the Necris.
There are many
problems that plague this "final" release of the game that are currently
being fixed in beta patches that are being privately tested as I write
this. What's disappointing is that the game should have been finished
when it was released, not patched heavily within a short time. If you're
that picky about it then maybe you should wait for an official patch.
Nonetheless,
if you can look beyond the flaws and want a game where you can run and
gun, blow things up with vehicles and lay some smack down to your friend
across the country.. then this game is for you.
THE ABSOLUTE GAME OF THE YEAR!!!
Games that are as long
awaited as UT3 always bear the inherent danger of becoming over-hyped
and to inevitably disappoint in the end. Well, this is NOT the case with
this game. UT3 ROCKS!
Graphically you have not seen anything
that beautiful this year! Surfaces, shadows and explosions are just
GORGEOUS! Yes, I liked the graphics even more than those in CRYSIS (and I
gave CRYSIS a raving review - check it out if you like): they are
crisper and even more atmospheric.
Fans of the UT-series will
meet again all our old ...friends: the Bio Rifle, the Link Gun, the
Shock Rifle, the Flak Cannon (my favorite!), the Rocket Launcher and the
Sniper Rifle. New additions are the Enforcer (to replace the under-used
Assault rifle) and the Impact Hammer (replacing the shield gun). An
interesting twist: hitting an enhanced target with the Impact Hammer's
alternative fire will drop his power-up for you to grab!
SuperWeapons
are also at our disposal, both the Redeamer and the new Target Painter.
The
number of available vehicles has been enriched as well. Besides the
Axon vehicles from UT2004 (which have been renovated), a new Necris set
is available: vehicles that demonstrate novel behaviors, yet are
beautifully balanced with the Axon set.
What is really impressive
once more are the environments. You have to see them to believe
them...! And the skies...! I have not seen more breathtaking skies ever
since, well, the original UNREAL.
Since this is a pretty
demanding game, once the rockets start flying do not trust that by
meeting the Minimum requirements you will be cruising. So, here are the
official RECOMMENDED requirements:
· Pentium 2.4GHz Dual-Core (or AMD
equivalent)
· 1GB of RAM
· nVIDIA 7800GTX (or ATI x1300
equivalent)
· 8 GB of HDD space
· WinXp (SP2) or WinVISTA
CRYSIS
is surely getting a run for its money for GAME OF THE YEAR!
I
cannot imagine anyone not enjoying this...
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Are you kidding me? UT3 is mediocrity incarnate...
Okay, so to begin, I'm as
die-hard of an Unreal fan as it gets -- ever since my introduction to
the game at the tender age of 10, I've been quite the Unreal
afficionado. I eagerly anticipated the releases of UT2K3 (which wasn't
amazing, but I certainly enjoyed it) and UT2K4 (best game of 2004). So
naturally, I awaited UT3's release in wide-eyed awe as the days counted
down to the release of the game. Come early November, I was in total
dismay at the product that Epic attempted to pass off at Unreal
Tournament 3.
At first, the game had horrendously demanding
system requirements. My machine was getting pretty old (a Pentium D 925
and a GeForce 7800GS) so it was high time to upgrade. After upgrading to
a Core 2 Quad and GeForce 8800GT, my performance issues were solved,
but I was left wondering, "why does this game require so much processing
power"? Where were the real time shadowing on every piece of geometry
as was promised in the original UE3 demos? Where were the dynamic
lighting, destructable environments, and ground-breaking physics? The
extent of the game's graphical splendor lies solely in that it has neat
"blurring" effects when under water/slime. Other than that, DOOM 3 and
Half Life 2 are quite honestly not much worse looking than this game--
and they ran flawlessly on my old computer. Meh, so graphics I'd rate,
perhaps, a 8/10. However, graphics hardly account for what I think of a
game -- I still have a BLAST with the original DOOM, which has total
crap for visuals by today's standards.
The story that is provided
is really, REALLY, cheesy. Okay, so apparently some clan is at war with
a team of undead aptly called the "Necris". Funny thing is about this
war is that, uh, nobody actually dies! What the hell kind of battle
field is it where your dead soldiers are saved by respawners? Epic
should have stuck with the whole sports/competition theme that was
prevalent in the earlier installations of Unreal Tournament -- at least
that was somewhat believable. Meh, UT isn't about the single player game
anyway, but the SP game here certainly wasn't as nicely done as that
found in UT and UT2004.
So, the multiplayer gameplay is what this
game's all about, and it's here that UT3 shows its shortcomings
relative to the older titles. UT and UT2004 both had a plethora of game
modes, and there were many high quality, brilliant maps for your gaming
pleasure -- UT3 is not so. Its maps are generic, to say the least, and
there just aren't that many of them. Furthermore, the only game modes
available in UT3 are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag,
Vehicle Capture the Flag, and Warfare. This is in stark contrast to
UT2004's plethora of modes, including assault, onslaught, invasion,
bombing run, CTF, deathmatch, team deathmatch, mutant, etc. The previous
game just was so much MORE of a game. It had more maps, more modes, and
it was just better. UT3 looks, aesthetically, better than its
predecessor, but who the hell plays a game for only looks?
So,
I'd say steer clear of this atrocity unless you're really itching to
have a complete collection of Unreal games. But, quite honestly, the
Unreal Anthology -- with UT, UT2004, Unreal, and Unreal 2 -- is only
$[...] on amazon and is much better. Hell, the anthology would be more
of a value even at the price of UT3.
So, if you already have
UT2004, don't buy this. If you don't have UT2004, don't buy this and get
the Anthology with the groundbreaking UT and the amazing UT2004. Stay
away from this trash until it his $[...] in the bargain bin.
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