Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3

The Unreal Tournament name, like Quake, has long been synonymous with run and gun shooters. The series has traditionally been at home on the PC too, so console gamers might not quite understand the distinction between a standard First Person Shooter and a Run and Gunner. Despite what you might think from any fierce and frantic battles you’ve found yourself in during a Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4 multiplayer session, these titles are fairly slow, methodical games. By contrast Unreal Tournament is all about breakneck speeds, precision-designed environments that you run through at full pelt while lining up headshots with split-second accuracy. Stand still to get your bearings in this game and you’ll be face down in a pool of red pixels before you know what’s hit you.

Unreal Tournament 3 is latest game in that lineage; a title that debuted onto high-end PCs at the end of last year and that has been transported now, fully intact, onto the PlayStation 3. Running as it does on the Unreal Engine, the game bears more than a passing resemblance to Epic’s previous Xbox 360 shooter, Gears of War (the lead character in particular is an obvious cousin to Marcus Fenix). As a result the environments share the same fuzzy, washed out look that defined the earlier game, while also exhibiting similar levels of attention to detail.

If you’re new to Unreal Tournament then it’s best to make clear that this is a multiplayer game through and through. The single player ‘campaign’ is essentially a series of Deathmatch levels, slotted into a nonsense story that acts as a training ground for the online portion of the game. There you’ll be able to play against up to 15 other gamers (you can also use bots if you want some practice first) across several modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, one-on-one Deathmatch (duel), Capture the Flag and Warfare mode, in which two teams compete to destroy each other's power core.

In game you essentially rush around the environment as fast as you can, stocking up on respawning guns and ammo, picking up health and armour, while hunting your opponents before they hunt you. There’s a double jump move, a primary and secondary fire button and a weapon select button and that’s essentially all there is to it.

There’s little to no slowdown and online games are generally lag-free. PC gamers wanting to make the transition to the console can use a mouse and keyboard but, for everyone else, the six-axis controller is surprisingly robust. Of course, while the game sounds very simple, its complexity and deep enjoyment is found in the way it plays and, for gamers with fast reaction times and a steady aim, this is one of the most exhilarating (if a little straightforward) rides on PS3 thus far.

3 out of 5