Epic Games have now released Unreal Tournament III for the Xbox360. The final conversion of the PC hit arrives months after the PLAYSTATION3 version. The reason? XboxLIVE!. Where other developers revel in the opportunity to use Microsoft’s own closed network for their consumer investments, Epic Games have had to overcome issues concerning the availability of user-created Mods online. While there are still currently no announced plans, the title has launched, and with one redeeming factor that may well say a large percentage of it’s audience – a glimpse at exclusive Gears of War 2 footage on disc.

Unreal Tournament III is a First-Person Shooter akin to Halo 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company, with the idea here being simple Deathmatching. Players enter arenas with one of four objectives, split between six gameplay modes. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are the traditional kill-the-most-opponents fare, whilst Capture The Flag and Vehicle CTF charge the player with obtaining the enemies Flag and bringing it back to their own Base, without the enemy doing the same. Warfare provides Maps containing several Bases, each of which a team must capture before moving to the next, eventually reaching the enemy’s Base – this gameplay mode in particular strikes a parallel with the team-based pushes of Frontlines: Fuel of War, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and Battlefield: Bad Company. Finally is Duel, a simple one-on-one Deathmatch.

The Unreal Tournament series has succeeded thus far due to its frenetic gameplay and deviant weapons set, and these are two areas in which Unreal Tournament III does not disappoint. While the game does feel fresh, it also feels not too many miles from the series originator, Unreal Tournament, from way back in 1999. Unreal Tournament III’s weaponry continues the trend of outlandish design with weaponry such as the Flak Cannon, which Primary Function acts similar to a Shotgun – scattering its bullets, but also seeing them ricochet off walls. It’s Secondary Function - which all weapons have available with a squeeze of the L Trigger – is to fire a sparkling orange grenade, which then explodes into shards and scatters upon impact. With more than ten weapons to study, Unreal Tournament III’s tactics don’t flow from its gameplay set-ups as in titles like ShadowRun, but instead in that of which weapon to use in each situation.

The title’s Single-Player Campaign is basic at best. Tasking the player with playing through a series of Multi-Player-based Matches with Artificial Intelligence opponents taking the place of human adversaries, the gameplay mode holds little to entice the player to continue playing, other the a handful of Achievements. Though it may well be superior to ShadowRun’s irrelevant offering, the Single-Player featured in Unreal Tournament III fails to live-up to the standard set by predominantly Multi-Player affairs such as Frontlines: Fuels of War, The Outfit and even Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. The whole of the Single-Player Campaign can be played through in Co-Operative Mode for two players – online, Split-Screen or with a System Link set-up. However, doing causes the loss of some vital information from the on-screen furniture – such as the Radar telling you the location of the objectives.

While much of this may sound like Unreal Tournament III is simply not worth playing, online Multi-Player is where things really heat-up. Allowing Matches for up to sixteen-players – including the fantastic, yet far-too-often overlooked option to bring a Split-Screen friend along with you, as with Xbox360 launch title Perfect Dark Zero – Unreal Tournament III does not suffer from Lag, and the Matchmaking options are simple to understand and quick to get you into a game. Advanced options are available for the player to tailor at will; Mutators offer the player variations on Weapon Respawns and added effects such as Slo-Mo and Speed Freak, which surely need no explanation.

The game contains a large quantity of Maps, five of which are new for the Xbox360 release, though no doubt will eventually make their way to PLAYSTATION3 and PC too. Drastically varied - from small symmetrical arenas when Deathmatching to large, sprawling canyons for Vehicle CTF - Unreal Tournament III easily boasts the largest diversity available at present on the Current-Generation. Traversing the larger areas requires Unreal Tournament III, as is becoming tradition, to feature vehicles. New additions for the latest in the Unreal Tournament series include the Necris race, and their fleet of six new vehicles. While the majority of the vehicles featured in the title are variations of the basic tank, buggy, APC and helicopter ideals, the Necris vehicles offer some interesting alternatives; not least with the Scavenger and it’s terrifying high-speed attacks. The Hoverboard is a novel idea – on Maps which demand it, instant transport is available with a press of the X Button, however, at the cost of being able to shoot, and a single hit can knock you to the floor, vulnerable for vital seconds.

Unreal Tournament III doesn’t perform as well graphically as hoped. Being the flagship title for Epic’s Unreal 3 Engine, it’s disappointing to say that other developers have already outclassed Epic at their own game, so-to-speak. The Character Models are fantastic and the Maps are extremely well detailed, however, there are major issues with graphical glitches and drops of frames in a single animation while the rest of the world continues to move at it’s frantic pace. The sound quality is superb, with classic Action-game Rock tracks in the heat-of-battle and direct automated player communication when in trouble or charging objectives.

Unreal Tournament III first-and-foremost is a fan pleaser. Those having cut their groove on earlier titles will find themselves immediately at home with the no-holds-barred nature of the combat, however those more used to the thoughtful online play involved in the likes of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare may be intimidated by a game in which slowing your stride is likely to result in a bombardment of electric greens and blues, followed by a quick visit to the Respawn Screen. Gears of War fans too may find themselves alarmingly unnerved by the pace of the title, but this in itself shows Epic Games’ ability to diverge as a developer. While it’s certainly not unique, and offers relatively little that hasn’t been seen before, Unreal Tournament III does play a great game online, and acts as a suitable diversion from Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

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