Unreal Tournament 3 - hit or miss?

[Fresh Daemon]

I searched but did not find a thread on the full game...

So, anyone bought it yet? What are your thoughts?

After reading the Ars Technica review of it today, I went out and bought it after work. I like it. My impressions after a few hours of play:

1) Deathmatch is strongly reminiscent of old-school Quake-esque gaming. Fast running, fast weapon switching, crazy free-for-all. Now, this is my kind of game (shameless twitch gamer) and this is the best contender for that since Quake III and maybe before, as I'm probably looking back at Q3 through rose-tinted goggles.

2) I was skeptical about the hoverboards but they work. It makes the vehicle maps better as you have a way to get around a huge map if other players drive off in all the vehicles without filling crew positions, or if you lose your vehicle miles from anywhere.

3) Game feels polished. The interface shows the console influence strongly which is a good thing IMHO, it's slick. There also aren't reams and reams of fine-tuning graphics settings. I'm sure you can get at them using the console though, I just haven't looked into it.

4) Haven't found a way to add favorite servers yet. Maybe it's there but it's not obvious. In fact, the server browser is a little primitive compared to others on the PC. Probably the console influence again. I'm sure it could be fixed with a patch.

5) The maps I've played (not a lot by any means) are balanced and look great.


I'm just curious what everyone else makes of the game, as it has downplayed the team-based play in favor of DM, which goes against the grain in the modern CS:S/BF2/COD4 world. A friend of mine who loves COD4 hates UT3, for instance.

[afireinside]

no one plays it
UI sucks
warfare SUCKS
no one plays it
guns are a mess
dozens of other little problems that piss off UT fans
did I mention no one plays it?

[Fresh Daemon]

Oh, and this (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/12/19) was absolutely right.

[Truckchase!]

I feel like they wasted a TON of time on useless stuff on this release. The vehicles are horrible and no fun at all, and therefore the vehicle CTF and Warfare modes are lame. The maps are polished, but not very functionally structured. Too many protruding doorways and such, and usually the theming is too cheezy for this type of game. They needed at least one new weapon. The hoverboards are lame; I'm trying to play a competitive dm game, not Tony Hawk. The human player models are, again, just silly. WHY give anyone that much muscle tissue? It really looks just dumb in my opinion.

And worst of all; the "story". Just think of how many man-hours were wasted on that pathetic excuse for a motive to shoot guys in the face.

[Special_K]

hehe, not sure what version of UT3 you have in Canada, but it doesn't seem to be the same version we get over here in sunny Britland - Oldskool? Fast weapon switching? Polished? Not words usually associated with UT3 in its present state =/

K loves the Unreal franchise, and has played it from the beginning and in each and every new release, but there comes a time when even the most hardcore fan has to face up to reality. EPIC have gone down the business route (quite rightly for a business) and are looking towards consoles, and the PC game is suffering because of it.

/end politics

As for your points:-

Using a hoverboard usually means instant death - you can be knocked to the ground by anything (even the Enforcer) and then while you are flailing around trying to get up for 1-2 seconds you are easily picked off.

You are part of a small minority who like the console GUI, but it one thing it certainly is not, is slick - compared to earlier versions of Unreal, it is painfully slow to get anywhere, and even worse if you want to change anything while ingame.

As you say, the server browser is primitive - how any company can release a game with a browser this bad is criminal. In answer to your question about favourites (sorry, favorites), you have to right click the server from your HISTORY (when that can be bothered to work).

Again, as you say, there are not many maps. Even fewer competitive maps. And as already been said before when Epic released UT2003 and UT2004, graphics does not make gameplay.

Now factor in the abhorrent lack of cheat protection, malfunctioning clientside demo recording, and some strange reworking of proven game rules (ie, 0% friendly fire, no weapon throw in TDM (without mutators), or no weapon throw in CTF), its no wonder the community and tournament organisers are looking elsewhere for online games =[

It pains K to say it, but by the time EPIC pull their finger out and fix the game (which looks increasingly unlikely because EPIC have made it clear they are not changing much gameplay wise), the community will have diminished even further =[

[Lev]

the people who constantly bash ut3 probably tried it and suck at it, i dont really see that much wrong wiht the game, i joined a clan and now have servers to play on with low ping 24/7.

gameplay is amazing, the only thing i will complain about is aa being only avaliable to vista users, but even then you can force it w/ enhancer

[Fresh Daemon]

The vehicles are horrible and no fun at all, and therefore the vehicle CTF and Warfare modes are lame.

I can't comment yet, I haven't tried the vehicle maps. They don't particularly interest me, I've never liked vehicles in any online FPS - Tribes, BF2, any previous Unreal - I'm a ground-pounder, and I'm just playing the modes on UT3 that scratch my Quake 3 itch.

The human player models are, again, just silly. WHY give anyone that much muscle tissue?

We live in the Vin Diesel world. It's not just UT3, it's movies, games, music videos - I think the "ideal" male physique as portrayed in the media has become even more far from norm than the female. That's another thread though.

And worst of all; the "story".

I KNOW! What a waste of time.

EPIC have gone down the business route (quite rightly for a business) and are looking towards consoles, and the PC game is suffering because of it.

For better or worse, there's a lot more coming. Consoles are just bigger, there are more console members and console gaming is an industry many times the size of PC gaming in terms of sales. Financially successful developers have to develop for consoles. Even Civ is on Xbox now. There'll be a lot more console -> PC ports in future.

Using a hoverboard usually means instant death - you can be knocked to the ground by anything (even the Enforcer) and then while you are flailing around trying to get up for 1-2 seconds you are easily picked off.

I wouldn't use one in or near combat, just when you're far away from the action and need to get back.

You are part of a small minority who like the console GUI, but it one thing it certainly is not, is slick - compared to earlier versions of Unreal, it is painfully slow to get anywhere, and even worse if you want to change anything while ingame.

I haven't found this - it seems responsive. It's certainly better than a lot of other console-port interfaces (Oblivion) and better than some native PC ones (BF2).

Again, as you say, there are not many maps. Even fewer competitive maps. And as already been said before when Epic released UT2003 and UT2004, graphics does not make gameplay.

Apparently it is very open to mods though. And unlike the PS3 we don't have the issues of making/copying them. I hope you're proven wrong about the community dying because then we might get some fantastic mods. Counterstrike started as a mod.

[Truckchase!]

the people who constantly bash ut3 probably tried it and suck at it

I'm decent at it. I played competitively back in my "hey I don't have a mortgage!" days, so I like to think that I know my way around a battlefield. I just don't think this one is up to the bar set by the rest of the franchise. They spent way to much time on non-core-gameplay related issues, and ignored what made this series great to begin with; innovation. As an example, no new weapons as I stated earlier. I mean, cmon... not a single new weapon. Not one.

That being said, I'm sure if they had "too much" innovation, a ton of people would complain because it was too different. Personally, however, I like to see a game fail trying rather than trying to fail for lack thereof.

I think that gameplay is what makes a game; graphics and fluff are, while also important, secondary. If the gameplay was done right in a previous game, and you don't change it, all you can really do is break it in newer revisions with other changed aspects. This is how Quake 2 felt to Quake 1 for me, and that even changed up the gameplay a bit and added a new weapon! (different debate, I know)

All I'm saying is that they tried too hard here... at the wrong things.

[RPGWiZaRD]

I like warfare, played it a lot. Been rank #2 at best, currently 4th, tells a bit how much I play/like it. Compared to UT2004 it's good, nothing to complain really, it's different but I like it, especially the hoverboard and grapple to vehicles addon which adds a lot to the game. GUI is too simple and featureless but hey that's things I don't care much about as long as gameplay is good.

I just wish for more maps and the bugs that wasn't fixed until launch would be fixed and it would be really great. In Warfare you need to know what and when to do what and go where and go which route etc. and no matter how good you're alone it won't work if the other teammates sucks. It has great team play capabilities. What it would really need are 2 features though; teambalancer and able to put a required rank to be able to join the server as it's boring to play with newbies.

I wouldn't call it a "miss", but too rushed out game before it was completely finished but hey that's something that seems to get more and more common these days...

I don't know what's wrong with vehicles though, I like em, more than the previous UT games so far.

[Scubar]

Pretty much the same as UT2k4 with a couple of graphics updates, to sum it up its crap.

[conzymaher]

UT2k4 is so much better, the movement is so much faster and fluid...

So many of the UT3 weapons have been broken... The Flak cannon has a stupid delay, the shock rifle is is borked, the rocket launcher is stupidly powerful, stinger is overpower and is about the only weapon you need... The whole online system is broken, gamespy sucks, server browser sucks.....

Everyone back on the UT2k4 bandwagon please! :)

[Lev]

one guy screams: omg its teh same as ut2k4
the other :omg they changed it too much the weponz r bad change bak to ut2k4

jesus christ people
gameplay IS very different in ut3 then in ut2k4, its not as fluid because they didnt want it to seem like everyone is floating around, like in 2k4.
the weapons are balanced, if you have enough skill you can kill anyone with any weapon, rockets are not overpowered. you just have to know how to deal /w them

oh and for the people who think that it IS like 2k4, go actually play the game.

ut3 is a great game.

stinger is not overpowered at ALL in dm.

flak cannon is a great weapon for close up and actually ties with rockets, how is the shock rifle "borked" its great for shock combos if you can actually :banana::banana::banana::banana:ing aim. and dont say its overpowered because you can predict it coming and LEAVE, or you can shoot the dam core YOURSELF and not get hit by combo

rocket launcher is not stupidly overpowered, you can run away and long range the person. ut3 is about knowing your weapons and switching when necessary , i think any problems you have with gameplay can be fixed by mutators, such as weapon switch time being too long

the whole online system is broken? LOL it works fine LAST I CHECKED, atleast 10 servers up in any desirable game mode w/ under 60 ping from where i live.

server browser isnt great, that i will give you, but COMON thats no reason to NOT PLAY THE GAME

[fiskov]

Never really played UT competitve or online. I just play minimum 8hours a week, 16 players, sniper rifles only deathmatch.. basically i just use it to crank my aim for CS 1.6.

But this Unreal Tournament 3, honestly 2hours a week of this is almost an impossible task and i don't know why cause imo the sniper rifle is "Perfect" compared to previous Unreal's where headshots where a bit dodgy, UT3's always hit the mark.
Maybe it's just cause its just the same old game with new graphics i dunno, but something makes the game REALLY boring to play.

I find things which don't help this game:
- My main problem, when you played unreal2k4 the characters/you use to be doing all these flips/cartwheels all these weird and wonderful maneuvers making the game seem so much faster, harder and more interesting.
WHERE has this gone?! it's feels SO SLOW/easy now.
-Game play just feels "slow" you put the bots on godlike and it still feels slow.
bots just seem to stand there waiting to die, they bearly dodge?
-The fluid movement seems to have slowed or gone i dunno, you use to be able to just flow with the mouse bang, next person, bang next person... I just don't seem to be able to flow as well in this.
-Oh and of course how could i forget the awful fogging, what the hell is this battlefield 2.
-Game needs glowing models or brightening up, characters are blending with scenery, it's like playing css.

Less important:
-Music seems to play then stops after one cycle? then starts back up again in 5 minutes time then stops again?
-You haven't got the option to customize the music play list.
-The options are awful, 5 graphic options Ummm?
-Wheres my fav character REMUS!
-Maps are pretty bleh.

I've loved the Unreal series since the UT99 days, i use to play deck16 some 3hours a day for months. But something has gone terribly wrong with Unreal Tournament 3, i dunno what that is.. But the games such a step backwards.

It's amazing how you can take a perfect game and ruin it, then again Valve proved this Counter-Strike Source.

[Jimmer411]

Never really played UT competitve or online. I just play minimum 8hours a week, 16 players, sniper rifles only deathmatch.. basically i just use it to crank my aim for CS 1.6.

But this Unreal Tournament 3, honestly 2hours a week of this is almost an impossible task and i don't know why cause imo the sniper rifle is "Perfect" compared to previous Unreal's where headshots where a bit dodgy, UT3's always hit the mark.
Maybe it's just cause its just the same old game with new graphics i dunno, but something makes the game REALLY boring to play.

I find things which don't help this game:
- My main problem, when you played unreal2k4 the characters/you use to be doing all these flips/cartwheels all these weird and wonderful maneuvers making the game seem so much faster, harder and more interesting.
WHERE has this gone?! it's feels SO SLOW/easy now.
-Game play just feels "slow" you put the bots on godlike and it still feels slow.
bots just seem to stand there waiting to die, they bearly dodge?
-The fluid movement seems to have slowed or gone i dunno, you use to be able to just flow with the mouse bang, next person, bang next person... I just don't seem to be able to flow as well in this.
-Oh and of course how could i forget the awful fogging, what the hell is this battlefield 2.
-Game needs glowing models or brightening up, characters are blending with scenery, it's like playing css.

Less important:
-Music seems to play then stops after one cycle? then starts back up again in 5 minutes time then stops again?
-You haven't got the option to customize the music play list.
-The options are awful, 5 graphic options Ummm?
-Wheres my fav character REMUS!
-Maps are pretty bleh.

I've loved the Unreal series since the UT99 days, i use to play deck16 some 3hours a day for months. But something has gone terribly wrong with Unreal Tournament 3, i dunno what that is.. But the games such a step backwards.

It's amazing how you can take a perfect game and ruin it, then again Valve proved this Counter-Strike Source.




I definately missed the wall dodging in this one :( It was one thing that really seperated the good from the great IMO, there were many instances where it saved me, or cost me a kill. Just another variable that made gameplay interesting.

That said, Ive logged countless hours on the demo, and just recently picked up retail for xmas but havent had much time with it yet. Overall I love it, much much better than UT2k3, it reminds me of good ol UT99 :)

Ill add that I hate vehicles tho.... in pretty much all games unless its vehicles only. BF2 ruined any chance of me enjoying vehicles in games anytime in the near future.

[RPGWiZaRD]

Weapons are balanced, I use em all and get kills with whatever I use. I think they are just perfectly balanced except Sniper Rifle which is quite weak and I personally use that weapon only rarely.

UT2k4 is a bunny jumping game, UT3 has different feel, why is it that people are so stubborn to adopt to changes? :)

[xoqolatl]

I personally find UT3 impossible to play if the ping is above 50, while in UT2k4 I could play up to ping 100 without great problems. Somethings gone wrong with networking code.

[kiwi]

With 2k3/2k4 popular maps (rankin, grendel...) and TAM it will have me back :D

[tuned2_bfast]

Unreal Tournament was a good game. Never the less it live up to its hype. The graphics are good and the gameplay is fast-paced.

[RPGWiZaRD]

I personally find UT3 impossible to play if the ping is above 50, while in UT2k4 I could play up to ping 100 without great problems. Somethings gone wrong with networking code.

I play with 130~150 ping (when pressing F6) usually due to playing on USA server, yet I'm ranked #2 atm so I can't agree with you. :p:

I agree Deathmatch it's noticable more difficult to play with such ping as I can feel the slight delay when I shoot but I play mostly warfare and vCTF where not aim but brains are more important.