Unreal Tournament III

Format PlayStation 3

Developer Epic Games

Publisher Midway

Genre First Person Shooter

13 Comments

When our straining ears picked up the first whispered rumours emanating from Epic that Unreal Tournament 3 was coming to PS3, we couldn't sleep at the prospect of getting our mitts on the game. And that's exactly what we did on a recent visit to Epic's North Carolina offices, where lead designer Steve Polge and producer Jeff Morris unveiled the nearly completed version of what could be one of the most thrilling PS3 titles of the year.

Sitting in a stark demo room, our faces illuminated by the cornea-burning glare from a humungous wall-mounted flatscreen, we watched as Polge and Morris pummelled each other in a frenetic firefight set in a stunning alien world. Powered by Unreal Engine 3, the visual detail was simply awe-inspiring; a cauldron of carnage so good looking it had our eyes watering in disbelief.

PLOT OF GOLD
While the visuals speak boldly for themselves, Polge and Morris are keen to extol the virtues of the game's other features, most notably its story-driven single-player campaign and how it will complement the pick-up-and-play multiplayer action that the series has become so renowned for.

In this solo campaign you'll play as a mercenary hell-bent on revenge against an evil alien warlord responsible for the death of your family and clan. "In the Unreal universe there are several great corporations that control space outside of earth," states Polge. "You're fighting for the Izanagi Corporation on the planet Taryd, a human faction that spends much of its time stealing hardware from its rivals in order to fuel its war effort."

The Liandri (robot manufacturing specialists) and the Axon (military experts) will provide the cannon fodder for early missions, though Polge reveals that it won't be long before you're clashing with an alien warrior race called the Necris. He even lets slip that you'll be heading to their home planet before the end credits roll, no doubt to exact revenge for the death of your loved ones before taking snaps of the indigenous wildlife and heading back home with a suitcase full of tacky souvenirs.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS
Unreal 3's single-player campaign breaks with the linear mission convention that's typical of shooters, offering instead a choice of missions. "You'll be able to make decisions about which mission to do next," explains Morris. "You may decide to stem a Necris assault or try to opportunistically help your corporation gather territory instead. There'll be a detailed strategic global map, which will have branching choices as the campaign progresses."

Time for us to get bloody. Clutching our controllers, we found ourselves in a giant space station, replete with indoor sections and outdoor low-gravity areas. Moving from one location to the next proved seamless as we hopped past fizzing bullets and strafed our AI opponents - each of which displayed a frighteningly lifelike level of intelligence - with an array of versatile weaponry.

"Our AI is trying to simulate a 14-year-old kid who's trying to exploit you on their high school LAN, explains Morris as a bot sent our character's head spinning with a precision sniper shot. "We've got some challenging bots both for the newcomer and for veterans of multiplayer games."

Many of the game's weapons had two, sometimes three, modes of fire. Ranging from a basic Assault Rifle to a devastating Flak Cannon, Rocket launcher and Link Gun (which could both heal and destroy), we rampaged through the level collecting upgrades - that beefed up our speed, armour and the amount of damage we dished out - as we duelled. And then there's the vehicles.

Firing up a sprawling level dotted with grandiose alien buildings and undulating terrain, we're invited to sample the game's exhaustive collection of vehicles. We didn't need to be asked twice.

I'LL DRIVE
One of the most innovative additions from previous Unreal games was the inclusion of a Hoverboard with which you'll be able to quickly traverse large distances if other vehicles are in short supply. After a shaky start we were soon slaloming through the legs of a hulking Necris Darkwalker (a massive tripod with blistering cannons and a concussion gun fixed onto its underside), before jumping into a nearby Goliath tank and turning the lanky alien machine into scrap metal. Then we turned our attention to a line of approaching foot soldiers and used the Goliath's secondary fire mode - artillery - to take them out of action.

"Many of our vehicles will have multiple stations, which need to work together," states Morris. "We also wanted to add functionality to the vehicles to make them more flexible. For example, the Scorpion is a dune buggy that has a turbo function on it, which allows it to jump over gaps. It also has a kamikaze mode, which can take out other vehicles. You can bail out of it at the last minute before it crashes."

Another vehicle that we took for a spin was the hulking Leviathan, which sported a staggering five turrets (each with their own personal shield) and a gargantuan deployable gun that obliterated anything in its path. This slow-moving monster was terrifying to behold, sending massive dust clouds into the air like warning signals to anyone foolhardy enough to stand in its way.

As a collection of enemy Dark Walkers approached our position, their armour plating started to burn and spark from our incessant barrages. "As a vehicle gets hit you'll see the fender buckling and burn damage," enthuses Polge. "Pieces of the vehicle will fly off. However, the damage doesn't affect a vehicle's behaviour, because we want to keep the vehicular combat as fun as possible."

Other war machines we tested included the Paladin - a perfect tool for advanced infantry incursions that acted as a deployable shielded turret with which we could lay down suppressing fire - and the Viper hoverbike, which was both lightning fast and allowed us to bounce shots around corners.

Then there was the Cicada, a nippy hovership that handled like a Porsche on rails and locked onto targets even after we'd passed them. With that, our day of fragging fun came to a close.

Having sampled the game first-hand, it's clear Unreal 3 is shaping up to be something special. While the franchise's absence from our machines may have been a protracted one, the series is looking like it's going to be returning to PlayStation better, slicker and more frantic than ever.

With its stunning arsenal of weapons, countless vehicles, incredible multiplayer action and compelling single-player campaign, Unreal Tournament 3 has the potential to be one of the most complete FPS packages ever And in just a few months' time, you'll be able play it for yourselves.

Martin Korda