Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) is a first-person shooter and online multiplayer video game by Epic Games and is the next installment of the Unreal series after Unreal Tournament 2004. It is published by Midway Games and was released for Windows on November 19, 2007. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on December 10, 2007,[5] and will be released for Xbox 360 in May 2008 and Mac OS X sometime in 2008.The Linux installer is planned to be released later as a downloadable installer that works with the Windows disc.
Unreal Tournament 3 is actually the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series and the eighth Unreal game, but it has been numbered in terms of the engine it runs on. The original Unreal Tournament uses the original Unreal Engine, while UT2003 and UT2004 use the Unreal Engine 2, and 2004 incorporates all of the content from 2003; therefore they are considered as the same generation. UT3 is subsequently part of the third generation, because it runs on the Unreal Engine 3, and does not reuse any content.
Similar to the previous entries of the series, the game is primarily an online multiplayer title offering several game modes, including large-scale Warfare, Capture-the-Flag, and Deathmatch. It will also include an extensive offline single-player game with an in-depth story, advancing from the simple tournament ladder to such concepts as team members with their own individual personalities. The following game modes are included:
- Deathmatch
- Team Deathmatch
- Capture the flag
- Duel: A one versus one gametype. It uses a queueing system, the winner stays, and the loser goes back to the end of the queue. A typical match last five minutes with an unlimited amount of rounds.
- Warfare (formerly known as Conquest): An amalgamation of Onslaught and Assault. While basic game rules are equal to those of Onslaught, Warfare adds unlinked nodes which can always be captured (supplying the capturing team with vehicles and a spawnpoint) and countdown nodes (which, after being captured and defended for a certain period of time, create a vehicle or trigger an event helpful to the capturing team) as well as the orb, which can be used to instantly capture and defend nodes.
- Vehicle Capture the Flag: Capture the Flag, with vehicles as part of the map; this exists as a separate game type to Capture the Flag, above.
Modes not returning from the previous Unreal Tournament games include Invasion, Mutant, Onslaught, Bombing Run, Last Man Standing, Domination, Double Domination, and Assault; Assault was removed from the game during production.[7] Due to the game’s customizable nature these game modes could be recreated by users of the game. Although the game designers claimed that the new Warfare mode would allow maps to be created that play like classic Assault or Onslaught, the reality is that only Onslaught maps can be created, as there is no simple way to implement the timed rounds and Attacker/Defender teams that were the major features of classic Assault.
Plot
The plot of the single player campaign revolves around Reaper and his crew who are hired as mercenaries by Malcolm. The campaign is divided into five chapters, with the first four consisting of various military tasks given by him. In the final chapter, Reaper and his group set out on a quest for vengeance against the Necris on their homeworld. During the first four chapters, there are multiple times when the player can choose between two different missions, while the last chapter is strictly linear. At the end of the campaign, after defeating the Necris leader, Reaper is surrounded by Necris troops and has his dying sister thrown in front of him. He realizes that Malcolm was the only one that knew about his quest of vengeance and thus must have betrayed him (as shown in an earlier cut scene). He vows to make Malcolm his next target and charges at the troops with rocket launcher in hand.
Weapons
The weapon arsenal in UT3 is largely similar to that of UT2004. Returning weapons include the AVRiL (which can also guide deployed spider mines with its secondary fire mode), Bio Rifle (shoots out blobs of bio-mass), Flak Cannon, Link Gun, Rocket Launcher (which has Unreal’s grenade), Shock Rifle, Sniper Rifle, and the Redeemer (The Target Painter was planned on being in the game but was evidently cut). The Enforcer (which can be dual-wielded) and the Impact Hammer based on the original UT, respectively replace the Assault Rifle and the Shield Gun from UT 2003 and 2004. The Enforcer fires either a single semi-automatic shot or three round bursts. The Impact Hammer features an EMP blast alternate fire to knock powerups (such as Beserk, UDamage) out of enemies. Returning from Unreal and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is the Tarydium Stinger, which replaces the Minigun. The Stinger’s primary fires hitscan-speed rounds; the secondary fire mode is stronger, has a slower rate of fire and isn’t hitscan, but can nail an opponent to a wall if it’s the killing blow.
Killing awards have been expanded from just three as seen in UT2004, to nearly all weapons. Accumulating fifteen kills with a particular weapon or fire mode prompts the announcer to award the player with a specific title. The awards are: JackHammer, Gun Slinger, Bio Hazard, Combo King, Shaft Master, Blue Streak, Flak Master, Rocket Scientist, Head Hunter and Big Game Hunter.
Teams
Unlike the previous Unreal Tournament games, the single player campaign does not follow a plot based around the Tournament Grand Championship, and therefore several of the teams within Unreal Tournament III are not Tournament competitors:
- Necris, appearing in several previous titles, the Necris are a species of nanotechnologically modified humans who were originally designed by the Phayder Corporation to function as ultra-high performance Black Ops forces for hire from Phayder. White-skinned, gothic-looking and with advanced nanotechnology-based equipment designed by Phayder, they are the antagonists of UT3. The Necris Championship team are known as “Black Legion,” though there is no indication that the Necris featured in this game are the same group.
- “The Corrupt“, though not specifically identified by this name within UT3, are a team of artificially intelligent cybernetic beings, maintained and financed by the mysterious Liandri Mining Corporation (originators of the Tournaments) whose domination of the robotics markets is unchallenged. They were originally lead by Xan Kriegor, the first Tournament Grand Champion until his defeat by Malcolm and his team Thundercrash. The Corrupt are now lead by newcomer Matrix, a Liandri executive who upgraded at the request of his superiors.
- Iron Guard, an ancient Tournament team of hardened mercenaries and ex-military, led by long-time Tourney veteran Lauren. Iron Guard have been hired by the Axon Corporation.
- Iron Skull, a reptillian species called the Krall, they served as expendable slave warriors in the Skaarj empire before its contact with the human empire under the New Earth Government. Many Krall prisoners of war entered the empire during the Human/Skaarj War, some entering the Tournaments. The Necris chose to make use of this resource, purchasing the Iron Skull clan and putting them into service as shock troops.
- Ronin, a team protected by red armour, with yellow glowing LEDs and henna tattoos; they were a clan of warriors whose duty was to defend the Twin Souls mining colony – after Twin Souls was destroyed by the Necris, they fled to Earth and now represent Izanagi Corporation, who sponsor them as mercenaries and Tournament combatants. They were given their name by the Izanagi.
- Thundercrash, although this team was not initially in the game itself, Malcolm now appears on the UT3 website, hinting that this team may return to the franchise.
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