Unreal Tournament 3 Preview

Ever since being one the first games announced to take advantage of Epic’s great looking Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Tournament 2007 has been one of the most highly anticipated PC titles for a while. Midway showcased the game at a recent press event in Las Vegas, and it looks like those who’ve been looking forward to this game will have some restitution for their patience. Renamed Unreal Tournament 3, the game is another gorgeous take on the tried-and-true UT formula, and offers some compelling gameplay elements to make it a worthy entry to the successful franchise.

The preview build that Midway showcased presented the game’s multiplayer CTF mode as well as many new vehicles. There were hoverbikes and tanks, as well as a bulking mech that resembled the tripods from War of the Worlds that you could pilot around. While these vehicles obviously offered a boost in firepower, their large presence and somewhat limited movement would give them a slight disadvantage on the battlefield.

The action was fast and intense, what you’d expect from the UT series, and the weapons featured many familiar favorites, like Shock Rifles, Flak Cannons and Bio Rifles. Switching from vehicles to on-foot was seamless and did not detract from the pace of the game.

In order to navigate through the playing field quickly, you can press Q to go around on a hoverboard. Unfortunately, when you’re doing this, you are unable to attack, making you an easy target for a crackshot enemy.

Of course, the main addition to the game is the fantastic graphics. Boasting the Unreal Engine 3 in fine fashion, UT3 has all the trappings, from realistic player models rife with details and environments with tons of great effects, from lighting to advanced textures. The build was also running very stably, but bear in mind you will need an absolute beast of a computer to get it to run properly.

Unreal Tournament 3 is coming along quite nicely and will offer up more intense action for fans of online shootouts. Keep an eye out for it Q2 2007.