Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3, also known as UT3 (previously codenamed Envy and also formerly named Unreal Tournament 2007, UT2007, or UT2k7) is Epic Games' sequel to Unreal Tournament 2004. Published by Midway Games, UT3 is powered by Epic's new Unreal Engine 3. The game was released in late November 2007 for the PC. The PS3 version has been released in North America but not for the rest of the world so far. The Xbox 360 version is rumored to be coming out sometime around April of 2008.

UT3 Box Art

History

UT3 was revealed to the world in the May 2005 issue of Computer Gaming World magazine. The first news of it began to appear on or around March 27, 2005. The game was originally codenamed UT "Envy", but later, around May 29, 2005, it was revealed that the name had been changed to Unreal Tournament 2007. It was not until January 25, 2007 at the Midway Gamer's Day event in Las Vegas that it was revealed that the game's name had been changed to Unreal Tournament 3. This change was met with great enthusiasm from the Unreal fan base.

Many changes have been made to the originally announced design of the game. For example, a game mode named Conquest that was originally announced was later complemented by Unreal Warfare and then replaced by it altogether. There was also an Onslaught 2.0 announcement which has also been rolled into the all-encompassing Warfare gametype.

Unreal Tournament 3 promises a return to the "feel" of the original Unreal Tournament. Epic aims to make the game more in-your-face, fast-paced, and less "floaty". To accomplish this, gravity has been increased and dodge-jumping has been removed. However, dodging, double jumps, and wall dodging will remain with their effect somewhat diminished due to the newly increased gravity. Gameplay in UT3 stresses close combat more than its predecessors UT2003 and UT2004. Many of the weapons are more effective up close. Epic stresses that the aim of UT3 is to create a whole new - and better - game, rather than merely a prettier UT2004. In addition to this, old favorites from the original UT such as jump boots and the ability to feign death will return in UT3.

Beta Demo

At Midnight on Friday, October 12th, 2007, Fileplanet began preloading the game to its subscribers.

The demo was unlocked and released on FilePlanet at 12:35 PM on Friday, October 12th. The release was apparently several hours earlier than intended, probably in response to a Norwegian site, "IT Avisen", leaking the demo approximately 5 hours earlier than FilePlanet.

The demo, which is Version 3464 according to the startup logs, comes with 3 maps: DM-ShangriLa, DM-HeatRay, and VCTF-Suspense. Of note is that DM-HeatRay was the first taste of the Necris vehicles, specifically, the Darkwalker.

Epic called the release an "Open Beta Demo", and thus it represents just a glimpse of how the game will play. At the release of the demo, Epic promised to fix issues based on user feedback. Many issues that were reported during the beta demo period were fixed or began to be fixed in the first patch.

Final Demo

A final demo is expected to come out within a few months, after a few patches have come out and the majority of the major problems have been fixed. It will probably also contain one or two extra maps.

Release Details

On November 12th, 2007 (a full seven days prior to the NA release), the German version of the game was released to German retailers. In order to comply with German regulations for public game sales, the game has had blood, gibs and headshots removed from the game. Very little else was changed except for the localization to German.

The US retail release came on November 19th, 2007. This, however, was the "ship" date, and thus many stores did not receive physical product until November 20th, 2007. The Canadian release came on November 20, and stores put it on shelves the very next day. The European release came on November 23, 2007.

Reception

Reception to the beta demo was generally positive, with most people agreeing that Epic has "got it right." There is some notable dissension from the crowd who enjoyed UT2003 and UT2004 though, particularly about the removal of dodge-jumping.

Reception to the game on PC has been mostly favorable from the community and reasonably warm from reviewers, with an average score somewhere around 9/10. The major complaints are about the lackluster Single Player mode, which does away with the concept of a Tournament and instead tries to justify the arena-based gametypes by claiming that the matches eliminate enemy respawners. Warfare in particular has received some praise for being a more strategic version of Onslaught.

A notable complaint in both releases was the awkward UI, often said to be too "console-like." Most of the complaints stem from the fact that the majority of game settings are either missing from the UI or do not save. Epic claims that some of its many-tiered menu system will be simplified in the first few patches.

Perhaps the worst complaints came from the server admin community, where the game has seen a more than lackluster release. The Linux dedicated server shipped before the client on 18 December 2007, almost a month after the first release of the game in most countries. Web admin did not ship with the game but is expected to be released in the second patch.

Collectors Edition

On October 26, 2007, a limited collector's edition of the game was announced to be released on PC. This version of the game features an exclusive collector's edition tin and a hardcover art book. A bonus DVD is also included, featuring more than 20 hours of Unreal Engine 3 Toolkit video tutorials, containing anti-WarHawK software (disabling video playback in isolated cases), the history of the Unreal Tournament series, and behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Unreal Tournament 3. The Limited Collector's Edition is being sold in the United States, Europe, South Africa, Australia and most other territories.

Linux

Epic has promised to release a Linux installer for the game in the future that would work with the standard Windows disc.

System Requirements

Minimum System Requirements

Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista, 2.0+ GHZ Single Core Processor, 512 Mbytes of System RAM, NVIDIA 6200+ or ATI Radeon 9600+ Video Card, 8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space

Recommended System Requirements

2.4+ GHZ Dual Core Processor, 1 GBytes of System RAM, NVIDIA 7800GTX+ or ATIx13000+ Video Card, 8 GB of Free Hard Drive Space

Game Content

Engine

Unreal Tournament 3 uses Unreal Engine 3.

Version History

Currently (December 10th 2007) the latest official version of UT3 is Version 1.1, AKA Version 3521.

Note that Version 1.0 of the game does not mention the game version in the menu. As of 1.1 Beta 1, the game version is listed in the upper left corner of the main menu.

Music

Rom Di Prisco and Jesper Kyd composed the UT3 soundtrack. Kevin Riepl also had a major hand in music production for the game.

An official game soundtrack was released November 20, 2007. The 2-CD set comes with 33 tracks which feature a number of remixes from previous Unreal Tournament games. Not every track are present in the soundtrack. The ones found in WAR-Downtown and CTF-Coret are missing.

Gametypes

• Single Player

  A five act storyline takes the place of the old tournament ladder system from previous games. The campaign contains in-engine rendered cutscenes along with the ability to gather "cards" that can be used to gain certain advantages in maps by completing side objectives. Online four player co-op is available for the campaign.

• Deathmatch
• Team Deathmatch
• Capture the Flag
• Vehicle Capture the Flag
• Warfare
• Duel

Weapons

• Hoverboard

  Pressing the translocator button will cause the player to hop on a hovering skate-board like device that is used mainly for transportation and is present only in Warfare and vehicle-based Capture the Flag maps. The flag or orb may be carried on the Hoverboard, but any amount of damage, even one point, will send the player tumbling (this includes falling damage). A player who falls off will be prone for a moment before being able to get up, which could naturally be fatal if there's opposition in the area.

• Deployables

  Strategy-themed devices including a Stasis Field, Energy Shield, Spidermine Trap, EMP, and Shaped Charge. All are dropped by the Necris Nightshade vehicle except the Shaped Charge, which is carried by hand.

• Translocator

  This Unreal series favorite returns to the Capture the Flag gametype, except for maps that contain vehicles, in which the hoverboard becomes the secondary method of transportation. There are more charges than UT2004 (7 compared to 6) and they refill faster. (About one per second.) Also, the disc has a flatter trajectory than UT2004 and it fires farther than UT, but not quite as far at UT2004.

• Impact Hammer

  This favorite from Unreal Tournament makes a comeback with an EMP alt-fire that disables vehicles and removes powerups from other players. One of the newer effects of the Impact Hammer is that if you get several kills with it, blood and gore smear over the hammer - eventually making it more red than orange.

• Enforcer

  Your starting weapon, the Enforcer is a pistol with rapid fire. Secondary fire shoots a less accurate triple burst. You spawn with one enforcer, though if a player is killed while holding the weapon it is dropped, and picking up a second enforcer allows you to hold two at a time. As a homage to the original Enforcers, they now turn sideways when you are close to an opponent.

• Bio Rifle

  This weapon fires a big slow arcing gob of sludge that can instantly take out a heavily armed opponent or stick to floors and walls, then break apart into smaller pieces creating an instant minefield. Players with a large amount of slime attached to them will get rapidly "chipped" in damage, but they will have a second or two to fight back before dying, giving them a chance to take out the enemy who hit them.

• Shock Rifle

  A classic weapon, the Shock Rifle fires an instant-hit beam of energy when primary fire is used, and a floating ball of energy when secondary fire is used. Players can also shoot the ball of energy with the beam to create a shock combo, dealing intense amounts of damage in a small radius (enough to kill a player wearing even medium armor). When compared to past titles, the shock balls have been sped up from UT2004 to be more closely match the rate of the original UT. The primary rate of fire has also been reduced. Shock combos will now suck up ragdolls in a small vortex, and gib them if it does so.

• Link Gun

  The link gun shoots small fast moving plasma balls similar to those in the original UT. The secondary shoots a straight beam of energy that can kill foes, heal vehicles and charge power nodes.

• Stinger Minigun

  The stinger from the original Unreal replaces the Minigun as a fast firing semi-projectile weapon. The gun has two modes, a fast but inaccurate spread of Tarydium crystal shards that hits instantly, and a slower firing more powerful projectile shot that can also sometimes nail opponents to the wall with the killing blow.

• Flak Cannon

  Primary fire for this weapon releases a number of chunks of metal, tearing enemies into shreds. The secondary fire releases an undetonated flak shell that detonates and turns to shrapnel on impact. Compared to past titles, the primary fire bounces more and has a much tighter spread, while the flak shell does not travel as far as it did in UT2004, but it has a much higher upward arc.

• Rocket Launcher

  The new rocket launcher combines the instant rockets ability from UT2004, and the grenades from UT. As in UT2004 primary fire shoots instant rockets, secondary fire loads rockets, and hitting primary while holding secondary will switch to spiral fire mode with a single tap, grenades with two, or back to a spread with three. As in previous titles, rockets can lock onto things. This feature has been visibly improved to help take out vehicles, with much better locking and turning ability.

• Sniper Rifle

  The classic sniper rifle has returned to replace the Lightning Gun as the primary long range weapon. It now features a red-colored tracer, and Bolt Action reloading. It's comparably as strong as UT's Sniper Rifle, however, the rate of fire is not as fast as UT's, but it is much faster than the Sniper Rifle or Lightning Gun in UT2004.

• Longbow AVRiL

  The AVRiL is now hand loaded. Its tracking beam can be used to "herd" Spider Mines, much like the alt-fire on the Mine Layer in UT2004, and the tracking beam is also visible to combat problems where a person could get shot with AVRiLs and not know where the enemy is. It also has a secret function that has not yet been revealed.

• Redeemer

  Acting as the super weapon in this title, the redeemer is a rocket-launcher type weapon that fires a small nuclear warhead, capable of killing anybody within range regardless of how they are protected. Primary fire just releases the warhead, while secondary fire gives you the ability to guide it. If you are close to the epicenter, but not directly exposed to damage, you may be knocked off your feet for a moment, as if you had fallen off the hoverboard.

Pickups

Powerups

All Powerups are dropped when the player is killed, or if they are knocked off of the player with the Altfire of the Impact Hammer.

• Jump Boots

  The Jump Boots return from UT, and are activated by double jumping.

• Berserk

  Increases weapon rate of fire speed. Combined with the Damage Amplifier, the game will give you a "Juggernaut" award.

• Damage Amplifier

  Gives double damage. Combined with the Berserk, the game will give you a "Juggernaut" award.

• Invulnerability

  Grants you total invincibility.

• Invisibility

  Makes the player very difficult/impossible to see.

Health

• Health Vial - Small and Green. Heals 5 Health, up to a maximum of 199.
• Health Pack - Large, White Health Packs that somewhat resemble UT2004's Kegs, but a bit more rounded and without the blue. Heals 25 Health, up to a maximum of 100.
• Big Keg O' Health - As always, the Keg of health provides an instant +100 Health boost, up to 199 health.

Armor

• Shield Belt

  The Shield Belt returns, although it provides only 100 points of protection. However, unlike the UT200x shields, the shield belt will absorb 100% of damage, until it is destroyed. If you are wearing a shield belt and in a vehicle, you will not die instantly - instead, you will be ejected from the vehicle.

• Armor Vest

  The Armor Vest provides 50 points of protection, and absorbs 75% of taken damage.

• Thigh Pads

  The Thigh Pads provide 30 points of protection, and absorbs 50% of taken damage.

• Helmet

  The Helmet provides 20 points of protection, and absorbs 50% of taken damage. One feature this piece of armor has that is unique, is its ability to block headshots. Assuming you have at least 1 point of Helmet Armor on, if your character suffers a headshot, it will not affect him or damage him at all - however, the helmet will be destroyed.

Vehicles

Axon

• Scorpion

  The primary fire shoots electrified balls that explode on contact; these are particularly effective against other vehicles, upon which they home in on. It also now features a speed boost feature. You can eject from the Scorpion when using it in this manner, and it will blow up and detonate upon impact. If it destroys a vehicle and kills the occupant in this manner, the game will reward you with a "Bullseye!" award.

• Hellbender

  The new rendition of the hellbender places the driver in control over the skymine turret, while the rear turret functions differently from UT2004, being more like a standard turret instead of the twin-beam configuration.

• Manta

  In addition to a visual update, players will no longer be able to ride on top of the side fans, but will be sucked down and gibbed. The Manta is also unable to hit players without crouching down anymore unless the player is on a hoverboard.

• Raptor

  Besides the visual update, the Raptor now seems to be a bit more responsive to manuevering, and both the rate of fire and locking ability for its missiles have dramatically improved.

• Cicada

  Sporting a much bulkier and boxier look, the Cicada is mostly unchanged, however, ascending and descending seems even faster than before. Missiles can still be charged and held with the Altfire.

• Paladin

  Visually much improved from it's UT 2004 debut. The shield will no longer remain deployed if it goes through buildings or other level geometry, and it will get dimmer with sustained damage. Furthermore, using the shield combo to knock away nearby infantry is now instantaneous, as well as will deplete the shield slightly, taking about six combos before the shield is down. It seems to be slightly faster, as well.

• Hellfire SPMA

  The skymine turret is now controlled by the driver when the paladin is undeployed. There is no longer a passanger/gunner seat. The camera can now crush and kill people if it hits them when destroyed, and it also cannot be launched as far upward - however, to compensate, the bombing is considerably more tightly packed.

• Goliath

  The Goliath tank works effectively the same to its UT2004 equivalent. It can climb over small obstacles now, such as other vehicles, and has a much higher upward firing range than its UT2004 counterpart.

• Leviathan

  This mobile fortress still features its devastating main cannon and has added distinct weapon fire to each of its four turrets rather than UT2004's link-like projectile. Each turret also has an alternate shield function.

Necris

The Necris have six vehicles at their disposal:

• Viper

  A single passenger speeder. The primary gun fires projectiles that bounce off walls. The vehicle can also spread out like a real life viper to hover high in the sky. Like the Scorpion, it can be used on kamikaze missions.

• Darkwalker

  This lumbering tripod has tendril-like legs that allow them to climb a wider variety of terrain compared to other vehicles. The primary weapon is an extremely powerful twin laser beam that shoots out a line of plasma. The secondary fire "screams" knocking players off their feet and out of some vehicles (Manta Viper). The vehicle also features a secondary gunner position.

• Nemesis

  The Nemesis is the Necris answer to the Goliath, and it features an instant hit twin laser beam with zoom. The vehicle also supports different modes. When you crouch down the vehicle moves faster, but it will completely lock your aim, with no motion at all except for vehicular manipulation. You can also rise up to attack, but this makes you more of a target. You can also rise up even more to increase the beams' rate of fire... but this makes you nearly immobile, roughly on par with the Leviathan.

• Fury

  The fury is a single-seated flying vehicle that specializes in shooting down other air units. This vehicle can dodge, allowing you to barrel roll out of the way. Primary fire is a hitscan beam attack, similar in nature to the Darkwalker, but with a lock-on ability once struck and a very quick recharge time. Altfire allows a quick burst of speed to get out of the way of missiles or shots heading your way.

• Nightshade

  Seemingly the Necris answer to the Axon's Hellbender, this stealth-based vehicle has deployables such as spider mines and the slow volume it has a Link Beam Turret with very limited range that heals vehicles and nodes at about the speed of 3 link guns and can uncloak to go faster.

• Scavenger

  This spherical vehicle can extend its legs and pull itself up terrain or retract them and roll on the ground like a ball. It also has a spinning attack that is effective against infantry. A small ball hovers around the vehicle; it is this orb that attacks directly and not the Scavenger. (Which acts more like a targeting device for this orb to attack.) It can move at great speeds while rolling on the ground, but has little control as a result also if it rolls into other vehicles at great speed it damages them without damage to itself.

Other

• Turrets

  These formerly stationary one-man laser cannons are now equipped with rails, offering the turret limited mobility in order to help prevent attackers from taking advantage of the terrain by obtaining angles of shot that cannot be avoided. New to UT3 are Rocket Turrets.

Originally an Axon version of the Nightshade, called the Stealthbender, was planned. For some reason (maybe because the bots still don't care whether things are invisible) it was dropped from the game, though.

Teams

Teams present in UT3 are the following:

• Ronin

  The only survivors of the infamous Twin Souls massacre, bound together out of a sense of duty, honor, and revenge.

• Iron Guard

  A group of highly skilled and well trained mercenaries, experts in virtually any combat scenario.

• Krall

  The Necris use these formidable reptilian beasts for the pacification of newly conquered planets.

• Necris

  The secretive Phayder Corporation developed the Necris process to produce this elite group of assassins.

• Liandri

  Combat modified versions of the Liandri Mining Corporation's world-class security drones.

These teams have probably been in the game at one point, but appear to have been cut:

• Thunder Crash

  Even though Malcolm is present in the game, he and his team of experienced fighters do not participate as opponents in the storyline.

• Juggernauts

  These heavily armored, gene-boosted combatants would return from UT2004. They mostly consist of disgruntled prisoners and criminals.

• Nakhti

  The Nakhti possess far advanced technology and are well skilled in fighting. They are featured in UC2.

Characters

New to the Unreal Tournament games, UT3 now includes the option to fully customize your character. Players are able to switch out several armor pieces:

• facemask
• helmet
• goggles
• shoulder pads
• torso
• arms
• thighs
• boots

Included are the following characters:

Note: You can unlock 'Leaders' by beating them in the Singeplayer Campaign. All of the Necris characters are unlockables. Ariel and Alanna are special characters unlocked by a code. Some characters are not fully implemented but can be unlocked by editing the UTCustomChars.ini file. Johnson, Kensai, and an unused Liandri head, as well as assorted armor pieces, are available in this way. More information on unlocking and customization can be found in this thread: http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?t=192002

Maps

This time around, Epic chose to step away from the wildly different maps seen in previous tournaments, and instead create a few cohesive worlds and tie them together with their level design. You may see a building in the distance on one level and play in it on the next. 40 maps shipped with the game and 13 of them are Warfare maps.

Bonus Content

No official bonus content has released yet, however Epic did "cook" a few user created maps and mutators for use with the PS3 version to give those users something to play with (As all cusotm content must be created on a PC).

Additional Information

In-Game Awards

Sprees

Awarded for making a certain number of kills without dying throughout the match.

• Killing Spree: 5 kills.
• Dominating: 10 kills.
• Rampage: 15 kills.
• Unstoppable: 20 kills.
• Godlike: 25 kills.
• Massacre: 30 kills or more.

Multikills

Awarded for making the amount of kills within the allotted time.

• Double Kill: 2 kills.
• Multi Kill: 3 kills.
• Mega Kill: 4 kills.
• Ultra Kill: 5 kills.
• Monster Kill: 6 kills or more.

Weapon Awards

Awarded for getting the amount of kills with the said weapon.

• Jack Hammer: 15 kills with Impact Hammer.
• Gun Slinger: 15 kills with Enforcer.
• Bio hazard: 15 kills with Bio-Rifle.
• Combo king: 15 kills with the Shock Rifle's combo.
• Shaft Master: 15 kills with Link Gun's alt fire.
• Blue Streak: 15 kills with Stinger Minigun.
• Flak Master: 15 kills with Flak Cannon.
• Rocket Scientist: 15 kills with Rocket Launcher.
• Head Hunter: 15 Headshots with the Sniper Rifle.
• Big Game Hunter: 15 kills with the Longbow AVRiL.

Other Awards

• Eagle Eye: Destroying a flying vehicle (Raptor, Cicada, Fury) or a speeding Scorpion or a Viper ready to self-destruct with the Goliath or Paladin.
• Bullseye: Killing an enemy with the kamikaze feature of the Scorpion or Viper. This does NOT have to be an enemy in a vehicle - killing an enemy on foot will still give you the Bullseye.
• Top Gun: Destroying a flying vehicle with another flying vehicle's weapons.
• Pancake: Using a vehicle to crush an enemy player, either onto the ground or agains a wall. (Easiest to do with a Manta.)
• Road Rampage: Running over 15 people with a vehicle.
• Hijacked: Stealing an abandoned enemy vehicle.
• Juggernaut: Having two or more of the following powerups at the same time: Berserk, Double Damage, and Invulnerability.
• First Blood: Be the first to make a kill in a match.
• Hat Trick: 3 successful flag captures. They do not need to be consecutive.
• Denied: Destroying an enemy redeemer before it blows up, killing an enemy orb runner within close range of a powernode before they can capture it, or killing an enemy flag carrier within close range of their flag before they can capture it.

Community

Epic planned to use UT3 to bring more and more people into the Unreal community, with strong community integration out of the box. In-game lobbies were planned for Warfare, and game stats integration would have allowed you to find similarly-skilled opponents via the UT3 server browser. However, none of these elements shipped with the final game.

A global rankings system does exist to allow clans and other players to compare scores.

UT3 mod teams will, of course, be able to take advantage of the improvements in Unreal Engine 3's UnrealEd content creation tool, including the new UnrealKismet scripting environment, visual material editor and UnrealCascade particle engine.

PS3 Downloads are only supplied by Epic, however, soon (Currently January 5th, 2007) they will be releasing the tools to allow end users to cook their own maps and mods for PS3. They have to be downloaded onto an SD card or a USB Flash Drive from the computer, then tranfered to the PlayStation 3 version of UT3 to then be imported.

AI & Voice

UT3 will bring major advances in the artificial intelligence that controls UT bots, as well as the way in which players communicate with them. UT3 players will be able to give bots specific orders using their own voices. Whereas in UT or UT2004 you'd use the voice menu to tell your bots to "attack", you can now give orders like "There's a sniper on the tower, go get him". Bots will also respond to particular questions. For example, if you asked "Is there anyone in the cave?", they might reply "No, the cave is clear".

Apparently, this feature is quite buggy however. It is reported to work best for users who have a clear North American accent.

UT3 bots' personalities will also make them better suited to different in-game tasks.

Previews and Reviews

• BeyondUnreal Reviews: Unreal Tournament 3

References

• Interview with Mark Rein, English translation

See Also

• Unreal Tournament 3 media
• Unreal Tournament 3 maps
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• Unreal Tournament