Fantastic Fragfest

The main menu is well ordered, if plain, but elsewhere the interface is in need of a serious overhaul. For instance, the menu for browsing online games is a chaotic mess. It’s also often unclear whether the game is loading, whether it’s crashed or even at what stage you’re required to press what button just to move on.

The end of a Campaign match never feels comfortable as the game unceremoniously freezes and you’re left hanging until the scorebox loads, whereupon you wait again before you can actually press anything.

The fear of disconnection at this stage is palpable, as you’ll still have to re-do the entire mission. So while the loadtimes themselves are moderate to long, they are made less tolerable by the clunky and frightening interface, and there are also a couple of places where the game likes to lock-up (such as the multiplayer sub-screen), meaning you have to quit and restart the game.

While the option to install UT3 to the HDD doesn’t take too long, it doesn’t save you that much on loadtimes either (20 seconds becomes about 15).

Though from a purely graphical point of view UT3 is stellar, the visuals and audio are quite unremarkable. The style is overtly Gears-of-War-esque, and despite the odd Izanagi or Church themed level, it’s mostly dingy metal.

Most of the music’s a little too ambient and forgettable, and like the artwork, though it strikes a chord with UT’s grimy Sci-fi Industrial heritage, it just feels a bit tired. It’s a far cry from when the original Unreal wowed us with its pioneering environments and soundtrack.

The only things that still impresses are the direction-based sound effects (footsteps and gunshots etc.) that serve as an integral part of experienced gameplay, and the announcer’s voice as he gratifyingly booms “Killing Spree” or “Head Shot!”

Map design isn’t exactly jaw-dropping either (even Space Station with its changing gravity sections, or Sandstorm with its er…sandstorms), but it is highly functional, ensuring that tactical options are numerous and happily informed by location and surroundings.