In the third installment of the Unreal Tournament franchise, players must once again assume the role of a futuristic warrior engaged in intense battles with other human players online, or against Unreal artificial intelligence that sets the industry standard. With the most powerful futuristic weapons and vehicles available, this is FPS action at its best...

As far as first person games (FPS) go Unreal Tournament III is a lot faster than most. Here you have to think fast because you get very little time to react if you are caught unaware. This is certainly not a game for the slow-witted - well, not unless you enjoy spending your entire time respawning rather than leaving other players splattered all over the place.

There are plenty of weapons, enough to ensure that at least a couple will appeal to everyone's tastes and how they like to play. There's the flak gun which is at its best on the front line. This weapon allows you to run in, charging at the enemy in a bid to catch them off guard. Or, if suicide missions are not your thing, you can always stay back and use the sniper or shock rifles to pick the enemy off from a distance. Not only is there a good selection of weapons, but each also comes equipped with two different firing styles - a primary and secondary type, if you like - that adds much versatility to your ability to dispatch your enemy.

As well as being able to use a variety of different weapons you can also use a number of different vehicles that are dotted around each environment. Depending what game type you're playing, and how you want to fight, will decide which vehicle you opt for. For example, the Scorpion is useful for getting from one side of the map to the other on big open maps or, if your team is falling behind in a campaign, it's time to bring out the Goliath - a giant tank that can take a lot of serious damage whilst giving out some pain of its own. In addition you can also steal enemy vehicles and use them to your advantage.

In certain games you can use get a special item to use; these include the hover board and the translocator. These items are accessed by pressing the "X" button, but are only available on certain maps. The hover board is used mainly on the open maps, whereas the translocator is used for enclosed areas. The hover board is useful for getting across big maps where vehicles are not available and also for making quick escapes in capture the flag where you cannot get into vehicles with the flag. The translocator works as a teleport pod where you use the primary fire to place the pod and the secondary fire to teleport. In addition, you can attach a line to the back of enemy or allied vehicles and allow yourself, on hover board, to be towed over long distances.

As fans of FPS will expect, there are many different game modes, including 'Team Deathmatch', 'Capture the Flag', 'Warfare' and 'Duel'.

'Team Deathmatch' is your simple, everyday team v team game where you have to reach a set amount of kills in the time allotted. In 'Capture the Flag' you have to steal your enemy's flag and return it to your base whilst defending your own flag from enemy infiltrators. In 'Warfare' the game play is a bit more complicated. For this mode both you and your enemy's team has a core, and there are also things called nodes which you have to capture in order to raise the shield on your core and lower the shield on the enemy's. Whoever has control of the node has the advantage of having a shield on there core and lowering the enemies, allowing them to take over the bases across the map one at a time. But be careful, as you have to defend all captured nodes as power moves back and forth between the teams. 'Dual' is a fun, one on one, game where you have to fight it out in an arena.

The online play is where this game really comes into its own but, as I mentioned previously, those that are slacking will pay the price as they spend most of the time respawning and trying to stay out of the sights of the enemy.

Unreal Tournament III is a great addition to the FPS arena.

8

Carl Simpson