Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Midway

Gears of War convincingly proved the merits of Epic's latest game engine, and Unreal Tournament 3 follows suit with some incredibly sharp textures, lots of impressive post-processing techniques, and consistent performance in both indoor and outdoor areas. Unfortunately, the art direction in UT3 is far too similar to Gears of War, and as such doesn't have the same distinct character of the prior titles in the franchise.

Voice acting during action and "Campaign" mode are flat, bland, and generic. The in-game music takes a seat in the very back of the bus; it's dynamic but seems bored with the action. The weapon and battle sounds are par the course, some of them being borrowed straight from the game's predecessors.

As newly annointed lead designer, Steve "Reaper bot" Polge has made some alterations to the UT formula. Positively, the pacing is a bit slower than UT2003/2004, which lends a more deliberate, strategic facet to the gameplay, ala the original UT. Unfortunately, the weapons do too much damage, and several of the weapons and vehicles are much too powerful. The map design is a step backwards, and the best maps are typically the recreations of maps from the previous UT titles.

Outside of the ridiculous narrative in the "Campaign" mode, UT3 is simply not as balanced as its predecessors, and on top of that its superficial stylistic elements are tired. Even the detailed, gritty visuals detract from the gameplay by making things look a bit too "busy" for what is, at its core, a Deathmatch title. UT3 isn't a bad game, but I can't think of a single compelling reason to play it over the original UT, which is still far and away the best title in the series.