Unreal Tournament 3

IMO the graphics are at least as good as the promo shots. They truly are stunning, easily the second best looking game out there and in some parts they can stand up well to Crysis.

I haven't played the online mode so can't speak for the bugs others mention but offline the game is totally amazing IMO. Gameplay is perfectly balanced as far as I can tell and the only bug I have experienced is audio hitching in the single player mission introductions.

I agree with Swaaye about the cut scenes being low res FMV's is a shame but it does look like the FMV's were made with the in game engine and they look great either way.

Personally, I would recommend getting the game right now if only for the offline modes!

 

I disagree totally on this one. The weapons are balanced but have to be used in different ways. I hate games were certain weapons by default are more powerful.

The flak cannon secondary is indeed one of the few gripes I have with the weapons.

It all depends on how you play. I can stay alive quite long if I make good decisions and in the meantime kill the idiots mindlessly following me.

 

Sounds nice, I´m not so much for multiplayer so I guess I buy it, thanks for the information.
With FMV´s do you mean that the cut scenes are recorded or are they real-time renderered?

 

I think they're recorded but they don't actualy look any better than the gameplay graphics so they could have been real time. I guess its so those who can't run the game at max can still get the full impact cut scenes.

 

That´s good.
Are you running the game on Dx10, if you are, do you know what the difference in graphics is between Dx9 highest settings and Dx10 highest settings.

 

Hi Obakan, They shipped the game without DX10 support, promising the update in a future patch...

 

I don't think their are any differences unfortunatly. Don't let that put you off though, it still looks spectacular!

 

Ok, thanks for the information.

So far it seems like Dx10 users can have AA using the NVpanel. MemberSince97 said that a Dx10 patch will come in the future, maybe adding more eye candy?
The textures are very sharp and the detail on the monsters, spectacular! I´m buying the game.

Mod Note: See Screenshots Thread

 

They could have used real-time cut-scenes instead as the other older versions have had. But then this one is comming for the consoles and not as an afterthought so that would explain the use of videos for cut-scenes (perfomance? what else otherwise?).

 

It would not be considered unintelligent to stream the assets for the next level whilst a video cut-scene is played.

 

Of course, players on both consoles and PC whants as fast as possible loading times. It was still nice having real-time cut-scenes in the previous UT games.

 

First official patch (was 1.1 beta 4):

Epic Games

Beyond Unreal Mirror

 

I guess they took those links down BZB....

What is really sad is I can only find 1 server CTF that is under 150 ping and has real players


Ur right there is an official patch , but your linx don't work.

 

No surprise, AFAIK Epic still hasn't released a standalone linux server or webadmin front end, so people arn't inclined to jump through hoops to set up servers.

They were working fine last night - I downloaded from the Epic one. Here's the forum thread with links/mirrors. You should be able to sort something out.

 

Hopefully I have the game by tommorow, I already downloaded the first official patch 230mb.

 

This feels like UT2003 all over again, except UT2003 worked better and probably had fewer bugs. UT3's gameplay is much better though.

Seriously....wtf? This is the most disappointing Epic game launch ever I think. And it all comes down to seemingly simple things that have been done right by them before! Networking and game UI!

 

It's all about shipping it for Christmas. There's no doubt in my mind that it still needs a few months of polishing. The lack of gametypes and maps shows they also cut content to get it out the door. It's not like UT/UT2K4 didn't give them loads of classic and well tested maps that could have been converted for lots of map goodness at relatively little effort.

 

Unless you are suggesting they reused thier dated art assets, doing "conversions" doesn't save but a fraction of the man hours required to complete a map.

Anyway, how many maps are included in game?

 

They could have made a lot of people happy just by updating the textures on classic maps, maybe a bit of rescaling for the new player size. The hard work of actually designing a new map that everyone likes, that has good flow and plays well and is properly balanced is already done. Those maps have been playtested for years. Why do you think that Deck or Face keep getting remade years after the original? I mean, Epic keeps saying how easy it is to do Assault with WAR, but it was too difficult to do a separate tab on the server browser and convert the six maps from UT2K4?

Those older map designs and gametypes are valuable content, some of them signature maps closely associated with the franchise and the expectations of the UT community. They are not something to be thrown away or discarded just because it takes time to rejig the textures on them.

Given all the other basic features that aren't ready even a month after release, stuff that Epic knows they needed, stuff they are trying to ship in patches, are you really suggesting Epic wasn't cutting and delaying features and content to hit the Christmas rush?

 

The menu seems rushed, like stupid sorting from highest ping to lowest ping, no favorites, not remembering the last search options, etc. However the gameplay itself is brilliant. My only real gripe is the secondary on the Flak Cannon, which has a curve upwards all by itself which is really annoying. The game should have never been launched with these small menu issues in my opinion, because it doesn't take an expert to find all flaws immediately.

Porting maps from older versions isn't as easy as people seem to think. While the structure may resemble an old map, it has to be redesigned completely, both graphically and for gameplay.