Although there's no denying that the Unreal Tournament franchise revolutionized PC gaming, one could argue that the console entries just didn't offer a similar (or, in some cases, enjoyable) experience. Unreal II: The Awakening was downright bad, and while the first Unreal Championship brought some interesting elements to the table (it was notable for being one of the first titles with Xbox Live play), it just didn't feel like the Unreal we all knew and loved. Thankfully, things appear to have changed since Midway started publishing the Epic-developed titles. Unreal Championship 2 was one of 2005's best multiplayer games, despite the fact that some purists didn't like the fact that it was primarily a third-person shooter.

Now, thanks to the power of the PlayStation 3, we're finally getting an Unreal Tournament game that looks and plays almost identically to its PC brethren. That's right, the highly-anticipated Unreal Tournament III is finally here, and while it's far from perfect, it captures the feel of the PC game to a tee. It's just as fast and frenetic as always, and the fact that you can use either a standard controller or a keyboard/mouse setup allows players a chance to customize the experience to their liking.


Unlike many of the previous games, there's actually a full single-player story in place in this entry, and it might be one of the most ridiculous in recent memory. The action kicks off with a Necris attack on a settlement, and with our muscle-bound hero going down for the count. After that brief intro, the game kicks in the story, which is basically told via cutscenes and matches against bots. The Unreal game have always been multiplayer-centric affairs with bare-bones campaign modes, and while it's heartening to see an effort being made to beef up the single-player elements, it just doesn't work very well here.

This is largely due to the fact that the writers decided to attempt to explain why most of the first-person shooter conventions were in the game. Do we really need to know why we're supposed to capture flags? Or what the deal is with respawns? This forced method of explaining away the core gameplay elements is only exacerbated by the fact that the dialogue is, at times, downright laughable. I seriously don't think I've seen a game that oozes so much machismo (and unintentional comedy) in all of my years. The men (and even women) in this game actually make Gears of War's Marcus Fenix look like the second coming of Dr. Phil.

While Unreal Tournament III's storyline isn't going to win any awards, it does do an excellent job of teaching players what the game is all about. You'll start out with what basically amounts to a 1-on-1 tutorial level, which is a nice and easy way to learn the ins and outs of each weapon, as well as the controls. Over the course of the campaign, you'll be introduced to all of the maps and gametypes you'll encounter in the head-to-head mode (aside from the eventual downloadable ones, naturally), making it the perfect vehicle for learning what to do once you get online.