Games

Unreal Tournament 3 (Xbox 360)

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Platform: Reviewed on 360. Also available on PS3 and PC

Price: From 14.99

Certificate: 18

Fetch your guns!

'Unreal Tournament' returns in its third incarnation and this time the game makes it to the consoles as well as your trusty old PC. With years of experience and a legion of loyal online fans this should be the ultimate multiplayer shooter but does it hit the target?

The pick up and play value of this game is immense throwing you right into the fast and furious action. If you've ever played a first person shooter you'll be able to get your head around the basics in seconds. And the speed of play is stunning, especially once you pull out your hoverboard.

Unreal looks superb, even on a low end television. Characters and locations are extremely detailed, the animation flows smoothly and the weather is not only absolutely stunning to look at but also adds to the game play, with dust storms acting as the perfect cover from that sniper and more.

There's unrivalled depth here. The weapon selection is vast and exciting with the alternate fire mode back, giving you twice as many options with your chosen firearm and the vehicles are out of this world, literally.

Truly unique, these war machines come in every shape, size and colour, from the aforementioned hoverboard to the gigantic 'Dark Walker' which really will take your breath away on first viewing.

Each vehicle has a wealth of unique options, from flight to cloaking, and an amazingly futuristic look bettering any science fiction game or film you could care to mention. At times you could really believe you had entered the Matrix.

The level design is excellent too, varied and vast. And unlike many games including the competition - if you can see a location you can no doubt get to it, however high or far away.

The game's one main weakness however is its lack of identity. When you look at the opposition - which in honesty is limited to the latest 'Halo' and 'Call of Duty' releases you think of the iconographic leads and exciting, epic story lines. Sadly these are lacking in this release.

This won't be an issue for the Unreal fan boys. There's a wealth of returning features to keep them content including a host of returning characters but for those of the Halo generation these characters simply do not match up to the depth of the Master Chief. And this is what the game is missing.

'Unreal Tournament 3' presents a near perfect shooter. Yet without a dynamic lead and plot it falls just an inch short of snatching the champion's crown.

And the 360 version is certainly one step ahead of the versions found on other formats. Not only is it that little bit sharper, with the frame rate ticking along nicely but it also includes a fun (if small) single player campaign - something that was seriously missing other releases of this game.

Ss snap this up, especially if you own an Xbox and get stuck in. Just don't trade in your copy of Halo 3 or Call of Duty just yet.