The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So, Steam sales are kind of addictive now that I have a PC that can run games. This could be a problem. For now, though, I ended up buying Unreal Tournament 3 awhile back, because it was only, you know, like 10 bucks. That’s a good price. Much better than 60 dollars, and much more to the tune of the value I will actually get out of the game.

It’s not a bad game, perse? It’s very much Unreal Tournament. If you’ve played one before, you know what to expect: crazy physics, guns that never need to reload, and constant, intense violence.
There are sad things. For one, my favorite modes, Assault and Gunball, (also known as Bombing Run, but Gunball is a more appropriate title) are missing here. As such, especially after this sale ends, you might just be better off getting UT2k4 from GoG instead, because those modes are the shit. Or teh shit. Whatever. Also, you know, it’ll run on less recent PCs.

Still, this new version isn’t a complete throw-away or anything. They focused a lot on the Onslaught mode from earlier games (Which was my least favorite!) and improved that vehicle action significantly while combining it with Assault to form the “Warfare” mode. Warfare is much better than Onslaught was, and it’s obvious they’ve spent a bit more time on the vehicles, at least as far as I can remember. It really doesn’t replace Assault though, in my mind. It’s unfortunate that that isn’t there.
One of the mechanics I actually find very interesting is that of the Hoverboard. This seems like it would be the lamest thing, but it really makes you make some tough decisions during play. I don’t think this was in 2k4… basically, on Vehicle maps, instead of the Translocator, you can press q to pull out a Hoverboard. You move much faster than running this way, AND you can carry flags, unlike in vehicles. However, if you get shot with anything, you drop the flag and go into this long falling down and hurting yourself animation where basically anyone can murder you quickly. Basically, you have to choose when the extra speed is worth the extra risk, and that’s honestly pretty cool to me. The added benefit is that of having something to get you back in the action VERY quickly, which is what Unreal Tournament is all about, so I approve of that, too.

There’s a campaign mode, and that mode has 4-player co-op. I actually got it to work, too, during the free-to-play weekend with Brer, so that’s good! However, the Campaign is not very well designed, mostly because there is a plot. No. That’s a horrible idea. Sitting through cutscenes in a game like this is retarded. What a campaign in a game like this should be is something like in a sports game. I should recruit new fighters, do trades with other teams, and, I dunno, have to balance how tired people are vs taking them into matches, or what kind of game types they’re good at… that’s a compelling campaign for this type of game. That’s what they should be doing.
Still, it’s not like it isn’t fun. But just don’t expect anything but a variety of different bot-matches in different scenarios. Luckily, UT has some pretty good bots. I mean, I have rarely if ever played this series online with actual humans. It’s always been me vs bots, or me and some friends vs bots, and it’s always been a good time. UT3 succeeds in that once again.

These games really must appeal to a certain type of person who likes constant balls against a wall sort of action. I’m not really that person. If I’m itching for a shooter with other people, I’m totally going to go for a Call of Duty 4 or a Team Fortress 2 before even considering hitting UT3. Still, sometimes you just want to shoot bots. A lot. That’s something UT3 has in spades, and it’s a fun enough time.