jasonbay
05-09-2007, 11:14 PM
The rumored difficulty in designing games for the Playstation 3 leads us to believe that adjusting things in Unreal Tournament 3 for the more facile 360 should be a piece of cake for the UE3 brainiacs. And, although words on the street can be wrong, we?re going to go with the ?word? for now that Unreal Tournament 3 for the PS3 will mirror Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360.
With that said, and with the lack of a playable Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 floating about, we took the time to visit our competition?s booth at GDC. Sony?s booth was bustling with activity, as those unfamiliar with the PS3 wanted to try out the few demos that the electronics giant had playable in their plush nook of the Moscone Center. One of these playables was, of course, Unreal Tournament 3, but at this time, we'll just call it "Unreal Engine 3.0 Demo" as it was labeled.
If it isn?t clear to you yet, we?ll spell it out to you in plain terms: this is a hands-on assessment of the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 via an Unreal 3.0 tech demo. And no, we haven?t forgotten that we are an Xbox site, so don?t send us hate mail to remind us. Our bet is that Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 will be enough like this demo running on the PS3 to make the fifteen in enemy territory time well spent.
Before we even picked up the PS3 controller (or was that a PS2 controller?), we realized that Unreal Tournament 3 was a damn interesting game to look at paused. It?s evident that Epic?s intimate knowledge of their highly licensed engine paid off here, as normal mapping, shaders, and specular bits helped the sci-fi building interior jump to life. The bright and easily recognizable Unreal color palette appealed to the overall look too, as did the high degree of detail in our hero?s chosen weapon.
We assumed when it was time to battle that it would take a bit to get used to the PS3 controller, and it did. The lightness of the peripheral, coupled with a different balance point and lack of triggers made the learning curve a bit steep. Couple the sketchy PS-peripheral with the fact that the pacing of a game like Unreal Tournament 3 is a bit overwhelming with a controller to begin with did not bode well for our life span. We?re sure adjusting X and Y sensitivities will be possible in the actual Xbox 360 game, but for this demo, aiming was pretty much a lesson in futility. But it does seem like Unreal Tournament 3 will play at pro-level speeds for those that can handle it, with nary a slowdown or hiccup in sight.
Even though we couldn?t hit the broad side of a barn in the Unreal Tournament 3 demo, it was pretty awesome to see the various weapons with which we were inaccurate. Leading the charge was a shotgun of shorts which shot green blobs instead of buckshot. The blobs would stick to just about any surface, linger there for awhile, and then explode a tad later. We can totally see the crafty players sneaking up on an enemy and sticking them with some of this ectoplasm just before reconvening with their teammates. A cruel trick to play for sure.
There was also a slick, multiple-round-shooting incendiary cannon which was quite useful at close range. The rounds would come out as a fairly small ball of fire, but once they contacted flesh, the target would light up like an enraged campfire. The single shot cannon we equipped unleashed a highly-charged round of equal parts lightning and laser, but the aforementioned problems with targeting made it pretty useless. We did manage to hit the mark a few times, with this weapon appearing like a one-shot-one-kill solution at this point. A butt-load of brass was also cycled through the Gatling gun, which seemed a bit ho-hum compared to the other pieces (even though its spinning cylinder was visually exciting).
The level design for the demo was typical Unreal, and simply perfect for the Capture the Flag game mode that was cued up. Various ramps led up to the highest points of this very vertical level, but there was also many portals that also headed skyward. A center courtyard area on the ground level (complete with a large, futuristic statue) appears to have been designed to funnel all of the players there sooner or later. This created some interesting firefights with the bot enemies, as they seemed to be coming at our hero from every direction. Some foes were freshly shot out of portals, others arrived via ramps, and others came storming down from ledges situated directly above. We imagine this area will be the definition of chaos once the Xbox Live servers are full of Unreal Tournament 3 combatants.
Overall, we were quite impressed with Unreal Tournament 3 on the PS3. Epic really owns this super-frantic section of the FPS genre, with no competitors even on the radar. They also know the best next-gen engine better than anyone, which ensures that Unreal Tournament 3 will ship flaw-free and ready to rock. The visuals of Unreal Tournament 3 are outstanding as well, but we will admit that Epic might have shot themselves in the foot with the Lancer. Yes, Gears of War is so aesthetically pleasing that even Epic?s later model Xbox 360 endeavors- including Unreal Tournament 3- won?t measure up.
Look for more Unreal Tournament 3 action in the near future, just don?t expect it to involve a PS3 for the next go-around.
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1267/1148096822.jpg
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1267/1156529559.jpg
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1559/Unreal-Tournament-3/p1/
This game looks so good and fun its not even funny , I cant wait for this fall . I just hope I dont suck that bad when it come to online play.
With that said, and with the lack of a playable Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 floating about, we took the time to visit our competition?s booth at GDC. Sony?s booth was bustling with activity, as those unfamiliar with the PS3 wanted to try out the few demos that the electronics giant had playable in their plush nook of the Moscone Center. One of these playables was, of course, Unreal Tournament 3, but at this time, we'll just call it "Unreal Engine 3.0 Demo" as it was labeled.
If it isn?t clear to you yet, we?ll spell it out to you in plain terms: this is a hands-on assessment of the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 via an Unreal 3.0 tech demo. And no, we haven?t forgotten that we are an Xbox site, so don?t send us hate mail to remind us. Our bet is that Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360 will be enough like this demo running on the PS3 to make the fifteen in enemy territory time well spent.
Before we even picked up the PS3 controller (or was that a PS2 controller?), we realized that Unreal Tournament 3 was a damn interesting game to look at paused. It?s evident that Epic?s intimate knowledge of their highly licensed engine paid off here, as normal mapping, shaders, and specular bits helped the sci-fi building interior jump to life. The bright and easily recognizable Unreal color palette appealed to the overall look too, as did the high degree of detail in our hero?s chosen weapon.
We assumed when it was time to battle that it would take a bit to get used to the PS3 controller, and it did. The lightness of the peripheral, coupled with a different balance point and lack of triggers made the learning curve a bit steep. Couple the sketchy PS-peripheral with the fact that the pacing of a game like Unreal Tournament 3 is a bit overwhelming with a controller to begin with did not bode well for our life span. We?re sure adjusting X and Y sensitivities will be possible in the actual Xbox 360 game, but for this demo, aiming was pretty much a lesson in futility. But it does seem like Unreal Tournament 3 will play at pro-level speeds for those that can handle it, with nary a slowdown or hiccup in sight.
Even though we couldn?t hit the broad side of a barn in the Unreal Tournament 3 demo, it was pretty awesome to see the various weapons with which we were inaccurate. Leading the charge was a shotgun of shorts which shot green blobs instead of buckshot. The blobs would stick to just about any surface, linger there for awhile, and then explode a tad later. We can totally see the crafty players sneaking up on an enemy and sticking them with some of this ectoplasm just before reconvening with their teammates. A cruel trick to play for sure.
There was also a slick, multiple-round-shooting incendiary cannon which was quite useful at close range. The rounds would come out as a fairly small ball of fire, but once they contacted flesh, the target would light up like an enraged campfire. The single shot cannon we equipped unleashed a highly-charged round of equal parts lightning and laser, but the aforementioned problems with targeting made it pretty useless. We did manage to hit the mark a few times, with this weapon appearing like a one-shot-one-kill solution at this point. A butt-load of brass was also cycled through the Gatling gun, which seemed a bit ho-hum compared to the other pieces (even though its spinning cylinder was visually exciting).
The level design for the demo was typical Unreal, and simply perfect for the Capture the Flag game mode that was cued up. Various ramps led up to the highest points of this very vertical level, but there was also many portals that also headed skyward. A center courtyard area on the ground level (complete with a large, futuristic statue) appears to have been designed to funnel all of the players there sooner or later. This created some interesting firefights with the bot enemies, as they seemed to be coming at our hero from every direction. Some foes were freshly shot out of portals, others arrived via ramps, and others came storming down from ledges situated directly above. We imagine this area will be the definition of chaos once the Xbox Live servers are full of Unreal Tournament 3 combatants.
Overall, we were quite impressed with Unreal Tournament 3 on the PS3. Epic really owns this super-frantic section of the FPS genre, with no competitors even on the radar. They also know the best next-gen engine better than anyone, which ensures that Unreal Tournament 3 will ship flaw-free and ready to rock. The visuals of Unreal Tournament 3 are outstanding as well, but we will admit that Epic might have shot themselves in the foot with the Lancer. Yes, Gears of War is so aesthetically pleasing that even Epic?s later model Xbox 360 endeavors- including Unreal Tournament 3- won?t measure up.
Look for more Unreal Tournament 3 action in the near future, just don?t expect it to involve a PS3 for the next go-around.
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1267/1148096822.jpg
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1267/1156529559.jpg
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1559/Unreal-Tournament-3/p1/
This game looks so good and fun its not even funny , I cant wait for this fall . I just hope I dont suck that bad when it come to online play.