Unreal Tournament III

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Even though Unreal Tournament III won't be available on the Xbox 360 until this summer, it's already running quite well. Both single-player and two-player split-screen was playable and looked solid. Even though we're a bit over the whole concept of split-screen gaming, it does support cooperative and competitive play locally or over Xbox Live.

We do have a few gripes, but we can't really fault Epic for most of them. Free mods are a big part of what continue the lifespan of Unreal Tournament games, and Microsoft is really dropping the ball in making it a difficult situation for Epic. If Epic has to not only farm the community themselves and release the mods, or God forbid charge for content that's free for both the PC and PS3 communities, there will be a lot of disgruntled consumers that may opt to grab the PS3 or PC version of the game instead. Plus, here's yet another game that doesn't take advantage of the PC versus Xbox 360 interoperability -- a feature that Microsoft boasted would happen in a lot of Games for Windows titles, and one with which developers have barely experimented. Finally, we're betting the new content that's coming to the Xbox 360 will land on the PS3 and PC at some point, rendering any exclusivity null and void.

But, the big question is, will Unreal Tournament III be embraced by the Xbox 360 user base? The game is a frantic, intense first-person shooter experience, with tons of modes, vehicles and weaponry we've grown to love. If you've never gotten the chance to play Unreal Tournament III, you're missing a heck of a ride, but with a software library that's bursting at the seams with top-rate multiplayer first-person shooters such as Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Team Fortress 2 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Unreal Tournament III may have a hard time making a dent. If Epic can work out its differences with Microsoft to get user-created content in the game in some manner, it may have a chance. But if they think gamers will pay the full price point for a six-month old game that's not as feature-rich as what gamers can get on other platforms, it may look like Midway and Epic are trying to make a quick buck with a subpar version of the game.

This preview is based on an unfinished build of the game seen at the recent Midway Gamers Day.