UT3 = total failure.

Agreed. Many of the UT3 maps take place in massive underground caverns, hence the darker atmosphere. There are few above-ground maps with full sunlight (The new Torlan looks like a near sunset map). However, having played both UT2k4 and UT3 extensively, I still give the edge to UT3 for better overall playability. In Warfare, the orbs help prevent most drawn-out stalemates. More points are given to node-busters as opposed to player-killers. The vehicle variety is greatly enhanced. Hoverboards help players move quickly accross large maps. AVRIL anti-vehicle missle launchers are far more effective with instant lock and laser-guided features. Manta-mowing of players was too heavily encouraged in UT2k4... in UT3, it's much harder for Mantas to spawn-kill uncontested.

 

Have you tried some tweaks, perhaps such as disabling DX 10, as it always loads in that mode if your on Vista.

 

I liked the stalmates in onslaught in UT2004, thats what made you get creative to win and what really tested teamwork.

 

Decided to keep UT3 based on some of the posts here.

Glad I did, having a blast playing the invasion mod. Also that space level makes for some crazy firefights, the servers are mostly empty but there are always some which are mostly full and have good ping so that's fine enough.

Game runs great too with a few tweaks, especially for nvidia owners.

 

So KGann, I have some info that will put you to ease. I installed Fraps yesterday, and got the following fps at the specified resoltuions, and at all settings maxed out:

23 fps @ 1920X1200
29 fps @ 1680X1050
37 fps @ 1440X900

They did drop during intensive fights.

In warfare it is good that a player gets more points for orb control than kills since that game type is based on controlling nodes rather than frag numbers. And man do I love those Mantas!!!

 

Any UT3 benchmarks we can run to all compare?

 

I have a good time playing this game, it is a great run-n-gun. I wasn't heavily into UT2004, and didn't play it in its heyday, but UT3 feels very similar.

What amazes is me is how nicely the engine scales. I can run UT3 on my old Sager with a Pentium M and X700 256MB at 1680x1050 with medium-low settings. It can get slightly choppy and isn't buttery smooth, but it is definitely playable.

Other than that, I think the voices "HEADSHOT", and so on were better in 04. Though the graphics look spectacular, I also wish some more levels were outside.

All of my year 2008 reviews have UT3 benchmarks in them. The 8800M-GTX eats it for breakfast, the 8700s do a decent job too. It isn't very demanding.

 

Dang you Zee... maybe I should try disabling DX10. (This is the only game my CPU is showing it's weak side too)

 

So there is a UT3 benchmark program Chaz? or you just did your own via fraps?

Also Nvidia owners can download the new phisix maps.

 

What are these new maps?

 

Remember they do have invasion mod already out, it's just not nearly up to par with the Invasion in UT2k4.


http://utforums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

If you look under Beta Releases you will see Galnator's Invasion or whatever it's called. He is constantly upgrading/tweaking it. There are other versions too (Kearin's i think was his name... who I actually played a lot with in a UT2k4 server).

Also look under Full releases. You will see plenty of maps already made. The only problem is the servers are slow to download. They have to set up web hosting to let people download the content.

Edit: I saw you (blackbird) posted that you have played the invasion so disregard the first comment in this post.

 

I recorded my own with FRAPS - all the benchmarks I did were on the same levels. Here's one review:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4235
Benchmarks section:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsId=4236

 

the UT franchise has always been a huge success on pc and one of the best pc franchises ever, however after UT2k4 (the best game in the series imo, and propably one of the best pc games ever!!) the guys at epic got greedy and wanted a piece of the ever-growing console market, so UT3 was developed with console gamers in mind!!, this was easily realized by the look of the interface and the removal of side-dodging moves to gear the game more towards casual gamers!!, it's just that everything in this game screams console!!..however in the end the game ended up being a failure on both pc and ps3..
other mistekes done by epic:
1-the graphics though beautiful were distracting, and it was very hard to recognise enemies from meshes..
2-gears of war-heavily influenced graphics, level, art and characters design..why??? which franchise is older and more popular?? it should've been the other way around..
3-embarassing lack of content and removal of some award-winning modes like the assault mode..
4-terrible story and single-player mode!, i know that UT isn't exactly known for great story-telling but the concept of blood sport tournaments was working just fine and made the game feel more like a sport game but with guns and blood in a compelling sci-fi universe..what's the point of using the word tournament if they were to abort the whole blood sport tournament idea??? it just doesn't make sense!.
epic should've taken UT2k4 single player and added more depth, options and some kinda of story-line to keep the players interested, also some rivalries between some of the races/teams wouldn't hurt!!.
the UT franchise is sinking!!, epic must adress all of the issues with UT3 and listen to their fans to save this franchise..