Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3 continued the series' long tradition of fast arena shooters and brought back classic modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and the vehicle-packed Onslaught, this time powered by Unreal Engine 3, on which dozens of other games were built at the time. The game launched on PC in November 2007 and, just a few weeks later, in December of the same year, arrived on PlayStation 3 as well.

The PS3 version was notable for being one of the few console shooters of its time to officially support mouse and keyboard as a full-fledged alternative to the gamepad, so players used to precise PC controls didn't have to change habits or lose competitiveness in online matches. It also included a full map editor right on the console, which was extraordinarily rare in 2007 - creating and sharing your own maps and game modes worked straight from the couch without any need to own a computer. Multiplayer ran over the PlayStation Network, and the game regularly received free maps, weapons, and game modes via updates after release, similar to the parallel PC version, albeit with a slight delay due to Sony's approval process.

On the other hand, compared to the PC version, the PS3 release noticeably lagged behind in the breadth of the modding scene - community modifications, entirely reworked game modes and mods that gave the game a significantly longer lifespan on PC even years after release were completely missing on the console due to Sony's closed system. The graphics ran on the same engine but at lower resolution with lower texture and lighting detail than on powerful PCs of the time. The campaign with a story mode, which brought that feature back to the series for the first time in years, stayed the same scope as on PC, unchanged. For players who wanted to play an arena shooter from the comfort of the couch with mouse support and the ability to create their own maps directly on the console, it was nevertheless a remarkably complete and well-thought-out port, something that was rather the exception among console releases of PC shooters at the time.

Why play it: For players craving an arena shooter from the comfort of the couch with mouse support and map creation right on the console, this is a remarkably complete port, even without the rich modding scene the PC version offered.