I used to be comfortable with the fact that I didn’t like “twitch shooters” on consoles. It was a nice concise explanation for why I didn’t care for games like Call of Duty 4’s multiplayer or even to a large degree the Halo 2/3 (there’s a bit more to why I don’t like multiplayer on those games but that’s best saved for a different discussion.) I dislike playing shooters on consoles because I can invariably intend to do things faster and more accurately than I can via a standard game controller such as the PS3’s SIXAXIS or the 360’s… uh… 360 controller.
Then I got my hands on Unreal Tournament III for the PS3.
Follow the link to see why this game deserves my “rave”!
Before I go any further though, I should mention that this game is getting such praise from me for multiple reasons, not the least of which being that it’s a beautiful game that plays remarkably well and has a smooth as butter framerate (locked 30fps as far as I can tell; I’ve seen no hitching).
UT III has taken me back in time. It used to be I’d play a FPS on a console and I’d muddle through. If it wasn’t too reflex intensive or didn’t require quick pinpoint precision aiming, I’d do just fine but if either of those were required, I’d typically end up frustrated and would stop playing it relatively quickly. UT III is the first console FPS that I can remember that offers “true” mouse and keyboard support. I’m not talking about Joyfrag “emulated” mouse and keyboard stuff that’s been available for the 360 before, I’m talking about “10 seconds after you’re using it you mind floats back 4-5 years to your fond memories of having a PC capable of playing gorgeous FPS games at a smooth as butter clip”
I’ve played some of the UT III campaign and some bot matches (mainly to save me from public humiliation of getting pwned while “getting the feel” of the game) and I have to say this game has shot from “Don’t really care either way” to “How can I work this onto my Xmas wishlist with only 8 days until Xmas?!”
I honestly hope Epic pulls this off. The game’s out, it’s gorgeous, it plays smoothly, there are a lot of people playing online (which mixed reports have said is better than the PC side of this franchise). I just want this game to be a success and prompt other developers to add mouse and keyboard support to their PS3 FPS games (and we’ll see how long it takes Microsoft to cave and allow developers to do the same for the 360).
If you own a PS3 and you like first person shooters, check out Unreal Tournament III (especially if you have a USB keyboard and mouse — I’m using the Kensington PilotBoard Laser Wireless Desktop personally and have found the mouse and keyboard to work really well - I get about fifteen feet of wireless range out of the USB-dongle receiver and the battery life is phenomenal)
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Anski // Dec 17, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I played the demo on PC when it came out, and thought about getting it for PS3, but figure I never really play too many of these… usually just for a quick fix. So I decided against it. But the more I see you talking about it, the more I want to run out and buy it for my PS3.
Thanks for pushing me along to buying it, Roth!
2 NoneOfYourBusiness // Dec 17, 2007 at 4:36 pm
I played the PC Demo too, I’m just curious if anyone can give my a graphical comparison between the two. I know the PC can run at multiple different levels so where does the PS3 look if rated against the PCs “low medium high” type of thing. I can typically get medium levels on my PC. but i might buy this for the ps3 if it looks good enough
3 Sean "rothbart" Workman // Dec 17, 2007 at 5:30 pm
It does 720p at 30fps and has an aspect ratio perfect for your HDTV. It has 5.1 audio as well. Chances are you have a more comfortable chair in front of your TV as well. If you can rig a way to comfortably use a mouse/keyboard you’re set. No, you won’t get 1080p@90fps if you throw $600 more dollars at it like you can on the PC, but it’s a very slick implementation.
When (hopefully this isn’t an “if”) the mods kick in, I bet things will pick up some for the game.
4 Multiplayer Games // Dec 17, 2007 at 6:03 pm
[...] Rothbart’s Rave 3 - ((PS3+UTIII)+(M+KB))=A-OK [...]
5 Cube // Dec 17, 2007 at 6:38 pm
The ps3 version is to slow even with a mouse and keybord, you can see they slowed it down for gamepads.
Not even a frame rate slow down like everything moves slow by desgin.
IT don’t look all that hot compared to even a basic PC. I can get locked 60fps on my at higher res than 1080p. Matching a hdtv’s low 720p res is easy for just about any PC.
And when i played my friends ps3 version online just to see what it looked like there was tons of console shooters “Halo noobs” using a game pad because they either…
A. think it’s better.
B.some how got through life with out somebody giving them these magical common devices called mouse and keyboard and don’t have one.
I slaughtered all gamepad users online, it was like playing bots on ultra ultra easy I could run circles around them and you see them try to find to shoot me.
Very boring, the ps3 version Reminds me of the unreal for dreamcast and ps2 that came out. I slaughtered all people online when i rented that to see the console maps with my mouse and keyboard too, it was dull.
In the future when the PC mods get to big for the Ps3 tiny ram that mod feature will be useless.
UT2004/ut99 have had long lives, just because there are not many now don’t mean there will be. I can still get on ut99 and find people to play easy even in 2007.
Besides the game is not as good as UT2004 why move it UT3 on Pc when we can keep playing UT2004? I have UT3 it makes me want to play Ut2004 more.
Remeber people even microsoft says optical mice are not for console noobs, thats why they ban you from it on xbox.
http://www.notfornoobs.com/Microsoft-Habu-Gaming-Mouse.htm
Oh and wireless mouse have lag 99% of them have a mode to save power and are not always on when you move your hand they turn on and there is a lag time.
6 Dr.gliffbu // Dec 17, 2007 at 9:46 pm
i never got the whole M/KB for console thing if i really wanted those id play walk over to my PC. when playing a console i want to sit back kick my feet up. can you kick your feet up and use a m/kb? i dont think so. im looking froward to getting this for myself sometime this week as a birthday / xmas gift hope its dosnt eat into my COD4 time. i do have this for PC and it runs well on my computer if im not doing other stuff at the same time wonder which will look better for me
7 seelan // Dec 18, 2007 at 2:26 am
I also think that mouse + Keyboard are better than a lousy gamepad for FPS.
BUT: I really want to have the option of using the gamepad without getting pwnd. I REALLY HATE THE IDEA OF MIXED MATCHES where a couple of guys have keyboards and the rest have pads, it’s just unfair. The next step will be to use the same server for PC and PS3, and that will suck!
Either everyone is using pads or everyone use keyboards.
and I don’t know how to use a keyboard on my living room, I don’t have a table.
8 Cube // Dec 18, 2007 at 7:41 am
I have seen this in action on consoles the game pad users will not be any threat to you unless you let them kill you.
You really can run around them and see them try to track you with there gun movments jump and you really screw them over.
Keyboard users can choose when they want gamepad users to die online you can mess with there minds and I do so when I borrowed my friends copy.
This was even worse on dreamcast if you had a mouse keybaord and broadband you was god.
Most console users even suck with a mouse though they have no idea how to use them and there gun flys all over the place since they have never had anything so sensitve.
They obviously do not play on a PC at all.
9 Cube // Dec 18, 2007 at 7:45 am
Oh and the ps3 has major game play changes that make everything slower…way slow If ps3 and pc played on the same server the game would not sync.
I would say the ps3 version is 50% slower than the PC version. Bots are slower and running speed is slower, bullets seem slower etc.
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