ike Unreal Tournament 2004 before it, there’s an almost overwhelming amount of content packed into Unreal Tournament 3. Dozens of maps, mutators, and several excellent modes are available out of the box for your fragging pleasure, and the action is as fast and tight as fans expect out of this lauded franchise. Front-end depth in terms of unlockables, stat-tracking, and social features may be lacking compared to other modern games like Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4, but the brilliant gameplay is a showstopper on its own.

If you’ve played UT before, you’ll immediately feel at home in UT 3. The weapons behave exactly the same as ever (and yes, the Biorifle still sucks). The maps have the signature insane variety, with some straightforward traditional-style layouts and an equal number of crazily complicated sci-fi settings. Vehicles return in a big way as well, with UT staples like the Goliath now squaring off against weird Necris tentacle-sporting contraptions. And, of course, the action is as supercharged and entertaining as always.

Outside of the additional maps and vehicles, two things make UT 3 stand out from both its predecessors and its competitors. First, the hoverboard is a great addition that keeps infantry competitive on vehicle-heavy maps. You’ll never be stuck trucking endlessly across massive battlefields to get to the fighting with access to one of these babies, though they’re useless in combat due to the intentionally floaty controls and extreme vulnerability they inflict on their users. Additionally, the hoverboard gives flag and orb carriers (which allow instantaneous node capture) delicious new options for accomplishing their goals.

Second, the Warfare mode is a great replacement for both Onslaught and Assault (neither of which appear in this release). Depending on which map you’re playing, Warfare uses a different combination of node control and terrain mutability to create a unique playing field. One match might find you trying to control a node that drops a bridge to allow your tank access to the enemy power core, while another has players vying for possession of a node that enables construction of the dominating Leviathan super-vehicle. If objective-based FPS is your preference, Warfare is as good as any gametype on the market today.

The only gripes I can level at UT 3 are outside of the actual gameplay. The frontend is relatively bare, with a simple friends list taking the place of much better-developed concepts of parties and clans in other modern online shooters. Similarly, stat-tracking and character progression are missing here; I pined for Call of Duty 4’s leveling system during the brief interludes between matches. At least built-in voicechat (why are there still multiplayer PC games without this?) makes in-game communication possible.

These minor issues are easily forgotten when you’re in the middle of one of UT 3’s massively entertaining frenetic battles, though. The game excels at everything from simple deathmatching to complex objective-driven campaigns. Well, the single-player mode is still nothing more than bot matches with some thin story laid over it, but who plays UT offline anyway?