Unreal Tournament 3

While it's predecessors were great and managed to capture the essence of the genre, this game kind of falls off. The atmosphere seems lost and it is clear the developer had no focus left for this franchise. If you want a real blast, skip this game and play either the 1999 or 2004 version, both of which are far and away better.

Kind of a hedge for the Gears of War gamble, and it's not an especially interesting entry in the series. Basically, it's 2004 with prettier graphics and a bland story mode (the matches are fun, but the story is bland). I like Unreal Championship 2 quite a bit more than this, but this doesn't require pulling an original XBox out of the closet.

UT3 essentially closes the arena shooter era with not a bang, but not a whimper either. It's a solid game but the reception both critical and public just proved that developers made moved on and many fans were looking for something different. I don't blame them but UT3 is a solid game.