Sadly, the famous assault mode (where a team of attackers fight for objectives against defenders) isn't included with UT III, mainly because of the single player campaign. The campaign involves a complicated story about an ex-Tournament champion turned soldier named Reaper, who bears a very strong resemblance to Marcus from Gears of War, fighting a war against an alien race called the Necris. Before confronting the Necris, he and his teammates join up with a band of mercenaries to battle against rival corporate armies for control of resources to give them an edge in the war. The entire story ends up as an excuse to string together a long series of tournament-like games, and players will need to be longtime fans of the series to fully understand all the faction references, but that doesn't detract from any of the excitement. Gamers can play the entire campaign cooperatively alongside four other people, and they have the option to allow online players to jump in. Although the bots are, for the most part, competent and efficient, there are times when they have trouble balancing between defense and offense. In short, there's no substitute for actual human beings, and the campaign usually speeds by at a faster pace with humans .

Some of the weapons received noticeable changes, especially the flak cannon, which went through such an extreme makeover that we almost didn't recognize it until the signature shrapnel spray shot from it. The refire rate is noticeably longer, making it less of a go-to weapon than before. However, the game also comes with a large share of improvements. For example, players now drop quad damage for other gamers to use. There are also a number of new deployable weapons like shaped charges to blow up obstacles, force field generators and a giant translucent cube that slows down time for anything that passes through it, including bullets and rockets.

Although there's only a handful of different game modes and the high system requirements might prevent some people from picking up the PC version, those that can run UT III can look forward to a superb multiplayer experience that runs at break-neck speeds.