New Unreal Tournament controls are so slick
At least, that’s what Official Xbox Magazine said in a new, six-page article. If you pick up the July issue, you’ll also get new details on the game, and it’s a doozy. Team Xbox also said that Unreal Tournament 3 is looking better that Gears of War.
Is such a claim possible? You and I know how purdy Gears of War looks.
Here’s the short of it: Epic Games, the makers of both games, has been working furiously to improve the Unreal Engine 3 since they released Gears of War late last year. Your proof:
Steven Polge, Epic Games’ lead designer for Unreal Tournament 3, confirmed that the game’s Xbox 360 version will come with four-player cooperative play and two-player split-screen in single player. You’ll also see 18 different vehicles and five types of turrets.
Spiffy becomes iffy
The preview gets a bit iffy when Polge started to ramp up the hype regarding the game’s controls. The controls were so good that half the people that work on the game prefer to use the Xbox 360 version.
When the guy responsible for the controls joined the playtesting sessions, he used a controller while everyone else used keyboards. The amazing part is, he “kicked everyone’s butt.”
How can controls be so good that people using controllers start beating keyboard users? Doesn’t that sound a wee bit unbalanced? It sounds more like auto-aim, a disturbing trend that became more prevalent when more FPS games are being created for consoles.
Halo grows horns
Case in point: Halo 2 for the PC. Plug in an Xbox 360 controller when playing multiplayer and you’ll notice that it’s easier to land your attacks when using a gamepad. The worst part—you can’t disable it, or find out if an opponent is using a controller.
Ergo, it’s not the UT3 controls that are good. It’s the auto-aim that’s spectacular.
Make no mistake, I love console shooters like the next rabid gamer. I just don’t like it when unfair advantages are exploited, especially in multiplayer when everything should be equal. Keyboards versus controllers may not be equal, but so is auto-aim, regardless of control scheme.
Great work Epic. You’re showing the world that people who use controllers need to resort to auto-aim to beat keyboard users.
