Because of Q3A's supercharged engine, you'll need a beefy system to turn the visual options up and sustain a good fill-rate. I've heard of issues with license keys, though I haven't experienced one myself.

UT obviously runs best under Glide, so unless you have a 3dfx card or a strong system with a non-3dfx card, you'll likely need to leave your graphic and sound options at the default settings. The game also suffers from some lengthy load times, especially during initial load.

As far as network performance goes, the difference between the 2 games is negligible. I'm on a 56K Winmodem, and my ISP isn't very good, so my pings and latency are generally poor. I'm still waiting for cable modem availability in my area. Dammit, AT&T, hurry up!!!

Winner - Tie: 3dfx card owners will usually have the advantage when playing UT, while TNT2/GeForce owners will get more performance out of Q3A.

And the winner is...

UNREAL TOURNAMENT (as if you couldn't already tell).

One word... POLISH. It's used time and again when describing this game, because it just fits. Everything about UT, from the new interface to the incredible level design, has been tweaked to perfection. The game just screams replayability, and has more than enough tools to "keep things fresh".

Does this mean Quake III Arena failed to live up to it's promise? Absolutely not, id accomplished exactly what they set out to do: Build the ultimate deathmatch platform.

I'm sure I'll be playing both titles, but UT's gameplay, maps, mutators, weapons, and bots give the game a more universal and longer-lasting appeal. Still, if I'm in the mood to just "frag everything that isn't me", I'll load up Q3A.

Happy Gibbing!

-Rob "RJCombo" Garrett

MakeItSimple's Quake III Arena Review by Richard "KZ" Knight
MakeItSimple's Unreal Tournament Review by Jeremy Larson

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