The calling card of the Unreal series has always been breakneck speed, full-speed dodging, twitch targeting, stick-and-move combat. None of this holding your breath and leaning around corners stuff... the moment you stop to see if there's someone around the bend, you're plowed over from behind and spend the next split-second sliding across the floor in several pieces, courtesy of the flak cannon-wielding dude behind you whose path you were blocking.
So to survive long enough to actually pull the trigger, you want to make sure you've got a control scheme that's comfortable for you.
PC[edit]
The controls for the PC are mouse, keyboard and joystick if you want to. They are all configurable to suit your style.
You'll want to make sure you can easily double-tap your four movement direction keys and your jump key for dodging and double-jumps. Also you want to make sure you have hotkeys for your favorite weapons. Other than that, set them up how you like them.
XBox 360[edit]
PS3[edit]
The Playstation 3 supports native controllers as well as mouse and keyboard controller action for UT3.