Unreal 2

Yes, I know it's been awhile since I reared my ugly head in the reviews section, but let's get over that and talk a little about one of CliffyB's offerings. I'm talking about Unreal 2, quite a highly anticipated game. It casts you as Marshal John Dalton, ex-Marine, as you patrol then ass-end of space. Soon however, you're plunged into the largest collection-fest as you attempt to gather a number of alien artifacts.

The graphics are very good, although not quite up to Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 standards. This is an Unreal game, and CliffyB's obsession with awesome graphics shows. Everything reeks of detail, from the underground planet, the interior corridors of your starship, the Atlantis. The ambience is nice, and it changes drastically from mission to mission. For the most part, the pacing is right on, not too slow, and not too fast.

The sound is good, there's not too much music to speak of, just some techno beats that aren't horrible, but not super either. The environment and ambient effects are well done, as are the weapon effects. There's just something comforting about the sound of the Combat Assault Rifle chambering a new clip. The voices, you'll either like or hate. There is an immense amount of dialogue in U2, and while it's all well done, you might want to turn the volume low after awhile. You speak, your crew speaks, random people you meet speak, almost everyone. Some of the dialogue is entertaining, other times it's grating. Once you meet DR. Meyers, you'll see what I mean. I've never wanted to kill someone as much as that asshole. You'll soon find your own stance on the voices. Oh, I have to give props to whoever did the voice-overs for your weapons officer, Isaak. His voice is spot-on, once you meet him you'l know what I mean.

The campaign is 13 missions long, not counting the Atlantis interludes between some of them. The game begins with a bang, and slows down perfectly for mission number 2. From there on in, it's a roller coaster ride. My absolute favorite is the Drakk homeworld, that put me on edge as well as Doom 3 did. That mission is a textbook demonstration of mood. The last mission is nice as well, it gives a great sensation of "everything is getting shot to hell" sort of feeling. The campaign is great.

However, that's all you get. No multiplayer whatsoever. Oh well, that's why you have Unreal Tournament.

You do amass quite an armory, everything from the CAR mentioned above, to the Magnum, a .50 caliber powerhouse that makes the Desert Eagle look like a peashooter. All the guns are nice, but the CAR and shotgun get used the most. I have to say, the shotgun is the template for all shotguns to come. It actually has use beyond point-blank ranges, as it can be used effectively used at 50 feet. The magnum is great, as it's the bridge in range between the shotgun (short range) and the sniper rifle (long range), and more accurate then the CAR. There are some duds however, as the spider gun is absolutely worthless and some of the grenades for the launcher don't do crap. (Like the smoke grenades. Why would I want to lay down a smokescreen and run when I can assault them with CAR blazing?) One issue I have is that you don't begin missions with enough ammo. I'm not talking about "Oh, I have 3 clips, time look for ammo", I'm talking about "Crap, I have 75 rounds of ammo that will go downrange in less then 10 seconds, and there are two big enemies behind this guy I'm shooting at.". Some guns you won't use much, like the Magnum. That's an awesome gun, but you almost never get ammo, and you can empty 9-round clips downrange in under 7 seconds. The combination of those two factors keeps your magnum empty for the most part. By the way, your enemies use the same guns as you, so if you're not careful you'll end up in a black bag before you know it.

Your enemies are fairly intelligent. Some the shmuck aliens are a piece of cake, but watch your back when you tangle with some of the nastier enemies, such as mercenaries. Not to mention, there's a little surprise waiting for you on the Dorian Grey. Trust me, you won't feel so badass in that level.

My chief complaint is that you move way too slow. Your run speed is slow to the point of tedious. I mean, you're in a freaking power armor, for crying out loud! Shouldn't you run a little faster?! Oh well, that's why there's cheats to increase your speed. (I didn't use any of them. I play games honestly.)

Also, the load times were horrendous, to the point of waiting close to two minutes for my quicksave to load. When you can die so quickly, reloading your game quickly is important. Have a book or the game manual close by to pass the downtime.

In the end of the day, Unreal 2 is intense and visceral. Everything is in your face, and you'll find yourself fighting a good array of enemies. I strongly recommend Unreal 2 to you. U2 is also on Xbox, I'm reviewing the PC version. Play the Xbox version at your own risk, I don't know how well it performs. All in all a really good game, and it carries my recommendation. All Unreal 2 is single player, but it's very well done. High-intensity combat coupled with a decent story and lots of cool guns makes for a good time in my book. Unreal 2 is well worth your time. Enjoy.

5 star(s) out of 5

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