IGN Reviews Unreal 2 - 8.2!

[Irs2k3]

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It's not that traditions are a bad thing -- quite the opposite, really. Traditional approaches to game design become traditions simply because they work. Some studios are content just to distill these approaches, making small adjustments here, tweaking a feature or two there. Other studios prefer to take chances by making drastic (and often clumsily unsuccessful) steps in new directions. And that's the real issue -- refinement of standards has to go hand in hand with innovations.

We've just finished playing through Legend's game, Unreal II: The Awakening. It's the latest in Epic's premiere Unreal series and serves as the single player alternative to the recent Unreal Tournament 2003.

In many ways Unreal II is a good example of the advantages and disadvantages of taking a fairly conventional approach. While the title does make some significant breakthroughs these are largely confined to a technical realm and offer little in the way of new gameplay. But even if it is a bit predictable, the title maintains a high level of excitement and focus that more than makes it worth your attention. Why? I'm glad you asked...

One of the most developed (and least hyped) aspects of Unreal II is its story. Although there's a strong following for the original Unreal at this point, the franchise seems to be better defined through its largely story-less multiplayer matches. So it's great that the Legend team (known for putting a premium on such things) have managed to craft an intriguing tale within which to place the action.

The story itself unfolds through scenes on board your ship as you travel from location to location. In between (most) missions you'll have a chance to come back, rest up and learn a bit about the people serving with you. There aren't conversation trees per se. Instead of branching into new directions, the conversation options are all recycled Lazy Susan-style until you've exhausted your source's information. While I appreciate the freedom these sequences provide, I wonder if the story might have been communicated better through non-interactive cutscenes. At least you can walk away from most conversations if you find yourself losing interest.

But it's worth sticking around to hear the non-essential items simply because it starts to flesh out the characters and circumstances a bit more. When the game begins there are plenty of mysteries to clear up among the members of your crew, mysteries that you can only solve by listening to the characters talk about each other. It's apparent early on that the characters all have histories (some of which intersect) that, as they're revealed, actually make you care about the people on your ship.

Ultimately, while the character interactions are deep and sophisticated, the actual types are pretty standard. A group of ragtag, disgraced ex-military misfits who are tasked with tracking down mysterious artifacts of unspeakable power that can be combined to create a world-destroying weapon is pretty predictable sadly. A mysteriously awkward alien pilot, a gruff engineer and a busty and slightly hostile female aren't going to surprise anyone.

Likewise, the fact that you travel to an ice planet, a jungle planet, a lava planet, a mining camp, a research base and the whole buffet of sci-fi locales, makes the game seem more than just a bit artificial. At one point, Geiger-inspired levels could make me drool but I've seen far too many of them in games and movies for it to have an effect on me anymore.

One benefit of this approach is that it lets the artists ride full rein over a wide variety of locales. The environments are all unique and wonderfully detailed. The architecture is remarkable and covers a really wide range of styles. Likewise, the mood and ambience of the levels really helps distinguish one from another.

From a standpoint of puzzles, Unreal II is mercifully light. Taking a more action-oriented approach, they've included just a few basic puzzles for the player to solve. There's not a lot of backtracking involved here and, when you do have to revisit an area, it's usually for a good reason and not some arbitrary whim of the level designer. I really like the fact that the developers have decided to switch up the action. No longer are you just interested in assaulting or infiltrating fortified positions. Occasionally the game asks (read: requires) you to hold back an enemy attack on your own position. At this point, the game's placeable weapons and defenses start to shine.

In terms of AI, Unreal II offers a satisfying challenge. A great many of the alien foes seem content to run right towards you with the odd sidestep here and there to dodge your rockets. The human opponents are a bit more sophisticated taking advantage of any available feature of the terrain to hide from fire and even circle around behind you. Unfortunately most of the levels tend to funnel the action into narrow hallways and corridors so that AI has fewer options.


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Friendly AI is a treat. From time to time in your missions, you'll encounter the requisite skittish engineer alongside the self-important researcher. Their behaviors are quite lifelike and actually give you a bit more of an incentive to keep them alive. In the rare cases where they're fated to die regardless of your efforts, you may even beat yourself up a little that you couldn't do more.

The game occasionally offers you the chance to command other friendly forces on the ground. When a few extra marines drop by they'll look to you for leadership. To give them orders you simply have to step up and "use" them. This opens a few dialogue options that let you order them to a particular, pre-defined point on the map. It's an interesting system but it presents a slightly unrealistic flaw -- namely that you have to be standing next to someone to get them to do anything. Normally this isn't much of a problem but when an enemy attack comes from an unexpected direction you just won't have time to run out and redistribute the troops stationed at other positions. Perhaps in the future someone will come up with a method of wireless telephony.

Weapon-wise, Unreal II tries to do far too much. With 15 weapons, the team has taken on more than it needs to and offers more than one player could reasonably explore within the space of a single game. Things like machine guns and rocket launchers are too firmly ensconced in the FPS model to completely ignore and the versions in this game are superb. Some of the chancier, less useful weapons like the Shocklance or Aida's pistol either have too narrow a use or merely duplicate the effects of another weapon already in your inventory. And although it's pretty much essential for the game's balance, it seems stupid to me that the Marshal can carry a dozen weapons in to battle but can only find room in his pants for ten sniper rounds. Perhaps I could trade in some of the redundant weapons for an extra clip or two?

As predictable as many of the aspects of the game are, the graphics are still undeniably impressive. The weapon effects are top-notch. To date the standard for flamethrower effects has been Return to Castle Wolfenstein. As good as that effect is, the one in Unreal II is even better. I also like the wonderful smoke effects. Launching a smoke grenade into a crowded room and then blasting the smoke out of the way with a single concussion grenade is a truly transcendent experience.

The only downside is that you'll need a real bear of a machine to run the game properly. Even on a system that exceeds the recommended requirements, we experienced a fair bit of chug, stutter and chop. It's more distracting than crippling but, on machines below the recommended spec, it's a potential obstacle to your full enjoyment of the game.

One final note on performance: The game offers two unique features called "quick save" and "quick load." These are lies. Basically what you have here are two hotkeys that don't work any quicker than the regular save and load options accessed from the main menu. Normally this wouldn't even qualify as a gripe (even by my usually vinegary standards) but, given that the load times in this game seem a bit excessive already, the team is really just teasing us with this whole "quick load" concept.

Closing Comments
There's an expectation in the sink-or-swim arena of PC gaming that average titles just don't cut it. With so much competition, a title really has to perform better than average to be counted as a success. This is particularly true of titles in the action genre, which has seen an unusually high number of breakthrough titles this past year.
As a gamer, you have to ask yourself if you'd rather contend with polish and predictability or take a more adventurous route and risk getting burned. Those who are weary of the standard fragfest approach will undoubtedly find much to enjoy in this game -- the graphics and story alone are enough to make the title stand out. But those who have tasted the fruits of last year's development projects may find that Unreal II plays out a bit too
predictably.




Presentation
The game relies too heavily on stock situations, characters and environments, but there are a few surprises to be found in the story. 8.0
Graphics
It's all so beautiful, particularly the fire and smoke effects, but the game stutters a bit too much even on the medium settings. 9.0
Sound
The sound and environmental effects are good but take a back seat to the wonderful voice acting and sound effects. 8.0
Gameplay
While the execution and engine are above average for the genre, the gameplay is a bit conventional. 8.0
Lasting Appeal
You'll likely be done with this one in a couple of days. You can get a bit more out of the story the second time around. 7.0
OVERALL SCORE (not an average) 8.2
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*sigh*

that's a pretty disapointing score. I think I'll go lie down now

oopssss finnished installing coming back with my score

[interman]

Way too short review. IGN = teh sux0r for giving such a low score

[Irs2k3]

^^^^^^^^
Let us dont assume too much, lets wait till we play the game.

[Maldita Vecindad]

Well I lose faith on IGN somethime ago. Most of this review magazines are too "involved"in the gamming comunity to give a good review.

When you see how they gave DOA:Xtreme Beach Volleyball a 9.2, a game which only objetive is winning in a unrealistic volleyball game so you can buy a little swimsuit for a sexy Silicon based player.

Unreal production value are way too advance to fall behing this game. Even if it is not the best FPS ever still I find IGN scoring extremely ankward and biased.

Nowdays I prefer reading reviews for iso posting pages and user posts (isonews, nforce, etc.). Many of the posts seem contrary but if you read them all you usually finish with a great idea about a game before buy it.

[*DoInThIs4FuN*]

Then feast ur eyes on this preview done by a member from iSONEWS:

I couldn't cut and paste the direct link, so here it is, the full review:



Unreal II: The Awakening Â*
Reviewed by Uncle_Mart on 01/30/2003
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Is it going to live up to its title?
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Introduction
Well, what can I say? If you haven't heard of this game then you must have either been living under a rock for the last 5 years or just upgraded from
an Apple Mac.

Firstly before even installing this I was having hesitation's about installing it due to the screenshot's that I had seen, but what was about to happen to me was something I was only half expecting.

The original unreal was like Quake, but with more thinking about the design of it, rather than the technology being used for it, so this time around will Unreal be the one to push game play even further?

By the way , This FirstLook is going to be long , this is a big game , with a big audience , and big amounts of options , so here's the big FirstLook to go with it .

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Graphics (10/10)
Â* Â* Screenshots:
Â* Â* I love games where you can do stuff like this. (1280x1024, 88k)

Just , erm hangning around. (1024x768, 65k)

About to take out some thingys. (1024x768, 63k)

A little trail of death and destruction. (1024x768, 49k)


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I'm sure anyone reading this now must have at least some idea of what the graphics look like from the countless screenshot's and movies that are all over the net, but what does it look like in action I hear you ask?

Amazing is really the only word to describe this, From the moment the super slick intro loads you are barraged with some seriously stunning eye candy, Legend have really gone to town with the effects taking advantage of even the most expensive of graphic cards.

As the game starts you are presented with a basic room which is textured out just like you would imagine a futuristic planetary station to look like , shiny metallic surface's buttons and readout's everywhere give the feeling you are somewhere important , but you suddenly realize what the engine is capable of when you step outside, You are greeted with a huge sprawling landscape full of lush hills and a moon in close gravity, It really makes you want to break open a bud and sit around watching the sky for a while.

as the game progresses Legend just go insane with more visual wonders like the character models. The first women I saw I couldn't help but stare at her butt, and low and behold she had some kind of muscle structure where her two cheeks moved separately, After staring at her wondrously high polygon ass I checked her boobies and I'm glad to report they got them to move right also, It's nice to see game makers paying attention to the things that count.

Character movement is a wondrous thing in this game , the usual feet gliding thing isn't present , but rather the woman that you first meet walks with a foxy kind of strut , the fat pilot wobbles along and your ever chain smoking layabout crew mate walks around like he has just smoked an ounce of high powered weed. While speaking of the smoking I'd just like to mention some moreabout the attention to detail , ash falls off his cigarette , when it falls it turns from a glowing red to a grey and drops to the floor , and plumes of nasty nicotine plume from his mouth, Kind of make's you want to attach a fan to your powersuit.

Particle effects are great , they even seem to follow some sort of course of gravity which looks real , when you see your first major fire you will want to sit around and toast marshmallows next to it, EVERYTHING is just amazing to look at.

Honestly , all I can say about the graphics in this game is good , while they are not perfect I would certainly rate them as flawless as I feel a little more could have been done here and there (like higher polygon counts on some creatures and such) but when you are looking at this game to criticize it's easier to find the thing's that are wrong , while you are playing you would never notice it.

One last thing to add , even on the very lowest detail settings this game looks awesome , crank it up to full and you'll be looking at one of the nicest looking games yet released on the PC.

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Audio (7/10)
This is a very odd area indeed , Now I have no doubt that I will have a few comments about this but I really found the music in this quite annoying, At the start of each level you let it just sink through you , It's nothing special but it feels a little out of place at times, but after spending more than a few minute's wondering around a level you feel like you've been spending you whole life listening to the same song over and over since birth, it sounds like its just a few bars looped, I still have yet to find a song in the game (other than the cut scene's's) that doesn't drive me crazy quicker than recurring dream containing claudia schiffer and a family size mars bar.

Vocal talent I'm pleased to say is very well implemented, I have yet to hear someone in the game that doesn't "suit" their role or have a very strong voice in acting.

The sound effects however are something VERY special, shooting your gun on different surface's will create a different noise, while Shooting in different size rooms will create different echo's, I don't have any special Dolby 5.1 setups lying around to test with this but I do have a phat speaker setup and some of the guns were enough to give anyone's wife/girlfriend/parents a severe headache or at most get them to call 911.

Bassy engine sounds and explosions that would rumble your monitor almost off the desk are a very welcome addition , it's great to have a game that not only looks good but sounds good also.

There are also plenty of ambient sounds at all points through the game , beepings of star trek like computers , birds and wildlife , electronic hums, basically adding even more to the feeling the graphics has already setup. Â*
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Gameplay (10/10)
The important bit, But is it what we were all expecting?, Well yes and

no, while I feel the AI is superb I also feel that some of the beginning (or easier) creatures have somewhat too much intelligence , they hide and surround you , they use different range's and they carry weapons and use them with deadly accuracy (you'll see why this is odd if you play the first few levels).This isn't exactly a criticism but more something I found a little strange.

Firstly the game sinks you into the swing of things by offering you a choice of training or going straight into the mission's , the training isn't necessary but is useful and it's nice to do just to get a feel for the game.The game itself start's slow to let you meet different key characters and immerse yourself into the story of the game.

Of course we have to get around to the A.I at some point so theres no better time than now, It's very damn good indeed and is possibly the best I have yet seen in a game , The enemy's will cover each other , strafe out the way , use objects that are nearby for cover and use attack formations depending on how many are attacking you , also if you do blazingly well in a room the creatures will sometimes retreat and try to find a more suitable environment to carry on the fight. While most of the creatures can be easily defeated by brute force and clever strafing, on the harder difficulty levels you will find yourself having to use all your skill and brain's to hold off the most simple of enemies.

There are many scripted moment's throughout the game (Ala Halflife) and these are very well thought out and sometimes can get the adrenaline running and occasionally give you a good fright.

The story line unfold's slowly but strongly, games like this should always have an epic story line where you feel like the fate of the universe (or at least earth) is on your shoulders, being a hero is no easy task.

Control of the game is kept to a bare minimum of keys as to not make the player spread his hand all over the keyboard , but while simple it's quite stunning how much interaction can take place in the game, It's almost like halfway between Deus Ex and Duke Nukem.

The mood this game sets for the player can change in an instant , just when you think you are on top of things, a scripted or non scripted moment will pop up and suddenly change what you are doing or scare the hell out of you with a new creature and totally waste you in an instant.

So all in all I think that what was promised gameplay wise for Unreal 2 has definitely been accomplished.

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Concluding Thoughts (19/20)
What to say? well originally I wasn't expecting this to be as good as the usual hype that surround's these game's so to say I was pleasantly surprised is a huge understatement, I can certainly see myself playing through this a few times.

The game never really feels like its a set of levels but more like you are a person who people are relying on , you get briefing's , you can talk (in a limited way) to people about what is happening , and certain missions you even get to fight along side fellow marines , some of these parts of the game are extremely exhilarating and you really feel like you have messed up when one of your team members dies, it gives you that "I must load and save that mans life" feeling.

The system requirements may be quite high but will run perfectly on today's modest PC , incedently the system used for testing was a T-Bird 1.1ghz,GF3 TI500 , 256meg ram (256 meg died the day before this review lol) running on 2k.

Long load times on my system were a little annoying but as I only had 256 meg installed and I really couldn't tell you if these would decrease, but seeing as each level can be almost like playing a small part of some scifi horror movie it's not that much of a problem.

So this game in short I belive is everything you expected to be (maybe more) everything you wanted it to be but isn't a game you want to buy if you have loved ones or work to attend to , I'm still playing the game and writing this with a rather familiar urge to go back and have a few more minutes, I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about.

I think I will definitely be buying a copy of this game as it is a really polished product , everything about it oozes class and while it may currently be missing multiplayer in the form of coop a patch is being made to make this possible. Hopefully people can look past this fact as it was never designed to be a multiplayer game.

Game of the year? I would say its a definite possibility.



View/Post feedback on this Firstlook (21 replies) Â*
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Graphics 10/10 Audio 7/10
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Gameplay 10/10 Â*Concluding Thoughts 19/20 Â*
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Total Score 46/50



I think this review hits the nail...!

WoooHooo!!!

[Irs2k3]

^^^^^^^^^
nice review, thanks *DoInThIs4FuN*

[Dennis S.]

His review is better than IGN's. If you know him, you should tell him to join our review staff

[Ah.. the power of lead]

UNREAL ROXOR!

I am agree too , IGN suxxed on that review .
The prob too much popular review site are getting pro consoles #### . always giving high score to console games and low score too pc games , i am agree there was not too much great pc games those latest months but at least there were at least some and those some are 100 times better then those console games .

I bet all you want that ign gonna give a big big quote to Devil May Cry 2 , and sorry but just try the game & it is just sux and boring ( it is another stupid hack and slash game without any interest ) .