Gameplay
Gameplay
Unreal 2 takes place in the same setting as the first game, but that’s where the similarity abruptly ends. This isn’t a sequel (thankfully, as I never liked the first Unreal); instead it is a brand new tale in the same Unreal universe. You play the role of Marshal John Dalton, who is an ex-Marine working for a corporation called TCA. You command your own ship called the Atlantis, flying around “the arse end of space” as he puts it so colourfully, patrolling your corporation’s territory.
Joining you on your little ship of the dammed includes Aida (the computer nerds dream girl), Isaack (chain smoker engineer type fellow), and Ne’ban (a really annoying retarded alien type thing).
Each member is a galactic drop out, as you learn as the story progresses, thus fitting the ‘unlikely heroes saving the day’ category so perfectly.
You start the game meeting your current commander, and deciding whether or not to try the tutorial. The tutorial is perfect for newbie’s and good for veterans alike, as it explains everything efficiently and, most importantly, very swiftly.
You then go to the Atlantis (that often acts as the in-between story bits before missions if you’re interested) before embarking on your first mission to answer a distress call.
The first mission essentially sets the scene for the rest of the game. After answering the distress call you quickly realise nearly everybody is dead, and the outpost overrun by strange aliens. This mission is pretty action packed from the word "go", with some exciting and tense moments for you to enjoy. In fact I can’t remember the last FPS that had a start so great.
If you enjoy playing the first mission, then you’ll enjoy every level thereafter. This is because every mission has pretty much the same feel and structure throughout, with heavy action and straightforward mission objectives. Basically missions involve no more than charging from A to B to C blasting everything in your path.
This certainly won’t appeal to everyone. Those who expect something a little more in-depth may find themselves disappointed, as Unreal 2 is a pure action game through and through, almost on a par with Serious Sam in simplicity and in-your-face action (but not quite).
Summer vacation spots, Unreal 2 style!
Over the 12 main missions you get to explore a range of environments and different planets. Every type of environment is present, including deserts, snowy wastes, alien forest, and a planet which has an alien life form covering most of its surface!
Nearly all the worlds look fantastic (the forest one is a bit iffy in my mind, but conveniently covered up by heavy fogging effects anyway) and certainly helps make the game very interesting to explore on outdoor excursions.
Indoor environments also look extremely cool, detailed, and most of all, different. Most buildings in the game are owned by different groups and organisations, and this certainly shows. Rather than the usual ‘Cut and paste’ technique that other developers do for each level, it does seem as though each planet and each building has its own unique style and place in the Unreal universe at large.
Who do you kill?
Arguably one of the most important features about FPS is the enemies you face. Fighting robot frogs for example is certainly not the way to make an interesting game (not in my opinion, at least). I can safely say though, that most players prefer fighting human characters to alien beasts, and luckily Unreal 2 concentrates on the human side far more.
Humans are all in armoured suits, and fight with the same weaponry you are given. Added to the experience is that these enemies actually use tactics not to dissimilar to how many real life humans act on multiplayer games. Enemies, if under fire, take cover behind objects and only come out when the incoming fire ceases. They fire wild shots blindly in your general direction to keep you pinned down behind your own cover while they move in for the kill, some even fire explosives near your feet (rather than directly at you) to cause splash damage! Many enemies back away to safer locations (i.e. with their buddies) if they feel outgunned. It seems every (good) FPS is adding new aspects to the A.I. of their creations, as they know this is an area that must be tackled, especially as peoples expectations become higher and higher after each release. Gladly Unreal 2 follows the trend.
Awesome firepower at your finger tips
The weapons are plentiful in Unreal 2, and in some ways are given to you very quickly. Before you know it you’re using some reasonably heavy duty weaponry like there’s no tomorrow (most games build you up to the bigger weapons as you progress).
What’s also great is that every weapon has a cool secondary fire mode that adds interest even to the most boring bog-standard weapons. The Shotgun for instance, EVERY FPS has one, big whoop. But Unreal 2’s shotgun looks different, and has a cool incendiary alt-fire mode, spraying napalm over your opponents. Not only is it funny watching your enemies run around in flames, but in a fire-fight opens up a unique tactic to use very quickly and very efficiently. Extremely cool!
The normally boring assault rifle found in games also looks awesome and has an added kick in alt-fire mode, the flame thrower has an extremely useful and tactical alt-fire, the bazooka has a powerful but hard to master secondary fire etc.
The variety of weaponry also doesn't fail to impress visually (as I’ll mention later), offering realistic effects to down-right pretty Sci-Fi style effects!
The only problem is with having all this wide range of traditional and innovative weaponry is redundancy, an age old problem with RTS games. Almost as soon as you get a new unusual weapon you quickly deem how worthwhile/useless it is. Throughout all the missions I guarantee you will generally stick to three main weapons, the shotgun (for close combat), the assault rifle (for medium range and general use), and the bazooka (for tougher targets). Other weapons hardly need to be used at all, despite some being incredibly original and fun. This is due to either severe lack of ammunition being available for these weapons on levels, or them being totally inadequate to use in blazing and fast paced conflicts.
But how do you solve the age old problem of weapon redundancy? After all, having a less varied selection array of weapons, but making the ones they do have more useful would have critics saying that there isn’t much of a selection! If they had more weapons and more choice (which is where Unreal 2 is leaning), then you’ll have many weapons instantly becoming redundant.
It is often a no-win scenario with games developers, unless they get the mix just right. So far I can’t think of any FPS game that has pulled this manoeuvre perfectly, but Unreal 2 does hit very close to that happy medium, just not quite. By making the weapons you are given interesting, and original, you do at least ‘try’ to find uses for many of them. That is a good step in the right direction.
Ok, so I know it wasn’t MEANT to have multiplayer but…
I miss having multiplayer. I miss having something to do once I have completed the story. Unless you are into modding, or level design (it comes with level editor included) then there is nothing else to do but hope an add-on pack comes out with new levels, till then it will sit on your shelf collecting dust.
This will be the deciding factor for many players, and as I asked in the introduction “Are SP/MP hybrids considered the new standard of First Person gaming?” I now believe the answer is a strong yes. While it is true games that focus on one component rather than try to achieve doing both are much better games (Unreal 2 is an example of the SP side, Battlefield 1942 of the MP side) they really do need something else to keep players interested. Now that I’ve completed Unreal 2, I do feel a sense of loss, for I really enjoyed playing but now there’s nothing left… [Sniffle].
Yes I know Unreal Tournament 2003 is available to fill your multiplayer needs, but paying full price (~$50 each) for both these games? For gamers on a budget it could mean a difficult and unfair decision.
A little bad point that doesnt really fit anywhere.
One bad thing I’ll mention here, but its only minor and didn’t fit anywhere else is the dodge function. Making your character dodge is next to useless. Even if you turn down the amount you ‘dodge’ in the option menu, you still jump like a monkey. The dodge is more like a small jump, thus being slow moving and offering little tactical importance. A wasted feature. Hopefully they'll fix it in an upcoming patch.
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