My 2 Cent Take on Unreal II: The Awakening

Hot on the heels of my foray into the Dark Side I decided to shake the dust off another game that I'd been hoarding. Actually I had installed the game a year or so ago, but with only a PIII 866 MHz processor in its core, my computer couldn't handle the demands of the game, and I gave up. After I recently acquired a more powerful computer I decided to go for it again, and voila! there was quite a difference.

West Side Story This Ain't. The premise of the game is not much different from a dozen other space-based action games -- prevent hostile forces from dominating the universe. In Unreal2 it comes in the form of a mysterious artifact that is split in seven parts and strewn on different planets in the galaxy, and which is being sought by various parties -- different alien species, human mercenaries working for mega-corporations, and the Earth's military. But unlike most other games, Unreal2 makes some attempt at character and plot development. You play the role of John Dalton, who was demoted from a position in the Marines to the commander of a Terran Colonial Authority patrol ship - a glorified cop. Your crew mates are Aida, a voluptuous mission specialist with a clouded past, Isaak, a raspy-voiced weapons specialist who has a problem with authority, and Ne'Ban, an alien pilot with the personality of a jellyfish. Together you flit from planetary system to planetary system trying to recover the parts of the artifact, so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.

As with Jedi Knight the story is told through cut-scenes, but where JK used cinematics and real actors, U2 uses in-game interactive scenes that double as mission briefings and non-interactive scenes. I thought this was a fairly good way of introducing a story-line and developing the characters, which is done gradually. Towards the end I began to feel empathy towards what the characters had been through, and was hoping that they would be able to resolve all their issues. By the way, don't go getting funny ideas about getting fresh with Aida - the game designers wisely excluded the controls necessary for that sort of fooling around. Unless it's one of the cheats, in which case I want to know about it!

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder True to the Unreal legacy, U2's visuals are nothing short of phenomenal. From space-themed environments to grand, Earth-type vistas, the levels never cease to amaze and delight. In one map you're looking at a landscape dominated by the Gaigan Gas Giant, in another you're walking through a lush rain forest on Sanctuary with glimpses of the moon behind passing clouds, and in yet another you are strolling along the sea shore of the resort-like planet of Severnaya. I was often finding myself pushing my jaw back up into place as I stared at the magnificent scenery.

The stunning quality of the environments extends to the man-made and alien-made structures. Realism and "authenticity" are the names of the game, where architecture is concerned. The man-made buildings are familiar-looking yet have a futuristic but utilitarian appearance about them. Everything seems to be there for a reason, and that makes the game more believable. Additionally, the props go beyond the standard storage crates, computer terminals, and barrels (which is to be expected in a game of this generation). From the earth movers and cranes on Acheron to the power generators on Sanctuary and Avalon, there are signs of real human activity, and each prop is modeled with precision to be as convincing as possible.

The alien environments are quite another thing altogether. While they are meant to look convincing they are also, by necessity, weird and fantastic in nature. Acheron, with its single organism covering the entire planet, was eerily organic, while the Drakk colony on Na Koja Abad and the Hive Planet were sinister, mechanical monstrosities. As with the human structures, the alien ones were developed with great attention to detail. All in all, it was a very satisfying experience to explore each level.

Music to My Ears... not! Unlike that in the original Unreal, the music in U2 is largely forgettable. I bring this up mainly to contrast the two games -- more than six years after playing the original Unreal I still vividly recall the introductury music as the "camera" swept over and around the Skaarj castle, and a thrill runs down my spine even today. But a day after completing U2 I wouldn't be able to recall any of the music, even if you were to shove an Avenger 0.50 Magnum up my nose and threaten to clean out my snots with it. Now to be fair, the intro music in Unreal was haunting and memorable, and comes on each time the game is started, whereas the intro music in U2 is generic and difficult to remember. And perhaps once I've played U2 a few more times the tunes will stick in my mind. Don't get me wrong, U2 does not have bad music; just music that's not memorable. There were some pieces that I remember at the time were remarkable (e.g., right before the Hell mission), but I just don't remember them now.

The ambient and other sounds were a different story. In the rain forest on Sanctuary there were sounds of crickets, animals roaring, grunting, or mooing in the distance, raindrops, occasional claps of thunder - all serving to immerse the player in the game. There were quite a few times that I jumped at the sound of thunder. Considering that I don't jump when thunder happens in real life, that's saying something. This realism extended to other areas too - feral growls of the skaarj, the distant hum of a generator, the dreaded cocking of a shotgun. Of course you'd expect nothing less from the professional team that developed U2.

Death to the Aliens! Long Live the Terran Colonial Authority. The villains of U2 fall into two main categories -- those that want to see you dead, and those that want to see you suffer before you die. But I jest. There are two main categories, namely alien and human. Among the alien enemies are the humanoid variety - the lethal and relentless skaarj, the frenetic and somewhat demented Izarians, and the fearsome Tosc. Each of these enemies is a worthy opponent, whether because of its speed, tactics, endurance, or weaponry. Non-humanoids include the creepy araknids, the dog-like Snipes, the solitary Mukhog outside the Elysium research facility on Hell, and the fearsome Drakk mechanoids. The foes you really need to watch out for are the human variety -- the well-trained and nimble mercenaries, whether they are the Izanagi Ghost Warriors or the Liandri Angels. They typically attack in numbers, try to outflank you, move fast, and are lethally accurate with their weapons. I often found myself face down, with my opponent(s) standing over my lifeless form and pissing into the bullet wounds. [At those times I wondered if it wouldn't in fact be better for me to be endowed with the artifical intelligence that my enemies possessed in such abundance.] And then there are the opponents that you don't see, or don't even realize are up to no good. But perhaps this is not the time or place to go into plot spoilers.

If you think the regular enemies are tough, you ain't seen nothin' yet, bub. There are the mini-bosses, which are slower, tougher, heavier armed versions of the regular enemies. They are not too bad when on their own and when there's enough room to maneuver. Unfortunately, they often come in pairs or packs, and from different directions, and are typically accompanied by their faster-moving brethren. As for the full-fledged bosses, there are only two real entities - the Heavy Araknid at the end of the Hell mission, and the Boss Drakk. Both these opponents pose a significant challenge, not only in the amount of punishment they can take, but also in the amount they can dish out.

I played the game on medium difficulty, and for the most part the fights were fair. There were a couple of instances, however, when my fingers were aching to type in that cheat code and go to town with the enemy. One fight that I thought was badly balanced was against the Boss Araknid - with a solitary health pickup, no real place to hide, and medium araknids eager to swarm over me, I took damage in a hurry, and was often defeated faster than I could fall on my knees and beg and plead for mercy, like the wuss that I am. The other instance was in the Obolus Repair Facility defense mission. Teams of Liandri Angels first bringing in an assault from the left flank, then from the right, then left, then right; scarce ammo, requiring me to run out to fallen Angels to scrounge what ammo I could; and barely any cover against magnum and rocket fire. Both these battles were frustrating, to say the least, and on at least one occasion I was sorely tempted to go outside and kick the neighbor's dog. Or the neighbor. In the end, through perseverance and sheer dumb luck I managed to pull through these encounters without using any cheats.

EDIT: The second time around I found the fight with the Boss Araknid much easier - I simply kept pounding away with the flame thrower, and disregarding any damage I was taking. However, the fight with the Liandri Angels at the Obolus Repair Facility was not any easier.

There were a couple of departments where I felt the U2 team could have added some types of enemies. There are no aquatic enemies, although there are plenty of aquatic environments. Also, some of the outdoor areas have benign wildlife, and they certainly lent a wonderful atmosphere; but perhaps there could have been fewer "vegetarians" and more "carnivores", particularly airborne ones. With the exception of the Drakk, I can't recall any airborne enemies. But this is just nit-picking, as the enemies that are present in the game are challenging and fun to fight against.

Guns Don't Kill People. Aliens Do. To help you out in your quest for galactic domina..., er.... World Peace, Isaak the Weapons Specialist on your crew equips you with the TCA's finest arsenal, as well as products of his own tinkering. There are the ever-popular and crowd-pleaser guns to be found in the typical first-person shooter game - the ubiquitous shotgun, with a cool secondary incendiary fire; the rapid-fire assault rifle; the rocket launcher; and the grenade launcher. But there are the other cool guns, such as the sniper rifle, whose zoom feature allows you to pick a fly off the ass of a Mukhog; the Drakk Laser cannon, which lets you to quite literally sweep the floor with your enemies; and the flame thrower. Other weapons, which didn't really cut it for me were the Avenger 0.50 caliber Magnum pistol [which was difficult to shoot with much accuracy, thus relegating it to close combat use when a shotgun is so much better], the Izarian Shock Lance with its weak electro-magnetic pulse, the utterly useless Spider Gun, and the lame Takkra, an orb similar to the remote droid in Star Wars, which goes around shooting bursts of energy at enemies. In addition, some of the grenades [e.g., concussion and smoke] weren't much use.

EDIT: The second time around I used the secondary (incendiary) fire of the shotgun much more extensively, with good result. I also tried to give the other guns a chance, but I only found the secondary fire of the Izarian shock lance to be worth the effort, and that too only against stationary enemies like the gun turrets.

Quit Playing With Yourself. The nature and quality of gameplay is in keeping with the rest of the aspects of the game - top notch. In addition to the expected quests for keys or key codes, there are many different variations on the theme, and some completely different direcions the missions take. For example, some of the missions are defensive - protect a technician while he decodes and downloads data, or defend a landing pad until you can be evacuated. These missions rely on your placement of auto gun turrets, plasma shield barriers, and Marines, and can be tense and exciting. Another mission that I particularly liked was to provide sniper cover against skaarj for a Marine while he repairs an outdoor power generator. There was little direct risk to me, but I knew I had to protect the Marine for my mission to be successful. The final mission, where I had to rush to find an escape pod while my starship hurtled uncontrollably towards the Sun, was also an interesting mission twist.

Now the less innovative side of the gameplay. Most levels are very linear, and do not require exploration of any kind whatsoever. Having said that, I should point out that many levels are vast in scope and expanse, and allow for quite a bit of aimless wandering. But while it was fun to explore areas that were not necessary to explore, it would have been more rewarding if those areas held goodies or secrets. Of course, the up-side of linear levels is that you can't get lost. Another plus is that in many maps you see areas that you visit later in the level or mission, and the aha! factor adds to the overall enjoyment of the map. So, on balance I would say that despite the linear nature of the levels they are well-designed, and fun to play.

In Every Sunshine a Little Rain Must Fall. I ain't talkin' about the rain on the Sanctuary mission either. Two of the biggest complaints I have about the game are the following: First, the game takes forever to install, and a long time to load, save, or re-load. This is something I can generally live with, particularly the long install, as it only happens once. But my more serious complaint is the second one - the game will suddenly, and without evident reason, begin to severely lag. By "severe" I mean one frame every 2-3 seconds -- unplayable even when no combat is in progress. It does not necessarily have anything to do with the particular area one is in or the action that one is taking -- the same area will play fine once, but after a saved game reload or when re-visited will lag. The only solution is to quit the game and restart from the last saved game. Occasionally, the reverse would occur -- everything got massively speeded up. This makes many of the normally slow-moving bosses lethal, as they not only inflict terrible damage and can take a lot of punishment, but they move around like flies on high-octane.

EDIT: The second time around I played the game at a lower resolution, and whether by coincidence or not, the game did not go into the severe lagging routine as much. Moreover, at the lower resolution the pictures were just as pretty. Changing the resolution did little to speed up the loading of games, however.

Bottom Line - This is a good sequel to a great game (the original Unreal). Many of the aspects of the game are innovative (for the year when it was released, 2002) and fun, the voice acting and characterizations are well done, and the breath-taking graphics steal the show. Would I keep this game on my hard drive to play again and again? Play it one more time, probably; play it again and again, not likely. You be the judge if that's high enough for your standards.

EDIT: Actually, after playing the game again, I have decided not to uninstall the game. Mainly because re-installing it would be such a chore, but also because the game has grown on me, and I believe I will play it again.

For a more detailed synopsis of the game, as well as a mission-by-mission summary, read this.