Gameplay

I can't believe it's not a real 15 foot robot!

So, the question on everyone's mind is, "Does diet Dr. Pepper taste more like regular Dr. Pepper?" The answer is no. Stick with regular, and ignore the heckles of non-believers. Prune juice, maybe, but I'd drink it over cola every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Boom	Water explosions look great

Some of you also may be wondering about gameplay. Well, I'm telling you, NutraSweet is Satan's business. But if you must know, Heavy Gear 2 is, after you get past the complex interface (and it takes hours), quite a bit of fun to play. After a day of solid gameplay, I really took a liking to this game. One of the things I enjoyed most was the departure from pure "go here, kill this" gameplay. There's always some action in any given scenario, but sometimes, your mission is simply to, say, scout out a prison camp.

Missile trail

Wading through muck

Even when the mission is action-centric, the happenings are believable. For example, if you attack Proust's guards before your tanks block off the canyon, chances are he'll escape. Brains and often attention to being stealthy are key.

Again from behind

Anti-Personnel Mortar

Choose your equipment wisely

If you're lazy, there are several default configurations for each gear type, but to really kick ass requires careful weapon and attribute selection. You're constrained by a "threat level," which differs from mission to mission, and is determined by the way your gear is outfitted. It's a good idea to set up your own configurations, saving the ones you like. Some missions may not require a zero-G pack or submersion suit, which cost you precious threat points. Missions heavy on infantry are best attempted with an anti-infantry mortar, stealth missions benefit from a snipe-happy weapon like the heavy laser, and so on.

Target destroyed

Ready, aim . . .

There really is no one good way to outfit your gear; it depends on playing style, weapon preference, etc, and there's no way to figure it out but trying out all your available 'toys.' Each item has basic info and a description, but field experience is necessary, as the descriptions vary from simply not helpful to wildly inaccurate (or at least misleading).