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Dish guns

Then there's the fact that the gunplay is about as dishwater dull as you can get without going back to play Doom 2 again. Your arsenal includes -- stop me if you've heard this one -- a pistol, a shotgun, an assault rifle, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, a flamethrower, a sniper rifle, a rail gun, and a BFG that you only get to use at the end of the game. Okay, so there is a nifty spider gun that covers your target in spiders. But like the flamethrower and concussion grenade, it's not very practical since you can't quickly switch to a more lethal weapon to finish off your distracted target; instead of a single key for each weapon, each number key cycles through a list of weapons a la Half-Life, making it hard to quickly swap guns. Your arsenal is doled out over the course of the plot, so by the time you get nifty little toys like the laser-shooting flying orbs from Star Wars, you hardly have the chance to use them.

Press that button and see what happens

Dam!

Meet Colonel Exposition

A then B then C

The level design is entirely linear, offering no sense of exploration, but an occasional sense of frustration when it's not clear where you're supposed to find the button to unlock the next area. The environments tend to consist of the same old industrial sci-fi hallways we've been fighting in since Doom, only the poly counts are upped considerably. The geometry in Unreal 2 really shows off the engine, sometimes to the detriment of the framerate. There are some impressive wide open areas that seem to be thumbing their noses at the indoor limitations of id's engines. Some of the levels do a good job with atmospheric fogging effects and sound design. However, there are some disappointing shortcomings in the tech, such as inconsistent use of the rag doll physics and some really wretched water effects. There are also some annoying driver problems, generally associated with sound support, that remain unpatched almost a month after the game's release.

A zoom with a view

Isaak explains it all

The Pretty Good Wall

One of the most disappointing things about Unreal 2 is the lack of multiplayer support, which really hurts its longevity. This is a game entirely without replay value. Legend would have had to do a fair amount of work tuning the weapon balance and AI, but some of the content might have gone over better in a deathmatch environment rather than the canned bot battles that comprise the game instead.

Bald women in spacesuits

Your traveler's checks are there

Fire man