Unreal II, the awakening

The original Unreal is five years old. The sequel is here.

Back in 1997, the first 3D dedicated PCI devices were fighting for the consumers' money and for the developers' time. Videologic had PowerVR - with significant support from Matrox and, much later, from SEGA via the Dreamcast console -, and 3DFX had Voodoo, the Glide API and the SLI (single line interleave) technology. There were other market contenders, like ATI, Intel and S3, but prior to the NVidia dominance, PowerVR and Voodoo were the big names.
It was just wonderful to own two Voodoo 2 PCI devices, to link them in a SLI configuration, and then enjoy 3D accelerated games up to 1024x768 resolution, at very high frame rates, at least if compared to what the alternatives could deliver.

If hardcore gamers were to name a few titles, from those days, really benefiting from 3DFX's hardware, I am sure Unreal would be high on the list! In fact, the original Unreal was so incredibly ahead of its peers, that I remember computer stores having PCs on display, endlessly looping the game's spectacular intro sequence, for weeks!

Unreal's opening episode required zero gunshots to complete; yet, it remains my most intense suspense experience on the PC: your spaceship had crashed and you had to leave it... as simple as that. Once on the outside, there were waterfalls, green hills, blue skies and... monsters. Unreal was (is) so great because of the superb level design, the atmospheric audio and the balanced difficulty. Unreal was the best single player first person shooter (FPS) on the PC.

Unreal II (u2) - the awakening - is the eagerly awaited sequel, facing the tremendous challenge of improving *the* reference.

U2's events take place in the same universe as before, but the player plays a different character: the ex-marine John Dalton, working for the security team TCA (Terran Colonial Authority), serving at the spaceship Atlantis.

The Atlantis is very much controlled by a trio of characters: (1) Aida Shen - in charge of planning and briefing -, (2) Isaak Borisov - ship engineer and guns -, and the alien Ne'Ban - pilot and navigator. In practical terms, John Dalton is the one having to literally go land where the action is. However, for plot sake, the Atlantis doesn't freeze when you are out; in fact, there is a building tension between Aida and Isaak, with the later being accused of being a danger to the crew.

Legend tried to deliver a leap forward on FPSs by adding multiple choice conversations and cut-scenes between missions, but that formula we already know, so I think that, as before, Unreal 2 is worth the money (or not) strictly depending on the quality of its twelve missions, where you are to collect seven strange artifacts. How good are those missions?

Contrary to U1's, U2's inaugural episode didn't impress me, except for the huge building that hosts the energy reactor - there is a moment when you get to see the whole thing and it really widens all over the distance, in such an impressive fashion, that regular in-doors level-design, just can't cope with. But, besides that, nothing feels superior: you get the usual corridors, the usual loud firepower, the usual smoke and the usual around the corner dangers.
It is when reaching the "Hell" mission, that the overall rating of the game rockets high, after the nocturne episode, at the forest, where several aspects come together to form a tremendous experience, finally equivalent to U1's memorable best moments: it is dark, it rains, the thunders are 100% believable on looks and sound, the terrain is vast and irregular, the soil is soaked on water and the soldiers you are there to help do behave like a team, working on formation to protect the precious artifact that you collected on mission #1. You and the other soldiers must fight well organized baddies until a rescue ship arrives. Really solid! One unforgettable gaming hour.

I believe Unreal II has many more extreme quality hours of play ahead, so I can't but strongly recommend this title. I'll keep you posted as I find time to challenge those missions.

Best possible prices for Unreal II are:

for european costumers: http://www.amazon.co.uk (24.99£ ~ 36.3€*) [direct link to item]

for american costumers: http://www.amazon.com (44.99 USD) [direct link to item]

*considering 1£ = 1.45313€