Unreal II: The Awakening

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Unreal II: The Awakening
Image:Unreal II - The Awakening Coverart.png
Developer(s) Legend Entertainment
Publisher(s) Atari
Designer(s) Michael Verdu, Glen Dahlgren, Matthias Worch, Scott Dalton, James Parkman, Grayson Edge
Engine Unreal Engine 2.0
Version 2001
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox
Release date Windows [1]
USA February 3, 2003
PAL February 7, 2003
JPN March 19, 2004
Xbox [2]
USA February 10, 2004
PAL March 23, 2004
2008 (Steam)
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Mature (M)
USK: ab 16 (cut)
ELSPA: 15+
System requirements 733 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB graphics card, DirectX 8.1 or higher

Unreal II: The Awakening is a first-person shooter video game, designed initially only for a single-player campaign. The game is part of the Unreal series. It was developed by the now defunct Legend Entertainment, published by Atari and released on February 4, 2003 for Microsoft Windows. It was later ported to Microsoft's Xbox on February 10, 2004.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The main character in Unreal II is ex-marine John Dalton, a Terran Colonial Authority Marshal whose job is to patrol remote areas of space far away from any real action. He is called back into service to retrieve seven pieces of an ancient artifact thought to make a powerful weapon when assembled.

The plot follows a set path like many First Person Shooters, with the character going to various planets in search of the artifacts. Level design at each location is also single-pathed, with a certain amount of puzzle solving and key finding.

Environments on each planet are quite diverse, ranging from tropical to desert, bunkers and industrial installations, and alien cities and even inside the bodies of aliens. During several missions the player must hold a location against waves of incoming enemies, in some cases using NPCs as support. Overall it is a short game, comprising only 12 missions.

[edit] Characters

  • John Dalton: The protagonist of the game. Dalton was once a proud member of the Marines, but was court-martialed after he disobeyed a direct order and saved the life of a civilian, his commanding officer who had ordered him to leave behind to die. He was relocated to the TCA, given command of the run-down patrol ship Atlantis, and ordered to patrol the "ass-end of space far away from any real action or significance." Dalton is a strong believer in the military lifestyle and the need for authority, but he also has a strong code of ethics and will always "do the right thing" without stopping to consider the consequences.
  • Aida: The first officer of the Atlantis, Aida is in charge of giving Dalton his mission briefings. Acerbic and extremely cynical, Aida has a strong distrust of authority and a particular dislike for the military. In the past, she was a child prodigy and strategic genius, and holds galaxy-wide fame for saving Earth during the Strider Wars in a gambit where she lured the Strider armada to a distant human colony and then nuked the planet called Taiko into oblivion, killing everything on it. (Her room room aboard the Atlantis contains reminders of the Strider wars.) However, her plan also involved sacrificing several hundred human colonists who were also killed in the destruction of the planet. The guilt from their deaths eventually caused Aida to develop a strong hatred of the military, causing her to seek escape and solitude by serving in the TCA.
  • Isaak: Isaak is the ship's engineer and weapons specialist, responsible for briefing Dalton on his weapon loadout before each mission and keeping the ship running smoothly. Once an engineer in service on a Marine capital ship, Isaak panicked during a battle with the Skaarj and opened the ship's fighter bay too soon, which led to the deaths of several people as they were sucked into space. This is one of the reasons that Aida hates his guts. Disgraced from the incident, he hit the bottle and eventually ended up in the TCA. Dalton usually returns with souvenirs from every mission that Isaak skilfully transforms into devastating weapons.
  • Ne'ban: The ship's pilot, Ne'ban is a Hex-Core alien on loan to the TCA through a personnel exchange program. Ne'ban's personality is innocent and somewhat naive, and his command of the English language is rather imperfect, causing him to be something of the game's comic relief. In fact, Ne'ban is royalty, and because of his sheltered upbringing he has been shielded from life and danger and therefore not allowed to participate or accomplish anything of significance. Ne'ban is actually a parasite which dwells in some sort of transluscent slug, which wears a robotic life-support suit to operate in a human environment.
  • Sector Commander Hawkins: The head of TCA operations in the part of the galaxy where Unreal II takes place, Hawkins is Dalton's superior officer, and the man responsible for sending Dalton on a quest to collect the artifacts. Hawkins claims that his orders come from General Drexler of the marines, and that Drexler wants Dalton to collect the artifacts to safeguard them from the enemies of humanity. However, it turns out this is all a lie. Drexler has nothing to do with the search for the artifacts; Hawkins is deceiving Dalton so that he can collect the artifacts and use their power for himself. Hawkins ultimately murders the crew of the Atlantis when they realize his deception and attempt to prevent him from obtaining the artifacts. Dalton kills Hawkins when he learns of this.

[edit] Factions

  • Terran Colonial Authority: The TCA is a peacekeeping force established by the New Earth Government to maintain law and order on the outer edges of human space. Most of their work involves reining in abuses of power by the Megacorporations, who often commit serious ethical violations against the civilians of their own colonies due to the vast distance between them and any governing authority. The TCA itself controls its own private corporation, Axon Corporation, which is in charge of research and development of weapons, technology, and even archeological artifacts for the TCA. Several characters in the game describe the TCA as a very unprestigious organization, and most of the members of the Atlantis crew are wash-outs or rejects of one form or another.
  • Skaarj: The Skaarj are a war-like reptilian race that has conquered a large portion of the galaxy, and who are currently at war with humanity. They have appeared as antagonists in nearly every game of the Unreal series. The Skaarj actually have a relatively minor presence in Unreal II, and only appear near the very beginning and end of the game.
  • Liandri Corporation: The infamous megacorporation that controls the Tournament in the Unreal Tournament series. Liandri is seeking the power of the artifacts, which pits them in open warfare against the TCA. The company employs a private army of cold and ruthless genetically-engineered female warriors known as the "Liandri Angels".
  • Izanagi Corporation: A Japanese megacorporation, Izanagi is also pursuing the artifacts for their own purposes. They employ a private army of elite mercenaries known as "ghost warriors", and are the most common enemy type faced throughout the game.
  • Araknids: Araknids are a species of giant spiders that have overrun the Axon Corporation research facility on the ice planet "Hell". They are not a starfaring race, but rather an ordinary species of spider that have been mutated by the power of one of the artifacts.
  • Drakk: A mysterious race of ancient and extremely powerful insect-like machines, the Drakk are fought near the end of the game. The Drakk are engaged in cruel biological experiments on captured members of the other species, attempting to create the perfect soldier by grafting body parts from humans, Skaarj, and Kai together.
  • Kai: A nomadic race of aliens, the Kai have soft bodies with thin limbs, and are only barely humanoid in appearance. An apparently weak and pacifistic race, the Kai are employed to do menial tasks and are generally looked down upon and degraded by the galaxy's other races. Several Kai are seen serving in the TCA as cooks and low-level labor. It is ultimately revealed that an ancient race known as the Tosc hid their DNA within the genetic structure of the Kai, and thus in fact one of the galaxy's most downtrodden races is actually the last remnants of one of the galaxy's most dangerous races.
  • Tosc: An ancient and extremely powerful race of alien warriors. The Tosc stand almost 20 feet tall, have enormous strength and durability, and appear to have the natural ability to generate singularities, making them devastating living weapons. It is ultimately revealed that the Tosc are the ones responsible for creating the artifacts. When all 7 of the artifacts are brought together, they emit a signal which resurrects the dormant Tosc DNA hidden within the Kai, transforming all nearby Kai into Tosc, who quickly proceed to kill everything within sight.

[edit] Weapons

  • Dispersion Pistol (T-13 Popgun)
  • Combat Assault Rifle (CAR, M32 Duster)
  • Grenade Launcher (M406 Hydra)
  • M700 Shotgun (Crowd Pleaser)
  • Flamethrower (Vulcan)
  • Magnum (Avenger, Grace)
  • Rocket Launcher (Shark)
  • Sniper Rifle (Widowmaker)
  • Energy Rifle (Shock Lance)
  • Spore Cannon (Spider Gun)
  • Drakk Laser
  • The Takkra (Drakk Hunter)
  • Singularity Cannon

[edit] Deployables

  • Auto Turret
  • Rocket Turret
  • Force Wall
  • Proximity Sensor

[edit] Trivia

  • If the player decides to take the "Refresher Course", at the end after the deathmatch with the hologram of the player's instructor, the instructor gets an idea to get Liandri to start similar capture the flag tournaments.
  • When the player first enters the Atlantis, a seagoat can be found in one of the hatches. When Marshal 'talks' to it, the seagoat displays three different answers. If the correct one is selected, automatically three more answers are displayed. If the player answers correctly four times in a row, the seagoat will disappear (The right options are 'Spam - Spam - Spam - Humbug'). Afterwards, during the briefing, when Aida shows Marshal the distress call, the picture of the mine worker is replaced by a picture of Abraham Lincoln.
  • Another seagoat is accidentally picked up in the second mission. It will appear in random places of the Atlantis between missions since then, and run away a couple of times when approached. The third time it is approached it will not run away and Marshal will be able to 'talk' to it, and say a line.

[edit] Reception and relation to Unreal series

Unreal II is set in a different part of the Unreal universe. According to the Epic timeline, it is set somewhere during or before the year 2251; whether it is a true prequel or sequel to the original Unreal is debated, as there is conflicting evidence. Unreal II has a different collection of weapons, enemies, allies, environments, items and locations. The main tie in is the appearance of the dreaded Skaarj aliens from the series. The game is often criticized by Unreal veterans for not having very much to do with the original story, although both the original Unreal and Unreal II share the same ending movie sequence of the hero drifting off helplessly in an escape pod.

There are also some other names, some of which originated in this game, like all company names except for Liandri. The story mentions that the Izarian Shock Lance is based on ASMD technology, which is the base of the different incarnations of the Shock Rifle of the series. A new variant of the Dispersion Pistol returns in Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict.

Upon release, reactions to the game were mixed. Although it earned a metascore of 75, criticisms were levelled at the games single player mode for being derivative. Its linearity and perceived lack of immersion were also criticized. Others, however, praised the game for its imaginative weapons, level design, set pieces, characters and plot. The consensus appears to be that whilst the plot, graphics and weapons were fantastic, the gameplay was derivative and added nothing new to the genre.

Unreal II's lack of any multiplayer action was seen as a strange move for the series, although it was perhaps natural, considering Unreal Tournament's existence. Graphically, however, Unreal II was likely one of the better-looking early implementations of Unreal Engine 2.

To address the lack of multiplayer, Legend later released Unreal II: eXpanded MultiPlayer. While this free addition was praised for its innovative gameplay, it was a late addition and was overshadowed by Epic's Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004.

[edit] References

  1. ^ PC Release dates. GameFAQs. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  2. ^ Xbox Release dates. GameFAQs. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.

[edit] External links

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Unreal franchise
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