Unreal II: The Awakening

Unreal II: The Awakening (the subtitle means the awakening in English ) is a first-person shooter from the US development studio Legend Entertainment . It is the successor to the successful computer game Unreal by Epic Games and was published by Atari in February 2003 after many years of development .

action

In Unreal 2 you take on the role of an ex-soldier who is on patrol on behalf of the colonial authorities on the edge of the civilized part of the galaxy with the spaceship Atlantis and is involved in a series of adventures. The small crew of the ship also consists of the officer Aida, the war veteran Izaak and an alien pilot named Ne Ban. In the course of the game the player gets to know these characters better and learns something about the background story of each one. In Unreal 2 there are a number of different enemy types (of which mostly only a maximum of two types appear at the same time in a level) and many different planets are visited in the course of the game, including a jungle world, a desert planet and an icy moon are located.

Production notes

Unreal 2 was developed by Legend Entertainment on behalf of Epic Games. Legend Entertainment developed the extension Return to Na Pali of the first part back in 1999 and also gained recognition through the fantasy ego shooter Wheel of Time . However, after the completion of Unreal II , the developer studio was dissolved by the owner Atari. As with Unreal , there was also an Unreal Gold Edition with Unreal II , which included Unreal II and Unreal Tournament 2003 . It was later ported to the Xbox , which was released in February 2004.

technology

To represent the game world that came Unreal Engine 2 used, which made it possible to represent large outdoor areas in advance not before seen detail. The latest EAX technology was used for the sound .

The German version of the game is provided with German-language synchronization and, like the predecessor, censored to avoid indexing. While there was still some blood to be seen in the German version of the predecessor, it is completely dispensed with in Unreal 2 .

reception

As a direct successor to Unreal and its expansion Return to Na Pali , Unreal 2 shows little reference to its predecessor. It is unclear whether the two stories have any connection at all and whether Unreal 2 is a prequel or a sequel. The only clarity is that the scenario takes place in the same universe as the Skaarj (a race of aliens ) also appear in this title.

The level design in Unreal 2 is extremely linear and restrictive, so that the player hardly has the opportunity to explore the environment independently or to approach a situation in different ways. In addition, the levels are usually very short and often change locations, in contrast to the extensive and connected levels of the predecessor.

The artificial intelligence has also been heavily criticized. The computer-controlled opponents behave very simple-minded and run to their doom with no consideration for their own well-being.

The overall very short playing time also disappointed many customers.

Web links

Unreal II: The Awakening at MobyGames (English)
BeyondUnreal (English)
International Unreal and Unreal Tournament portal site (English)


Main series	Unreal • Unreal II: The Awakening
Unreal Tournament	Unreal Tournament • Unreal Tournament 2003 • Unreal Tournament 2004 • Unreal Tournament 3
Unreal Championship	Unreal Championship • Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict