I got this game way back, now, though not when it first came out but instead when it was re-released on a Sierra Best Sellers budget title that contained both the game and it's expansion pack. First off, forget the base building and resource accumulating as this is all gone. Forget the unit training too, so no tank rushes. This is an RTS with a difference. Before each level you get a loadout. The available tanks, infanty, artillery units and air units must be allocated between three dropships. You can also modify the units you take, choosing between different types of vehicles or infantry types. Do you go for heavy damaging or more defensive units? Air attack or for scouting? Then there is when to bring down each dropship. As you progress through the map of a level you will find alternative drop points to bring units onto the battlefield, which could be strategically valuable, so not always is it worth bringing all your units onto the field at the start. Another difference now shows itself. The units are not singular. A tank unit will consist of a small number of tanks which you control as one unit. The unit is only dead when all the tanks in it are destroyed. The same applies for infantry and planes. Only the big, heavy hitters like the artillery get a single vehicle for the unit. Because you can't rebuild your army you need to take care of what you have available to you. You have your own vehicle, too, for the protagonist of the campaign you are playing. This vehicle will heal a nearby unit, so if your attack fails, retreat and regroup, recover and plan your next attack, hopefully before the enemy strikes whilst you are down. The graphics of the game were very good for the time of release but are now dated. However, graphics don't make a game. That said, though, you can zoom right up to the units to experience a sight akin to that of a first person shooter. Then having the camera follow the unit around means you can experience what they are doing. The camera control is nicely done. So, instead of long and dragged out resource hoarding to be able to build up a base of operations you can instead focus on the mission objectives which is a nice change and very different from any other RTS I've played. I don't know whether my old copy will work with Vista 64, so I might just get it from here. Especially as I never got to finish it. It has been said that the game is now available for free, but I believe that this is only for the main game and not it's expansion pack.
If you've played the first Unreal game then the first thing you'll notice is that the style of Unreal 2 is very different. To start with, it brings on the Power Armour, and with it the slow movement. After playing Unreal Gold and then playing this game it did take a little while to get used to how much slower the movement speed is. Some advice, however. Turn on dodging. By default it is switched off, but if you want any hope of moving at any speed and dodging rockets and such, you need the double tap dodging turned on. The other big difference with this game is the length. It is rather a short game. Unreal Gold is huge, I've found, but this game is way too short. Then there are the loading times. This game has very long loading times which becomes irritating at times. Even for the quick load function, it loads the entire level, whereas if it just loaded the player's stats and player/item/creature placement details, for example, it could have had significantly faster loading, but no, the entire level is loaded. My machine is is rather new with plenty of RAM, CPU and graphics memory, but even so some of the levels take 45 seconds to load up. At one part there is a level which consists of a fly-by video, then you walk through a metallic cavern over a bridge and through two large doors. No enemies, nothing special, and then it's the next level and loading time again. The only tip I can give here is DON'T DIE! If you die often then you'll get seriously annoyed by the loading times. Some of the levels try to bring a bit of strategy into the game where you can place defensive shields, automatic turrets and tell some marines where to guard and patrol. The only problem with the last part is that to order a marine you have to walk up to them. What this means is that calling them back isn't going to happen, you can't order them over radio (but you can hear them over it!). One person here mentioned random crashes. My system is running Vista Ultimate 64-bit and I had only one crash which threw it out back to the desktop. The crash happened as it was about to load a new level. All of this said, however, the game is still pretty good. The graphics are very nice and the story is okay. They bring in many different types of environment too, from rolling hills, frozen wastes, desert, metallic Gigeresque settings to research centres and of course spaceships. These also bring with them a wide variety of aliens. Along with this there is a good number of weapons at your disposal, though some I never used and some don't work with single-player (such as the smoke grenades which have no effect on your enemies, they shoot just as accurately through the smoke). For the price here at GOG.com, if you like the first person genre then get it. It's worth it for the price, but don't go expecting some fantastic game here. I'd like to have given this game 3.5 stars but GOG.com won't let me do that! As such, because it is worth the price I've given it 4 stars.
