Price: £29.99 Players: 1-online System requirements (rec.): Windows 98/2000/XP/Me Intel Pentium III/AMD Athlon 733Mhz (1.2Ghz) 256Mb RAM (384MB) Hard disk space: 3Gb Video: 32Mb nVidia GeForce2 MX (64Mb nVidia GeForce3/ATI Radeon 8500) Windows compatible soundcard (Soundblaster Audigy) Modem: 33.6kpbs (Cable/ADSL) You'd have to go back a few years to the original release, which is why I was most looking forward to Unreal 2: The Awakening, particularly because these days single-player first-person shooters (FPS) are few and far between. Most developers tend to go multiplayer-only, such as the recent Xbox Unreal debut, Unreal Championship and, of course, any new FPS would have to go some to overtake the exceptional Xbox title, Halo.

You take on the role of John Dalton, a Marshal for the Terrain Colonial Authority. You've been to hell and back in combat and you live for the day when you can enjoy that all over again, so it's a real pain in the backside that your request to do so has been turned down yet again. So, for now, your job will be to babysit an alien from a far-off planet because he's been causing trouble back home. They need someone and you're doing nothing than patrolling the quite areas of space. Then just as you're returning to your ship, Aida tells you she's picked up a distress signal from a planet in need, there's no schematics or blueprints available of the inside of the troubled area and the drop-off point is miles from your destination. Sounds like we've been here many times before, but I didn't mind as I was just hankering for some new FPS action.

Checking the stats on the back of the box (listed atop this review), I was a little cautious. 3Gb hard disk space? That's far more than I've come across before, although when I came to install it, it only appeared to want a slightly more conservative 2.2Gb. Then the processor spec. While I fulfil the rest of the specs with a 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE graphics card, 384MB RAM and broadband internet (although you can play modemless), I fell down on having a mere Pentium III 600Mhz, but that wasn't short of the 733Mhz required so I thought I'd be okay, especially as I have the recommend memory and graphics card. The graphics do chug along a little bit, but nothing I can't get over, while the sound is as you'd expect from such a game in Dolby Surround. Playability-wise, I was annoyed that I wasn't allowed to make turning left/right with the cursor keys an option. I know most people use the mouse for this, but I do like to use the keys from time to time. There's certainly no reason NOT to make this an option. Then after the introduction, the training course, mission briefing and the weapons test, I eagerly awaited the main game. "Stand By", read the screen. Then, oh dear... General protection fault! History: GetEventTool <- GetMusicManager <- GetMusicScript <- DMCallRoutine <- AMusicScriptEvent::execCallRoutine <- UObject::execClassContext <- (U2GameInfo M08A1.U2GameInfo0 @ Function U2.U2GameInfo.NotifyLevelChangeEnd : 0075 line 744) <- UObject::ProcessEvent <- (U2GameInfo M08A1.U2GameInfo0, Function U2.U2GameInfo.NotifyLevelChangeEnd) <- UGameEngine::LoadMap <- LocalMapURL <- UGameEngine::Browse <- ServerTravel <- UGameEngine::Tick <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop Build: Jan 7 2003 18:16:21 Pardon?

I even rebooted the PC and shut down just about everything else in case that with the spanner in the works. It didn't work. Then, to add insult to injury, for some reason it screwed with the playback of my PC's .avi files. .mpg ones were fine, but the problem caused with the former was that when displayed on a TV, the picture came complete with a blue or yellow triangle stuck over the left-hand side. Where the hell did that come from? I noticed the game installed a fair few .ogg files, so perhaps they buggered up the Ogg Vorbis DiVx codec? Somehow after uninstalling Unreal 2 and rebooting, things eventually went back to normal, but unless I can find a way around these problems and play the game properly, this is one 'unreal' experience I do not wish to repeat. After checking some reviews on Amazon's site (click the link above), it appears I'm not the only person to experience a General Protection Fault. Then, courtesy of Nat Goss, I was able to resolve this problem with his help by uninstalling the Ogg codec (I was also using OggDSO995 like him) and reinstalling it. I also uninstalled and reinstalled the game itself.

As I write, I've now gone through a couple of levels in the game, and it does continue to chug along on a lowly Pentium III 600Mhz which mars the enjoyment somewhat. However, it's not just this where disappointment lies. The game is just so basic compared to what's gone before. Don't get me wrong, I loved the original Unreal. It was an absolute stunner in its day. As the main menu appeared and the 'camera' swept around a castle, I was in awe of the graphics on view. Yes, it was rather a long game but it had atmosphere - something else this game is lacking. The press release makes this title out to be such an advance in gaming history, but I've killed enemies relatively few and far between, opened some doors, switched a power station back on, recovered an artefact, trudged through the marshes with my colleagues in a level that was so pedestrian it nearly put me to sleep and dealt quite easily with an end-of-level boss or two. I was so looking forward to this release, and so far I'm disappointed. I'll repeat one word to the developers of this, and any FPS game in the future - Halo. If your title doesn't stand up to that tour-de-force, then you've got to question the validity of your release. As I understand it, this isn't a particularly long game so I'll continue through to the end and report back on whether things get any better, but this is really one for the die-hard FPS fans.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2003.