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Unreal II: The Awakening

EMAIL PRINT pc

5.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 36 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Infogrames

Developer: Legend Entertainment

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter, Action

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: February 4, 2003

Summary

As a Terran Colonial Authority Marshall, you're patrolling a sector of the frontier with three crew members when an interstellar war erupts about you! Rumors of powerful and ancient alien artifacts have driven rival factions to war in an attempt to find and control the objects. You must locate these artifacts, determine their purpose and restore order to the sector - before it's too late. [Infogrames]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central Game Revolution GameSpot Guide PC GameWorld

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

GamePro

It speaks like no other game in the genre, loud and with feeling, and tells a story worth telling among all the explosions.

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Game Informer

Never before have I seen this level of detail in a PC game. Unreal II blows the lid off the graphical standards we as PC gamers have set, and elevates the playing field to an unprecedented level. [Mar 2003, p.90]

Cincinnati Enquirer

A 3-D shooter that pays as much attention to a compelling single-player storyline as it does blasting enemies with futuristic weaponry.

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Armchair Empire

Only the lack of a rich multi-player section and some odd design decisions keep Unreal 2 from being one of the best FPS’s in recent memory.

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Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

It's so predictable that a player will find himself quickly out-thinking the designers. [PC Gamer UK]

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PC Gameworld

Amazingly beautiful, yet totally vacant in practically every other respect. It is certainly something fun to behold, but its lackluster showing in many other ways makes it tedious.

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IGN

While the title does make some significant breakthroughs these are largely confined to a technical realm and offer little in the way of new gameplay.

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AtomicGamer

For anyone who is looking for an old-school action FPS experience with solid production values and lots of explosions, this is your game.

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Maxim Online

The first Unreal made its name on, well, its unreal visuals, but we had no idea how saucy a first-person shooter could look until we tried the sequel.

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Computer Gaming World

While the game starts off strong, its personality steadily dribbles away, leaving you feeling you've played enough of it and never need to play it again. [Apr 2003, p.102]

GMR Magazine

Definitely delivers cool effects and dishes up some really amazing moments, but technical issues, a cornball story, and weak voice acting add up to a slight disappointment overall. [Apr 2003, p.66]

Game Over Online

It is impressive. Since the five-year hiatus, however, there have been others that were more so than it.

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Electric Playground

Long enough to last you a few intense game sessions, and you'll easily polish it off over the weekend.

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GameSpy

Sorry, it's been an epic wait for the tech upgrade... It's a good game, but too often resorts to recycling a number of first-person shooter clichés instead of breaking new ground.

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ActionTrip

The stupid and uninspiring storyline, coupled with some EAX related problems never got me hooked on this one. Unreal 2 is still an entertaining game, but it's way too simplistic and "old school" to live up to today's single player FPS standards.

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Four Fat Chicks

To sum up, Unreal II is disappointing, not so much in terms of what it is as in terms of what we expected, what it hints at, and what it might have been.

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GameSpot

It has the look and polish of a great shooter, but the gameplay of a merely good one. It's also a fairly short game with no multiplayer support to speak of.

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PC Gamer

Introduces so many cool new weapons - like the blistering flamethrower, an incendiary alt-fire on the shotgun, and seeker orbs - that you feel cheated not getting to play with them against others online. [Apr 2003, p.112]

Gamezilla!

A generic, rest on your laurels title from developer Epic that, while beautiful to look at, is a bloated (3GB mandatory install), largely plotless shooter that is disappointing given the pleasant surprise that the original "Unreal" was.

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PC Format

Forward-looking tech, backwards-looking gaming.

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Eurogamer

A flawed masterpiece. There's so much that's done well but so much which counters it to its doom - like the weapons. At about 15 in total there are simply too many, and they claw to convention like a headcrab.

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Total Video Games

If you’ve got a new graphics card and want something to show it off, Unreal II: The Awakening is the perfect solution, but don’t go expecting a true next-generation experience; our advise would be to rent it as you’ll likely complete it in no time at all.

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Cheat Code Central

Just about everything is good quality in this game but make sure you're computer is loaded or you're going to be playing a slideshow.

My Gamer

It looks good, it sounds good, yet, while it has a few interesting moments, it doesn’t impress or break new ground the way the original did.

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Entertainment Weekly

Unreal II, for all its technical pizzazz, lacks a similar let's-pile-on-the-scares inventiveness... Awakening, we have to say, is anything but. [28 Feb 2003, p.86]

G4 TV

Doesn't fail to impress us with its high-quality, inventive visuals, but the gameplay is no match for its presentation.

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Computer Games Magazine

The AI in the aging "Half-Life" was better; the sond in "Medal of Honor" blows this away; and the cut scenes and exposition in the "No One Lives Forever" series leave this in the dust. [Apr 2003, p.68]

Yahoo! Games

Roughly a third the size of its predecessor, meaning that you'll be able to go from eagerly installing the game to disappointingly removing it from your hard drive for good in just two or three nights.

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GameNow

A solid shooter with a slick look that offers little new to the genre. [Apr 2003, p.44]

FiringSquad

The bottom line is that Unreal 2 is saddled with unmemorable weapons and enemies, disappointing AI, a dull lead character, underdone level design, and a lack of technical polish, all wrapped around the same old stuff you’ve seen in so many first person shooters, most of which are better than this game.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dalek C gave it a10:
Ignore the bad reviews, this game is very fun. It isn't to difficult and the AI is a bit crap but the briefing and voice is great and the graphics are shiny. Explosions are nice, the weapons aren't so good but they are full of led.

Szilard B. gave it a3:
I'd loved it, if i hadn't played Unreal 1 before... nice graphics, but boring gameplay.

Mike U. gave it a10:
What is so bad about this game? I don't get it. Yes it is linear, just like half-life 1 and 2, so stop thinking HL is so great, its linear too. I don't exactly see the cliche in the story, I thought it was very original and creative. The weapons were really fun and the voice acting was ok. some parts really scared me quite a few times. This game is probably really cheap now, so get it! But If you can get your hands on the special edition, get that. It has some great multiplayer. Underrated game!

J B gave it a3:
Slow load times after deaths. Caching anyone? Some levels were poorly designed. Got stuck and had to reload in numerous places. Very poor. The original Unreal was better.

Osckar gave it a7:
I like it because it take me into the game (it´s the best recreation i never saw of a marine with an armor with 40 or 60 kgs. fighting in the middle of a battle). By other hand it´s true that not have the quality of Unreal 1, and it´s absolutely linear, but others game are too, as Half Life (one of the best games for PC). I´m stay playing now with the offer of Steam platform, so I´m enjoy again!

Lane T. gave it an8:
Not the greatest game in the world, but has more positives than the reviews lead you to believe. For all the (deserved) praise Half-Life 2 received for keeping things fresh and constantly introducing new ways to interact with the world, Unreal 2 did the same a year prior. Nearly every mission introduces something new for the player to do or use. Graphics are fantastic, particularly now that today's PCs are capable of running it at full detail. My only complaints are that the load times are ridiculous, AI could definitely be better, and while the stories around the characters may be interesting, they are told in a very mundane way.

Leigh W. gave it a9:
I bought this about 2 weeks after it was released, based purely on the sucess of it's predecessor. I wasn't totally blown away, but I did find this to be noe of the more enjoyable FPSs I've played. Personally, I think it's very underrated. Storyline aside (I don't really care for them, but this at least had one that was mildly engaging), this is an excellent FPS with a lot of unique level concepts and weapon designs. If I were to describe how this game plays, I'd simply say it was 'fun'. It's enjoyable to play, simple as that. And with today's technology the graphics are still nice and run incredibly well. All you HL2 fanboys should realise that this game is no more or less linear than HL2, and there are more weapons and enemies. It's a good game.

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Unreal II: The Awakening

Game Info

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Also On Metacritic

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