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Fighting Force 2

Score: 90%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Core Design
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Action

Graphics & Sound:

The graphics in Fighting Force 2 blow the original Fighting Force away. Everything looks good. There's a great deal of variation in the levels as well, which is always a plus. I found the original Fighting Force lots of fun, but got tired of seeing the same rooms and halls over and over. With FF2, you'll be all over the place, visiting labs, salvage yards, buildings, a prison, a polar region and yes, even a jungle area looking very reminscent of Tomb Raider. I just love the plants blowing ever so slightly in the wind. A nice touch.

Now, on to the sound. The background music is outstanding and immerses you into each and every level completely. The explosions and various sound effects were quite good as well. All in all, Fighting Force 2 excels in this category.


Gameplay:

Ok, let me get one thing out of the way right in the beginning. Fighting Force 2 is a good game. Its lost some of the magic of the original due to key gameplay components that have been blatantly dropped from this sequel, but its still a really good game. Here's my problem. Eidos chose to take away the awesome multi-player feature that was the crux of the original game. Now, its simply a one player action/adventure. Still lots of fun, just different fun. Basically, you are Hawk Manson, a member of SI-COPS sent out to take down the evil doings of the Knackmiche corporation. To do this, you will use your brute strength plus a ton of different weapons that pop up in opportune places. Now, in the original Fighting Force, when you killed a bad guy and he dropped his weapon, you could grab it up and use it. You are able to do this in the final levels of the game, but not in the earlier ones. Bummer. Also, you can interact with your environment, but not to the extent that you could in the original. But still destroy every computer and copy machine in your path. Sometimes health flies out, plus its just good old fashioned destruction (and it ups your score). Also, although your score is supposedly displayed in dollars, it was just more fun for the money to fly out of whatever you destroyed, as in the original.

In my opinion, Eidos would have done better to release this game under a separate title, as its a great game. However, to me, its just not Fighting Force, you know? If you like games where you bash and shoot your way through dozens of well-rendered levels, this is a good game for you.


Difficulty:

The difficulty is spot on. It gets tougher as you progress in levels, but never so hard as to make you throw your controller down. The enemies' AI is pretty decent - not the best, but not bad. Ok, a few of them are really stupid and just stand there while you beat the daylights out of their buddies, waiting for their turn, but very few. And hey, sometimes you need that kind of breather.

Game Mechanics:

In Fighting Force 2, you will punch, kick and shoot your way through bunches of levels. You won't find any puzzles here though, only the occasional keycard search. There are scads of weapons that turn up from flamethrowers to grenades to plain old pipes. I find the huge sledgehammer to be a fun and very effective weapon, myself. I did have a few control issues with this game. Mainly, I didn't find the inventory easy to get to. When I was engrossed in a furious battle, and my 'pipe' runs out (what's up with that??) and I throw it at the enemy, I found it easier to just kill him with my fists and then reload, so to speak, after all is clear. Holding the Y button while trying desparately to land on the correct weapon using the D-Pad just didn't seem to intuitive to me. Also, there is a Rage Meter at the top of the screen, although it never really seemed to do much for me. Mainly I just ignored it. Anyway, those things aside, Fighting Force 2 is a groovy game. If you have no prior experience with Fighting Force, I think you'll like it a lot.

-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins

Sony PlayStation 2 NCAA Football 2005 Nintendo 64 Army Men: Air Combat

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated