Jolt Country

Tough to say so far! The thing I like about it is that it loads quickly... much, much faster than Half-Life II.

(Does everything have to be about HL2? Yes.)

I did play some more HL2, and I might be willing to up my previous, lower score. We'll see!

Unreal II has a hot chick in an unbelievably inappropriate uniform for the Space Army or Marine Federation or whoever the hell I'm "working" for. That's the kind of armed forces I can get behind. Everything in the game looks squeaky-clean and new but what the hell, I don't care.

Doom 3 and HL2 really do change everything, however, with their flashlights and monster closets and so forth. So far Unreal II is pretty mindless.

But unlike most mindless things, it doesn't seem to be completely valueless. So far.

The Xbox version was shit. The enemies had 3-frame animation. What the fuck could the excuse possibly be for that? IT IS 3D. It's a GeForce III. So atrocious.

It also does that thing which games do to 1 one extent or another, and take decision-making away from you. There is a specific part, quite far into the game, that ruined it for me and stopped me playing, because it's not something I'd or anyone else with a heart or any sense of sanity would do.

3-frame animation! In 2004!

Unreal 2 was a 2004 release? Or a 2004 Xbox release?

There may be three frames of animation... but I don't know because the enemies are in my shit so much.

There's something to be said for running games at 1280x1024. Anyone who likes first person shooters and who upgraded for HL2 ought to go get Kingpin and maybe this and Serious Sam II and run it as high as your monitor lets you... being a year behind the curve makes these games look GOOD.

You won't like the ending. I'll tell you that now.