Dark Reign 2

"The sequel has surpassed the original."

Introduction : Dark Reign 2 is the sequel to the Real-time strategy game Dark Reign (duh). DR2 maintains the basic gameplay of the original, but tweaks and polishes the original's flaws. If you are into RTS games, you should consider picking this one up.

Graphics - 9.2/10
Superb. Excellent! It takes the general environments and transforms them into full-3D battlefields. The environments really look great. From wherever you are, you can see the incredible depth of the battlefield. If you are on a mountain, you can perfectly see the effect of the ground fading away with the distance. That's all on the environments.
The units also look great. They are sharp and you can see the details clearly.
But definitely, the best thing about the graphics is that you can easily zoom into the battlefield. You can see the heated battle up-close and personal, which will give you the almost-real experience of the troops you are commanding.

Sound/Music - 7.0/10
Not bad, but nothing special. The sound effects are pretty good, and the units' speech is also great.
But the music is just average. Yes, there are some nice tunes, but you barely notice the music when you're playing.

Gameplay - 8.0/10
Cool. It's just what you'd expect from a strategy game.
You start the game, and begin building your base. After some time, you need to upgrade your buildings to get higher technology and to have the ability to train new units.
And then, when you feel that you have enough units, attack.

The gameplay in DR2 is very balanced. Let's say that one army has a certain unit, called Unit X. The other army will have a unit very similar to Unit X, but different in appearance, name and maybe other things. But both units will have the same role.

I must warn you, Dark Reign 2 is a difficult game. Some of the single-player missions are very long and frustrating. That means that many people will get to see the ''mean'' units(which are a marvel, by the way) only while playing Skirmish mode.

Replay Value - 7.0/10
Hmmmm.. it is a very good game, but after you've gone through all of the solo missions, there's not much to do. Playing Skirmish mode will get old quickly, and the multiplayer mode(playing through the Internet, modem, etc) won't keep you entertained for long. The single-player's nice, though...

Overall - 8.0/10 (not an average)
This is a solid strategy game that you should pick up if you're tired of all the RTS crap out there.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/01, Updated 02/13/01