Heavy Gear II

"A great game, but not the best in the world..."

I first considered buying Heavy Gear II quite a while back. I'd heard good reviews about it, of course, but I still wasn't sure.
Then, a local software dealer offered it at less than half price, and I quickly snapped it up. I haven't regretted that purchase.

Story: 8/10

Without giving too much away, basically the inhabitants of this planet Terra Nova (a former colony of Earth) have been independent from Earth for quite a while. A sabotage attack by the Earth army forces the various factions on Terra Nova to join forces and go to war against Earth, armed with Gears (something like a cross between Mechwarrior's Mechs and the armoured battlesuits of Starcraft's marines).

The story of HGII is taken mostly from the background material of the RPG/wargame on which it's based (more info at www.dp9.com). It's pretty good, and is enhanced by in-engine cutscenes as well as the more traditional rendered kind. However, I felt that it didn't really focus as much on the individual characters as I'd have liked: your squadmates don't feature at all in the rendered scenes (since they could get killed at any time in the campaign). A plus point, however, is that they do banter and pass comments during the missions, which is a nice touch.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphical style of HGII is... very nice. The closest comparison I can draw would be to Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, although HGII's graphics are rather more advanced. Gears have an attractive ''athletic'' look about them while being chunky enough to look practical, and I can really envision them as war machines. The animation is smooth and fluid (mostly), and everything just looks incredibly cool. Ground vehicles, however, are slightly less detailed (read: hexagonal wheels).

The terrain graphics are quite good, for the most part. Skies especially are nice. While the overall look of the game is a tiny bit dated when you compare with the latest generation of first-person shooters and sims, it still holds up well against current tech. Dust clouds kick up when a Gear runs, and the smoke trails from a missile swarm will scare the daylights out of you the first time the bad guys aim one at you. Buildings collapse very realistically too, which is extremely gratifying when you demolish them (and you'll be doing plenty of that!). Have I mentioned that the Gears look really excellent? Even when you zoom in your sniper sight until they fill the screen, the Gears look good - although they look a lot better after you've pulled the trigger and blown them away so they fall down and explode realistically >:)

I've a couple of complaints about the graphics, though. Firstly, some of the city environs are simply ugly. I can understand the need to minimize polycounts, but the buildings in one city mission are simply unrealistic - there's only one path you can take through the city, or so it seems, and they have almost no doors or lifts or any of the other stuff you'd expect in a building (except for the lift your Gear is riding on).
Secondly, there are some points where the ''far plane'' of the viewer cuts away part of a large object. This is most noticeable in the first space mission, containing a large space station. You can actually see the station disappearing from back to front as you move away from it. IMO the designers should have provided the user with a ''far plane'' setting to correct this. It's really VERY ugly.

Sound: 10/10

Sound effects in HGII are as close to perfect as you can get. The music is appropriately menacing, and the weapon sounds match their effects very well. Voice messages are delivered with an appropriate tension (albeit a tiny bit overacted), and your squadmates give constant audio feedback about their progress (read: whether they're winning or... not). A nice touch is that you can hear background noise during some voice messages - like a particular hacker (I won't spoil the details for you) typing on a keyboard as he helps you bypass enemy security.

Gameplay: 9/10

Make no mistake - HGII's gameplay is spot-on. The ambience is just right to give you the feeling of real combat. Commanding your squadmates in battle feels closer to a shooter than a ''Mech game'', and indeed the entire tone of the game leans towards fast and furious action, with a generous dose of the ''sneaking'' present in Thief and other games of its ilk. You'll need a good eye (sometimes you can eyeball enemies before they get into range of your sensors), a quick mind (knowing when to fight and when to hide is important!) and an even quicker trigger-finger to fight effectively.

Stability: 8/10

I experienced (and am still experiencing) occasional crashes in HGII. However, Activision's tech support is quite competent (they got a support rep on the case in about 2 days), and I'm confident that they'll be of help.

Replay value: 7/10

While HGII's campaign is quite engaging, I don't think it'll be worth more than one or two replays. It's got a few historical missions that are quite good, but doesn't come with a mission builder. Instant Action missions in HGII aren't very satisfying either (unfortunately), and you probably won't be able to find more than a few multiplayer opponents these days.

That being said, you probably might want to dust the game off after awhile and replay it. It's good enough for that. And if you have a couple of friends who hold LAN parties once in awhile, having occasional HGII games with them sounds like a Good Thing.

Overall: 8/10

HGII is a solid piece of game, big on gameplay and bigger on guns. Try to find this one in a bargain bin if you can - but if you can't, it's certainly better than the majority of full-priced games out there.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/00, Updated 04/22/00