Unreal II: The Awakening

Unreal 2: The Awakening is described as a sequel to Unreal, though many of the story elements, including characters and locations, are entirely unrelated to the original. The game was released to stores on February 4, 2003.

History
Primary development on Unreal 2 was performed by Legend Entertainment, with some assistance by Epic Games, and published by Atari.

Unreal 2
After much delay, the Unreal II demo was finally released on May 1st, 2003. It included one level from the Single-player campaign.

XMP
The Demo for XMP was released on December 5th, 2003 and included one map, XMP-Garden, out of the 8 maps included with the XMP addon.

Release Details

 * February 4, 2003 - Unreal 2 release
 * December 9, 2003 - eXpanded MultiPlayer (XMP) addon
 * December 9, 2003 - Unreal 2 SE (PC)
 * December 9, 2003 - Unreal 2 SE (Xbox)

Reception
While Unreal 2 received above average review scores from most of the major game news outlets, it was not received well at all. The most common complaints were that, while it looked pretty, the game did not have much depth nor any replayability to speak of. The game did gain somewhat of a cult following sometime after the XMP addon was released, however this community focused more on the multiplayer aspect of the game, with the single-player campaign receiving very little time or attention.

Most people dislike Unreal 2 in name only. The game had relatively little to do with the original game, including leaving out any characters, location, and most enemies from the first game. Some people agree that the game is fine as a game, but is not by any means a sequel to Unreal.

Engine
Upon release, Unreal 2 utilized build 2001 of the Unreal Engine 2 (verify?). Upon release of the XMP addon, the game utilized build 2226. The game appears to use a different series of build enumerations from the base Unreal Engine, as the XMP release was described as build 6496, with patches to 6497 and 7710 (the latest patch).

Music
Jack Wall (Tommy Tallarico Studios), Clint Bajakian (Tommy Tallarico Studios), Jeremy Soule (Artistry Entertainment), Crispin Hands (Artistry Entertainment), Brian Min (Wedding Productions), Chance Thomas and Richard Schneider are credited for working on the music in Unreal 2.

Most of the music files of Unreal 2 use DirectMusic, and only the cutscenes use OGG Vorbis format. There are some additional music tracks that were not used in the game. Overall the music is very cinematic and uses much effects.
 * OGG tracks

Note: they have .con extension and needs special software to play.
 * Direct Music tracks

Gametypes
The base game of Unreal 2 is a single-player mission. A multiplayer addon was released in December 2003, known as XMP (eXpanded Multi-Player).

Weapons

 * Dispersion Pistol (LEPEW-13, T-13 Popgun)
 * Combat Assault Rifle (CAR, M32 Duster)
 * Grenade Launcher (M406 Hydra)
 * Shotgun (M700, Crowd Pleaser)
 * Flamethrower (Vulcan)
 * Pistol (Magnum, Avenger, Grace)
 * Rocket Launcher (Shark)
 * Sniper Rifle (Widowmaker)
 * Energy Rifle (Shock Lance)
 * Spider Gun (Spore Cannon, Leech Gun)
 * Drakk Laser Rifle
 * The Takkra (Drakk Hunter)
 * Singularity Cannon


 * Auto Turret
 * Rocket Turret
 * Force Wall
 * Proximity Sensor

Vehicles

 * Raptor
 * Harbinger
 * Juggernaut

Races

 * Animals
 * Araknids
 * Drakk
 * Humans
 * Marines (Terran Colonial Authority)
 * Liandri Angels (Liandri Corporation)
 * Ghost Warriors (Izanagi Corporation)
 * Izarians
 * Kai
 * Skaarj
 * Tosc

Characters

 * John Dalton
 * Aida
 * Isaak
 * Ne'Ban
 * Sector Commander Hawkins

Maps
The single-player maps are included in the base game of Unreal 2. The XMP maps are included in the XMP addon.

Cut content
Almost one fourth of the game was cut from Unreal 2. The content that was cut include:


 * Three races that includes nine or more enemies (N, Striders, Shian)
 * Five weapons (Tractor Beam, Stun Baton, Mind Claw, Shock Rifle, Flak Cannon)
 * Seven maps
 * Various graphics, gameplay and sound technologies (MP3 music player, GOLEM tool for mod creation, Co-op support, multiplayer support, dynamic conversation system, armor changing)

For more information, see the Cut content of Unreal 2 article.

User Created Content

 * XMP Community Bonus Pack

Previews and Reviews
Gamespot (7.3/10)