Strategy Gaming Online - Reviews : Uprising 2

Subscribe to our
Free Newsletter!

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

REVIEWS

Uprising 2

DEVELOPER : 3DO
PUBLISHER : 3DO

Requirements:
Pen. 166MHz, 32 MB of RAM

Recommend:
Pen. 233MHz, 64 MB of RAM, Voodoo 2 Card

The sequel to the first action-strategy game was good but under expectations. Uprising 1 was the first game to experiment with the hybrid between action and strategy. A few games followed: Battlezone, Urban Assault and now Uprising 2. The genre evolved rapidly because the makers assumed a lot of risks in innovating. The question was: "how much strategy would they put in an action game?" Urban Assault came up with something interesting by allowing you to have full control over any of your units. However, Uprising 2 didn't want to bring something revolutionary and they simply tried to enhance the original concept.

This time you don't fight against other humans. The Imperium is gone and your race starts exploring the exterior worlds to find new resources and new enemies to fight against. The aliens have their own distinct look but, ironically, they have the same exact technology. They look dark, evil, mysterious but it's all pointless since the unit stats are the identical. They are called the Trichs and they own a vast portion of the Universe before you start chunking through their territory.

The storyline is better than it's predecessor's and the cinematics are well placed contributing to the general action factor. There is an option to play any single scenario as a stand-alone but I wouldn't recommend it. Many gamers thought Uprising 1 was too tough to beat but this is just the inverse.

The changes in gameplay are insignificant since you still control the same hovertank. An interesting feature is the money management throughout the whole campaign. You can spend your money on upgrades, weapons, additional units or additional powerups. It helps if you store some cash and use it when you can't beat a mission. It's nice to start a defensive mission with 10 or more heavy tanks. Your Wraith (hovertank) is so powerful that you won't even need additional units in several missions. However, it is recommended to use a mix of units and take advantage of the roles explained in the training missions. Your Hovertank is capable of killing entire armies as long as you don't run out of ammunition. I often built expansions only for close ammo supply and I filled all the building slots with powerplants. The infantry is the most useful unit in many situations. The buildings are so strong that it simply takes forever to destroy them with the improper weapons. Infantry are specialized in blowing them up. The multiplayer has been improved. You can now choose the mod; the available options are: normal-strategy with base construction and resource management, DM and Racetrack. It is already supported on Mplayer and Heat. Up to 8 players can compete in a game and it is pretty smooth since they allow so many people simultaneously.

The units are thrown into battle with call-in (teleporting) commands making it easy, probably too easy. You don't have to worry about maneuvering. The newly implemented automatic suggestion feature is another factor reducing the difficulty of the game. It sometimes becomes a computer vs. computer fight unless you turn it off. You only have to point with the mouse, press a key and the AI can do all the complicated tasks for you. The targeting system is excellent but it was borrowed from Battlezone. The interface is now simplified. You can't control any of the units except your hovertank but they give you the option to observe through anyone's eyes.

The graphics are excellent but unfortunately it only supports Glide acceleration. This basically excludes all the Direct3d cards and also limits the resolution. I didn't complain because I played the game on a P200 with a Voodoo Rush (Yes I know it sucks), a pretty slow system but I haven't had any framerate problems. It is indeed a disadvantage but a patch will probably be released soon. The debris, the explosions, the terrain, the weapons and the lighting effects look simply awesome. Every planet comes with it's own specific look and there are several night time missions.

This kind of games couldn't bring exotic units like those you've seen in C&C and its clones. They are harder to balance and in general there's a lot more detail to cover. You won't see flame tanks or stealth tanks but there are still standard tanks and other conventional weapons. Path-finding is sometimes a problem, don't be surprised if you went around a small cliff and your tank squad is stuck on top. The training missions teach you the basic tactics and show you all the initially available stuff. They explain the particular strength and weakness of each unit. Infantry units are equipped with a blaster and a set of timed bombs. They often forget to evacuate the area before the detonation... Boom and everyone is blown apart. The low cost compensates and they look more like cyborgs. They are also slow and practically useless against tanks or air units. There are two types of tanks, light and heavy. The last one trades speed for armor and firepower but they are mainly for the same purpose. The air units are very good for breaking base defenses and blockades but they have to be supported as a single SAM site can safely cover an entire base.

Overall, the game lacks intense action and if you an impatient person like me you'll get frustrated relatively fast. The technologies come in so slow and you'll become quickly bored if you don't like the genre.Your hovertank is equipped with a dual energy cannon and a secondary weapon of choice. You can use a variety of missiles and a reckon probe. I particularly like the Marauder missiles with curved trajectory, extremely accurate tracking system and deadly firepower these things are a perfect example of death from above. Later on you'll get the ballistic missiles and their counter, the patriot turret. I haven't seen a game using the antinuke idea since the good old Total Annihilation times. Most of the units are the best counters for themselves which sounds like a bad idea. The AAV's are best fought by other AAV's, the heavy tank are best fought by other heavy tanks etc. The ground units lack depth and diversity. Infantry, tanks or turrets, they all have laser-based weapons. The only exception are the heavy turrets and your own hovertank. The inability to control any of the other units makes the gameplay monotonous and poorly integrated into the environment. It is disappointing that the sequel is just a graphical update of the first game with only a few uninspired innovations.

Uprising 2 doesn't go far from the original's standards. The changes were not so intuitive and some people may consider it a downgrade. This genre has a tremendous potential but this is not the right way to exploit it.

Reviewed by Gabriel Andreescu

Summary
Pros: Good graphics, plays like the original Uprising(if you liked the original). Cons: Plays like the original Uprising(if you hated the original), no Direct3D support.
Interface : 7	Gameplay : 8	Graphics : 8
Audio : 7	Multiplayer : 7	Overall : 7.4