State of Emergency 2

The disc doesn't do anything that every other third-person action game on the market does better.

The gameplay changes, ludicrous storyline, clunky controls and horrible presentation, however, may have polarized the game’s potential audience.

Nothing in SoE2 is more than mediocre, except perhaps its profanity count. [May 2006, p.75]

The game's multiplayer and arcade modes are both valiant attempts at providing replayability, but neither are varied or deep enough to keep anyone but the most frantically bored or underexposed gamer entertained for longer than five minutes.

Even at $29.99 and with an arcade mode that might keep you amused for five or ten minutes, State of Emergency 2 feels simultaneously stale and awkward. It isn't complete trash, but it is too aggravating and unimaginative to be worth more than a Friday night rental.

There are just too many flaws within the good ideas they had. There isn’t enough lasting appeal, or any real excitement, to recommend this one to anybody.

Without an auto- targeting feature, this game is so challenging that you’ll be hurling your controller to the floor in no time.

State of Emergency 2 deserves a spot right next to 25 To Life, 187: Ride or Die, and Final Fight Streetwise as another title that's an urban nightmare for all the wrong reasons. Stop buying them, and hopefully they'll go away.

Flaws like this keep State of Emergency 2 from being anything more than a straightforward third-person shooting gallery. [Jun 2006, p.92]

A terrible shooter that does nothing new and does it badly. Bereft of reason to exist, don't even let this cross your path, let alone buy it. [June 2006, p.69]

Wildly derivative and senselessly exploitative, SOE2 neither challenges nor entertains. Thug gaming at the very lowest level. [May 2006, p.81]

When blood effects are one of the chief highlights of a game, you know there may be something wrong. Not even the multiplayer, which suffers from the same issues of control and additional problems of slowdown, can save this sinking ship.

From instantly spawning enemies, to their mindless A.I., to control that misses its mark, State of Emergency 2 is a study in bad developmental decisions.

The most striking thing about SOE2 is its tragic pointlessness. As a sequel in a franchise that is almost entirely unloved, in a world where there are countless games which do any part of this game better, it's sad to think that a group of people developed it, because then we'd have to blame them for putting out such a diabolical piece of cack.

It's just a veil of mediocrity used to cover what amounts to a crazed-crowd simulator. No, wait, that actually sounds too fun for a game like this. [Jun 2006, p.92]

There's an arcade mode, which is identical to the main one but with a level select, as well as a multiplayer mode, but my friends would all get horribly offended if I asked them to play this.

I would rather be subjected to a week long insurance seminar with Enya music in the background than play this game again, ever.