Unreal II: The Awakening

 Xbox
  • Publisher: Atari
  • Release Date: Feb 10, 2004
  • Also On: PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 22
  3. Negative: 10 out of 22
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. JoeS.
    Mar 18, 2004
    4
    Its not that good, and UT04 is MUCH better than XMP. Why is UT04 better? because IT IS WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED FOR THE GAME! Atari only added XMP in because they realized how much Unreal 2 SUCKED without a multiplayer.
  2. JesseS.
    Jun 19, 2005
    1
    What a terrible game! The graphics are some of the WORST I have seen on any console in this generation. You'll agree when you see some of the first enemies in the game, as well as almost anything you will see, as a matter of fact. The gameplay is clunky, and worst than most first person shooters. I haven't played the PC version, but I can tell you to avoid this for Xbox at all What a terrible game! The graphics are some of the WORST I have seen on any console in this generation. You'll agree when you see some of the first enemies in the game, as well as almost anything you will see, as a matter of fact. The gameplay is clunky, and worst than most first person shooters. I haven't played the PC version, but I can tell you to avoid this for Xbox at all costs. There are many other FPS games out there for you to enjoy.… Expand
  3. QuincyB.
    Aug 1, 2004
    10
    Solid game, not a disappointment! Compared to other xbox shooters (Mace Griffen, Jedi Knight 2, Timesplitters...ect.) Unreal 2 is fun and beautiful throughout. The gameplay is simply solid and fun throught out (a throwback to the quake era of well-done shooters and fun if not complex missions.) Unreal 2 doesn't try to innovate, instead it offers to fill out the xbox library with a Solid game, not a disappointment! Compared to other xbox shooters (Mace Griffen, Jedi Knight 2, Timesplitters...ect.) Unreal 2 is fun and beautiful throughout. The gameplay is simply solid and fun throught out (a throwback to the quake era of well-done shooters and fun if not complex missions.) Unreal 2 doesn't try to innovate, instead it offers to fill out the xbox library with a very good shooter. Don't compare it to the PC version (you would need $$$ to get a rig for it, my P4 9700pro/1GB chugged running it!), instead compare it to other console shooters and its value and quality become immediately apparent, there are no annoyances, gameplay is balanced, the mission environments are creepy and varied and the soundtrack/storyline is good and solid 2nd to Thief, 3rd after the Halo and still absolutely in the top 4 best Xbox shooters ever at the end of this year! A solid, intact, and genuinly fun port of the PC original.… Expand
  4. ParmsB
    Aug 5, 2004
    1
    I loved the original Unreal. I thought it was one of the best games i had ever played. I prefered it to Quak2 and Half Life which were the big 2 at the time. So you can imagine how looking forward i was to Unreal 2. I absolutely hated the game. I stopped playing it about half way through. I had a good enought system to cope with it. I just did not enjoy it and i really think The Unreal I loved the original Unreal. I thought it was one of the best games i had ever played. I prefered it to Quak2 and Half Life which were the big 2 at the time. So you can imagine how looking forward i was to Unreal 2. I absolutely hated the game. I stopped playing it about half way through. I had a good enought system to cope with it. I just did not enjoy it and i really think The Unreal Brand took some (and still do) serious damage from allowing this very very poor game to be released. It was totally unrelated to the original Unreal, so why did they call it unreal at all.… Expand
  5. KyleK.
    Aug 16, 2005
    0
    This is the most pathetic game i have ever played. it is so boring with all the levels. most of the levels are 2 minutes long and only have four bad guys. Bad graphics and just dont play it. wouldnt spend 50 cents on it.
  6. KarlK.
    Feb 11, 2004
    10
    This game is FANTASTIC!!!!!! XMP is the most fun I've EVER had on my XBOX!! Single player rox 2. It has one of the best stories of any FPS ever! Co-op mode and system link make this game great for people that dont have Xbob live 2. Go out and buy it now!!!!!
  7. RogerB.
    Feb 11, 2004
    10
    I thought it was really good especially the bit with the space monkeys. I really liked the flamethrower.
  8. Exannimo
    Feb 14, 2004
    7
    Controls aint as smooth as Halo's and your caracter moves slow. Graphics are baaaaaad. Multiplayer seems fun but there's no splitscreen option so forget playing it alot unless u use Live or XBC.
  9. Uter
    Feb 17, 2004
    4
    I love Unreal, but there's really no excuse for releasing something this poor. The graphics are BAD, there's no 4 player splitscreen, and the loading times are way way too long. The game feels like a cash in on the Unreal brand name.
  10. BobO.
    Feb 22, 2004
    10
    This game's online mode takes a while to get used to but after a while you'll find it really rocks because it is nothing like unreal championship and more like tribes or something like that. i like the defense levels in the campaign mode too because they are alot like the online mode but they are different and i find they make this game much better than halo.
  11. MichaelC.
    Feb 25, 2004
    2
    Yippeee!!!!!!!!! Another crappy fps to use as a coaster for my den! This game defines the phrase piss-poor. The graphics are so dated I had to check my calendar to see if I wasn't having a flashback of a bad experience in 1998. And where did they record these voice actors at? Was it via satellite? This game has a wretched score and the grainiest voice clips I've heard on XBox. Yippeee!!!!!!!!! Another crappy fps to use as a coaster for my den! This game defines the phrase piss-poor. The graphics are so dated I had to check my calendar to see if I wasn't having a flashback of a bad experience in 1998. And where did they record these voice actors at? Was it via satellite? This game has a wretched score and the grainiest voice clips I've heard on XBox. Controls are awful, the single-player missions are completely unoriginal, and the multiplayer experience is unworthy of the "Unreal" title. In summation, this game brings nothing to the table that hasn't been done 900 times, and is just poorly executed.… Expand
  12. Qjones
    Jul 24, 2004
    1
    Poor AI, really blocky graphics, predictable gameplay. bad controls. and long load times. even the load times have load times. its terrible.
  13. Moe
    Oct 12, 2005
    10
    The single player game is not bad, perhaps not as good as the original Unreal. They should have just followed the old game's story line with updated weaponry, but they decided to do a ground up makeover with mixed results. PC is much better than XBox for the FPS. However, the multiplayer mode, "XMP," is by far the best team game ever made. Period. It is so addicting. It is so The single player game is not bad, perhaps not as good as the original Unreal. They should have just followed the old game's story line with updated weaponry, but they decided to do a ground up makeover with mixed results. PC is much better than XBox for the FPS. However, the multiplayer mode, "XMP," is by far the best team game ever made. Period. It is so addicting. It is so realistic and if it seems slow its because of this very reason, you feel like you are really there. You actually hear every footstep and jump you make. The small but avid community that remains are still to this day discovering new tricks and techniques such as the Gunner's lateral conc. jump, that you just dont get in other games. Team members really depend on eachother for health, cover, energy, etc. and there are players who have developed amazing skills not available anywhere else such as wall jumping, midair sniping. Even Halo 2 can be considered an unworthy rival to Unreal's XMP. There are still plenty of dieharders playing every day and several servers running 24/7, we don't need a lot of noobs gumming up the works, nevertheless all are welcome.… Expand
  14. Randommutumbo
    Feb 17, 2004
    1
    Wow this game is horrible. XMP is the worst. unreal was good until atari acrewed it up.
  15. CharlesT.
    Feb 26, 2004
    9
    Wow! I was really blown away by this game! Single player has a really powerful story that keeps you hooked until the end. As you may have heard though, XMP is the main draw of this game. I've been playing it for a least an hour a day since it came out, and it still keeps me thrilled. Don't listen to the negative reviews, this game is worth every cent!
  16. wadaltmon
    Sep 11, 2014
    5
    The game is really just generic and clichéd. That's all there is to it, really. There's nothing that makes it particularly stand out from other shooters of the same time period; while it still has some fun run-and-gun gameplay, the storytelling and exposition are absolutely terrible. That combined with their very obvious attempt at trying to make likeable characters, but falling flat byThe game is really just generic and clichéd. That's all there is to it, really. There's nothing that makes it particularly stand out from other shooters of the same time period; while it still has some fun run-and-gun gameplay, the storytelling and exposition are absolutely terrible. That combined with their very obvious attempt at trying to make likeable characters, but falling flat by making them all cliché, underused, and unlikeable, and you have just a generic mediocre game. However, it still had some gameplay sections that could have redeemed it.

    There's the problem though... that would be if we were talking on the PC. On PC, the graphics were actually laudable for the time, you could free roam the ship between missions, and there were few bugs. All of these are things the Xbox version failed at.
    In the Xbox version, you can't walk around your ship eternal missions: you're just ferried around on rails talking to the unlikeable characters as they tell you some random thing about your weapons or mission. The graphics on the Xbox are laughable, with some truly horrid modeling that was obviously condensed, as well as some textures lower res than the original DOOM, and basically an absence of ANY effective lighting or shading. Also, the game is ridiculously buggy. One instance that comes to mind is about the end of the game where the Skaarj are attacking this base (or at least I think that's what was happening; once again, poor exposition) and you have to get to the top of the base. When me and my dad played this coop, we realized all the ladders and the elevator were broken and would fling us off toward the ground and kill us if we tried to use them within 30 seconds of each other.
    In the end, there were only a few gameplay sections in this game that were at all fun (though annoying, there was a section where you have to escape a ship that's falling apart... it was alright). The best part of this game is grabbing someone to play coop with and having some good laughs at its expense.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Most Discussed Xbox Game of 2004
40
#40 Most Shared Xbox Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 27
  3. Negative: 3 out of 27
  1. Xbox Nation Magazine
    70
    The game's first few hours are dreadfully boring, full of genre cliches and pointless firefights. [Apr 2004, p.84]
    Read full review
  2. Eurogamer
    50
    As a single-player experience, Unreal 2 is undoubtedly one of the more forgettable shooters on the Xbox; joining the likes of "Jedi Academy" and "Soldier of Fortune 2" in that club of below par PC ports that have been unceremoniously dumped on owners of this capable machine.
    Read full review
  3. GamerArchive
    50
    Ugly, jerky, and all round poorly presented characters culminate in cut scenes that you’d wish you could just skip right on.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »