Title: State of Emergency 2

Date: 03.05.2006

Genre: 3D Action

Platform: PlayStation 2

Developer: DC Studios

Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive

In 2002, Rockstar games released the violent and gore-filled romp, "State Of Emergency". It was a fairly decent game with tons of missions and even more carnage; the reviews were a mixed bag. Some hated it, some loved it...now fast-forward to 2006, and the sequel is here before our very eyes. Sporting a new publisher and different game-play elements, does "State of Emergency 2" have what it takes to surpass the original? Let's read on and find out...

Taking place four years after the original, the story follows our heroes from the first returning to wage war against "The Corporation". The game-play in "State of Emergency 2" is a bit different from the original, rather than having hordes of people running and screaming everywhere. With you either hacking or shooting them up aside from doing your missions, the city seems to be calmer overall. The riot aspect seems to have been thrown out in favor of more standard action titles, like "The Punisher" or "Freedom Fighters". To those who enjoyed the original, this can seem to come as a disappointment, but to others who loathed the first, you might actually dig this one. The game consists of twelve levels, each having little side missions included, some of which include you taking control of tanks, speedboats or helicopters, a newly implemented feature.

You can play as five different characters, their names are Mac, Bull, Spanky, Freak and Libra, and each has their own unique talent. For example Spanky can dual-wield weapons while Libra can scale walls up or down. For those who loved the blood and gore of the original can appreciate the violence on display here, arms, legs and heads can be shot off, leaving nothing but a dismembered torso afterwards. The weapon selection in this one has been some-what reduced as to the first, gone are the meat cleavers and flame-throwers, in is the mini-gun and sniper-rifle, which is not bad by any means, but at least give me some blades or better yet, a chainsaw.

Multi-player, which was absent from the original on PS2 is here, included are Last Man Standing, Death-Match, Flag Attack, Team Death-Match and Battle Mode, up to four people can play, sadly co-op is not present. Another new feature added is the ability to interrogate and recruit gang members; you can also direct orders to the gang, such things as advancing, defending and more.

The graphics here are not much of an improvement over the first; environments are plain and fairly linear. The characters are very cartoonish, as are the blood and gore effects. The explosion and fire effects are pretty neat though, and the cut-scenes are animated very well. I guess they wanted to keep the graphics in tone with the first and not stray for realism or anything really super-detailed. But they at least could have improved it a bit more.

The controls are similar to the first, which is good, nice and responsive. To walk or run is the Left Analog Stick, being able to sprint is holding down the L1 button while running. To crouch is the Circle button, while looking around and aiming is the Right Analog Stick. To lean up against a wall, crate, etc. is done simply by holding down the L2 button and pushing the Left Analog Stick in the desired direction. When doors are locked, call upon Bull to break them down pressing the L1 button repeatedly to charge up his left arm and the R1 repeatedly to charge up his right.

To activate switches and so-forth, you will be prompted to press the X button when needed. To climb ladders, simply approach them and press the X button to climb or descend them. To swap characters from time to time, press the Select button to swap to another character on the current mission. To fire weapons is the R1 button, to select another weapon is done by pressing Up on the D-Pad, to return to the previous weapon is Down on the D-Pad. Cycle through your weapons by pressing Triangle and reload your weapons by pressing Square. To recruit gang members is done by pressing and holding down the L3 button which brings up the gang controls, press the X button to recruit them. Square is to defend, Circle is to follow, X is to fall back, and Triangle is to advance.

Replay value is there for those who like the game enough to play through the extra modes. Two arcade challenges are available at the outset. You can unlock additional ones by winning awards, cheats, maps for multi-player and characters for multi-player can all be unlocked by completing missions or tasks. Overall, the game is not bad, but it's not all that great either. Some aspects of the game are a definite improvement over the first, which is nice, but some just beg the question, why? I miss the chaos of the first, if that was included here with some more crazy weaponry, then I think it'd be a bit better. I suggest renting it.

Game Score

7.1

Reviewed By: Contributed