Heavy Gear II
Score: 90% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Activision Developer: Activision Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 10 Genre: Action/ Simulation/ Online
Graphics & Sound: Don’t even bother attempting to wear socks ladies and gents, Heav Gear II would only blow them through your shoes. Although the Gear (i.e. eight-ton robotic suit of armor) design has somewhat of a less flamboyant curvature to them than those appearing in MechWarrior 3, the terrain and sky design is gorgeous. Real-time weather effects create an awe-inspiring atmosphere. Lightning bolts crashing into the ground, water droplets the size of casaba melons crashing down on your Gear as you lay into your enemy with a railgun and medium missle fire. I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning, I think I’m gonna cry.
Gameplay: Activision, I could kiss you guys for this one. Finally, a mech-based game that gives you the choice between simulation control and arcade control. Simulation gives the die hard mech fans the throttle and torso-twisting mayhem that they sooo swoon over. The arcade, which of course is my favorite, allows you to go to war in your Gear and use mouse look and arrow keys similar to a first person shooter. Another plus Heavy Gear II is Gear movement. I was quite impressed with the idea of a mobile suit crawling prone on its stomach, creeping underwater, and sniping an enemy tank from 100 yards out. Not to mention floating on a battle-cruiser in outer space, blasting other Gears into the deep void.
Difficulty: “Ooof, ouch, aaaahhhh, dang I am dead.” After the first couple of missions, which are only there to prepare you for your death to come, all hell breaks loose. Heavy Gear II is tough. There is a special Threat Meter shown to you before missions and you may not exceed this threat in arsenal. What this means is that if you are only to kill one enemy Gear in the mission, you may not use the Nuclear Discombobulator.
Game Mechanics: Heavy Gear II is setup as a first person perspective war sim, very similar to the games Spec-Ops or Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. You control a single Gear through a pre-designated mission, and may control a squadron of Gears using key commands when the threat is high enough. There is also a multiplayer mode in which you specialize your Gear as a sniper, a Heavy cover Gear, a point man, etc., and lay the proverbial smack down on some lamer on the World Wide Web.
-Sabumnim, GameVortex Communications AKA Larry Callier
Minimum System Requirements: P166, 3-D hardware accelerator required, 64MB Ram, 500MB hard drive Recommended Requirements: PII 300 or higher, 128MB Ram, 500MB hard drive, and 16MB D3D compatible accelerator or faster   Test System: PII 333 128MB Ram, TNT II video card
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