State of Emergency 2
Platform: PlayStation 2
Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Preview Code
Half the fun of Rockstar's riot sim State of Emergency was that it was a brawler. The game recreated the viceral thrill of chucking a garbage can through a plate glass window ala Mookie from Do the Right Thing. Malalov coctails were chucked. Storefronts were blasted apart with bazooka fire. Faces were stomped into the ground. Sure, the game was no work of art, but as an update of the frenetic ultra-violence found in arcade classics like Smash TV and Alien Syndrome, the game worked.
This sequel, developed by DC Studios, breaks away from its roots and anchors the game in the been-there-done that of 3rd-person shooting. Nothing brings a massacre down a notch like a sniper rifle or a "lean" move that requires you to carefully place your character against a corner before peeking out to fire from cover.
State of Emergency 2 latches onto the one aspect of its predecessor that really didn't matter -- it's story. For Rockstar, their pseudo-futuristic setting in which a fascist state rules over the public was just an excuse to make the game's anti-social behavior a little more acceptable. The unspoken reality is that we all secretly want a chance to torch a Starbucks -- revolution or no. State of Emergency 2 seems to take the story to heart, setting up the team of anarchists up as a crack squad of freedom fighters on a mission to recsue their compadres from prison.
State of Emergency 2 promises a deadly aresenal of weapons as well as a fleet of massively destructive vehicles. If I make it past the game's tedious opening jailbreak sequence and discover a delicious nougat center underneath this game's lackluster candy coating, you'll be the first to know.
Read my impressions of the original State of Emergency in the Robotstreetgang Archives.
Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Preview Code
Half the fun of Rockstar's riot sim State of Emergency was that it was a brawler. The game recreated the viceral thrill of chucking a garbage can through a plate glass window ala Mookie from Do the Right Thing. Malalov coctails were chucked. Storefronts were blasted apart with bazooka fire. Faces were stomped into the ground. Sure, the game was no work of art, but as an update of the frenetic ultra-violence found in arcade classics like Smash TV and Alien Syndrome, the game worked.
This sequel, developed by DC Studios, breaks away from its roots and anchors the game in the been-there-done that of 3rd-person shooting. Nothing brings a massacre down a notch like a sniper rifle or a "lean" move that requires you to carefully place your character against a corner before peeking out to fire from cover.
State of Emergency 2 latches onto the one aspect of its predecessor that really didn't matter -- it's story. For Rockstar, their pseudo-futuristic setting in which a fascist state rules over the public was just an excuse to make the game's anti-social behavior a little more acceptable. The unspoken reality is that we all secretly want a chance to torch a Starbucks -- revolution or no. State of Emergency 2 seems to take the story to heart, setting up the team of anarchists up as a crack squad of freedom fighters on a mission to recsue their compadres from prison.
State of Emergency 2 promises a deadly aresenal of weapons as well as a fleet of massively destructive vehicles. If I make it past the game's tedious opening jailbreak sequence and discover a delicious nougat center underneath this game's lackluster candy coating, you'll be the first to know.
Read my impressions of the original State of Emergency in the Robotstreetgang Archives.
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