Video Games : Dark Reign 2

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from: Activision

: Dark Reign 2
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List Price: $29.99
Price: $11.18
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: ACTIVISION
EAN: 0047875105034
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Activision
Manufacturer: Activision
Model: 1000503
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: June 30, 2000
Sales Rank: 14946
Studio: Activision



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Editorial Review:

Amazon.com Review:
Dark Reign 2 is a real-time strategy game with a 3-D graphics engine to die for, but the slightly generic gameplay unfortunately isn't as impressive as the visuals. It's not that the game does anything particularly wrong, but with innovative titles like Homeworld and Age of Empires 2 on the market it takes a lot to stand out in the real-time strategy genre.

Dark Reign 2 offers two campaigns pitting the military-styled Jovian Detention Authority against the rebellious Sprawlers. Although the actual movement, combat, and production orders you are allowed to give are nothing special, a great amount of work went into the unit design. The Jovian units are obviously well heeled and rely on quality rather than quantity to get the job done. The Sprawlers are a motley bunch better suited for guerrilla tactics, and their campaign ultimately is more satisfying than the easier JDA campaign.

Practically everything in the game is rendered in stunning 3-D, and Dark Reign 2's graphics engine serves up the fidelity and detail one would expect from a first-person shooter like Unreal Tournament. With a fast processor and the right graphics card you'll be swirling the camera all over the game's luscious (and varied) environments, surveying the havoc of battle from any angle or altitude you desire. It took us about an hour to get comfortable with this sort of freedom (and to figure out that the preset camera angles are worthless), but now we can't imagine playing a real-time strategy game that doesn't let us smoothly transition from a bird's-eye overhead view to an individual soldier's ground-level view.

Dark Reign 2 is pretty to look at, but avid real-time strategy fans will find that the gameplay is shallow and slow paced, and that the missions are a bit too easy. These drawbacks work in favor of newcomers to the genre, who will discover that Dark Reign 2 offers a perfect introduction to real-time strategy games. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros: Cons:

Amazon.com Product Description:
Dark Reign 2 introduces gamers to the first true 3-D RTS game this fall. Set against the backdrop of the war between the powerful Jovian Detention Authority and the upstart Sprawlers, Dark Reign 2 is the prequel to the conflict between the Imperium and Freedom Guard. Incorporating a new game engine, Dark Reign 2 offers new strategic elements, incredible graphics, new RTS enhancements, and spectacular multiplayer game play, setting the standard for all RTS games to come.



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - I want to like it, but had a hard time getting into it.
So this game is really well-done. I'll say that first, unequivocally. The 3-D rendering rocks. The characters are well-defined and well-balanced. The scale and atmosphere is a brooding-film noir-post modern epoch that would make Huxley jealous.

But it's just not that fun to play. I had a blast with Dark Reign, but I can't really describe what's missing here. I think it's a lot slower (the base takes forever to build), and for all the balance of units, combat tends to feel lopsided. Or maybe I'm just lousy at this version, with all the 3-D, since the new terrain shifts the tactics around from the original.

Worth getting, even if you're disappointed with what seems like lousy graphics now (remember this game pre-dates NVIDIA 4 chips).


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A good follow-up to a great game!
I was honestly surprised when I first played this game. It isn't nearly as hard as its predecessor, Dark Reign: The Future of War, yet it still has its own challenges to overcome.
Since it is a prequel (in the Dark Reign storyline), it builds on the great storyline presented in the first game. The 3-D graphics add to rather than subtract from the practicality of the gameplay, but still have some room for improvement. The graphics and game itself run smoothly for me, even though I run Vista.
In my opinion, this game is well worth the money I paid for it, and I don't regret my purchase at all.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - As good as I remember it
I had played this game years ago when it first came out, but since had moved and lost my CD. For a while now I had the urge to play again. There are not many games out there that allow such a simple thing as building fences or walls around your base, yet that is the main reason I fall back to this game from time to time.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - This game is better than all other RTs's
...I got this game at a local store. I was expecting something that would only be fun for a couple hours. I was way wrong. This is the most SPECTACULAR strategy game I have ever played. The lighting effects are great. The terrain looks great. The graphics are real 3D (like FPS's.) Some ppeople say the recources run dry to quickly. This is sort of true. In the single player campains there is more than 2 tmes the recources to finish each mission. In the skirmish games you can choose how much money you start out with (one to 1 million!) However I wish that the recources regenerated. The unit blances are some of the best I ever seen. resource gathering is at a good speed not to fast or tooo slow. I have never been a fan of upgrading. However in this game the upgrading(you only upgrade the buildings) did not get boring or seem repetative. Each side has 23 or so units (which is a good number.) Each side has unique units and tactics. The sprawlers can lay andd one of the 4 different kinds of mines anywhere on the battle field. I sugest running this game on a computer with a 1.3 processor just like I am. The graphics are spectacular and so are the huge battles. The main difference between this game and most other games is that you wage FULL SCALE warefare. The are tons of unique strategies that you can use in this game. You can also change views from first personn to thiird person and rotate the camera 90 degrees or 360 degrees. There are lots of things in this game that are not in your average RTs for example Tire tracks(left by units with tank treads) and wheather. There are a good amount of defensive structures and buildings for each side. This game is way better...than any of those other overrated games. The controls are simple put powerful. Each unit has tons of ways that you can use it and can accomplish lots of tasks. The highly varying terrain adds to the tactics that you can use. The naval battles look good. I could say lots more bu t I doubt you would be willing to read on so lemme wrap this up. If you don't have this game then you are missing something very big. Get it. I can promise you will stop doing anything else inorder to play this game. This game is so addictive. After playing this game any other game seems to lack everything. You will stop playing any other game.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - A disappointment
I was surprised to hear about Dark Reign 2. The original, while one of my personal favorite games, did quite poorly in stores and was a flop compared to direct competition such as Starcraft and Total Annhinilation. Keeping these qualms in mind, I was pleased to notice that Activision was funding another game in the series, and that it would have a full 3D engine. I bought the game the day it came out, rushed it home, and installed it. I was very impressed for the first few hours. The 3D engine was most impressive, the gameplay good, and the missions fun. However, I noticed that the team had taken OUT some options from Fark Reign: where was the settings for your unit's tenacity, their agressiveness? This is where things started taking a turn for the worse.

I also realised that the missions started to become rather repetitive. Although some are the 'survive with a limited number of units' type, most are the 'kill everything' variety, perhaps with some objective put in for good measure...however, the only way to get to these objectives is to kill everybody in between you and them! The graphics are good, but not as amazing as Ground Control- also, I noticed some flagrant false advertising on the back of the box--look closely, and you will see each explosion pictured there is fully 3D and has particles flying out in every direction. In the game, the explosions are lo-res sprites. I do like the music, however, and it runs well at 800x600, full details, on my P3-450 with Geforce 2.

If you liked Dark Reign, try the demo. If you like that, consider buying the game. There was so much more they could've done with this.

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