As the leader of the special ops group Dark Talons, lead your squad mates on a series of dangerous missions as you discover the NEC plot against your homeland, Terra Nova. Operate behind enemy lines as you gather data, attack enemy camps, capture enemy leaders, take over space stations, and more. Combat happens on land, underground (huge caverns), and even in space. There are plenty of weapons to outfit your gear, even some hand-to-hand weapons. You can also add perks and flaws to further customize your gear. Stealth is a major concern in some missions. The game play feel is very different from the Mechwarrior series.
Set in Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear universe (it actually rivals the Battletech universe in complexity, though not nearly as famous), this game requires 3D accelerator with its "Dark" 3D engine. The gears are capable of very human-like movements, such as kneeling, crawling, and jumping.
If you play a netgame around Christmas, the gears will be wearing Santa hats.
Development
Before the game was released, Activision actually had three different HUD designs for the cockpit displays: demo (from the demo version), graphical, and military. By popular vote, military was chosen for the game.
Intel
Heavy Gear II was selected as one of the showcase games for the "Intel Inside" advertising campaign that year.
Linux version
Heavy Gear II is Loki's first major port attempt that features 3D acceleration. As the original was Direct3D only, Loki has to port the game to OpenGL, as well as rewrite all the soundcard code to OSS/OpenAL standards, but the end result is virtually identical to the Windows version.
Multiplayer
The Linux version can actually play with the Windows version on the network. There are no difference between the clients once you're connected.
