Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2

The Good
The game has beautiful graphics, even nearly 2 yrs after its release. What makes it look so good is that it has a very fresh and colorful environment. The action gameplay and weapons are great. The story while only decent, gets the job done. This is a great example of what an action game should be, with its great fun and non-stop action.

The Bad
Just like everyone else, the shortness of it is a bad thing. The best description is that it feels like your playing a demo. It is just that insanely short. Also it is a really easy game to beat. If you were to stay home from school or take a day off from work, you would have no trouble beating it by the time you would normally get home. The shortness and easiness are the only things negative that I can think of. I'm glad I found it for $10, because if I paid more, then these things would really bother me.

The Bottom Line
This game is a sheer joy to play. With non-stop action, great gameplay (though easy), and drop dead gorgeous graphics, this is a game you will want to pick up. Just don't pay to much for it. It's fun while it lasts.

The Good
Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 is a Grade A game in my book. The graphics and environments are beautiful. This in itself is nothing extraordinary but those are just the bones. The meat of the game is the great story and acting that you rarely see in computer games. Heavy Metal is easy to get into thanks to a easy control system and the fact that you can use two weapons at once and do combos makes it even better.

The Bad
The only problem is the size of the game. The action is fastpaced and way too linear. The game is over before you know it. This is the only fact that draws away from the draw of the game. I hope they make a sequel.

The Bottom Line
Heavy Metal, with its scantily clad heroine and third person perspective will easily draws comparisons to Tomb Raider. It is much more than that with a great engine, great story, great controls, and is great fun.

The Good
Thirty years before the game, Julie (voiced by and modeled after actress Julie Strain) defeated the evil Tyler and founded the sanctuary planet Eden. Preserved by Eden’s waters, neither Julie nor her fellow colonists have aged (meaning Julie still has bounce in her bosom). But all is not well. Strange meteorites have been pounding Eden’s shields and where they break through, the local flora and fauna is hideously mutated. It’s up to Julie to take up sword and shield and detonators and rocket launchers and uzis to solve this mystery.

The game begins with an excellent tutorial explaining Julie’s wide variety of moves. Julie can use monkey-bars, swing on ropes, edge along a narrow path and much more. She also has excellent sword combat moves that can be connected into a combination attack. Although Eden seems calm at first, it doesn’t take long for mutant mosquitoes to harass the livestock. As the game builds, Julie encounters an alien menace that seems plucked from Oddworld and there’s an insinuation that the evil Tyler might not be dead.

Heavy Metal FAKK2 is a short game, perhaps there are no more than ten levels, but the levels take you through the colony on Eden, Eden’s sewers, swamps and then several dimensions reminiscent of Undying or Half-Life. It’s played in the third person, which helps with the amount of acrobatics Julie must perform. The game’s story isn’t well developed but it held my interest and while there aren’t too many monster types, you meet several interesting characters along the way.

There are many weapons including several types of swords and guns. While you have to keep your eye on the health bar, there is also a water bar. The water of Eden acts like a shield, so attacks diminish your water supply before your life. Water also empowers weapons, causing your fire sword to flame and your lightning sword to electrify. Finally water increases your athletic ability. When your water is at it’s highest level, Julie can run faster and jump higher.

Graphically, this game is beautiful, sounds are great although the music is something less than “Heavy Metal,” and voice acting is good.

The Bad
I actually don’t think Heavy Metal is way too short but the game could have easily been expanded in to a much longer game with more development and attention to the characters. Julie’s biggest asset is her physique, complemented by at least three costume changes, but Julie Strain’s voice work is very good and it seems like her character has some depth to it. You also encounter several interesting characters but cannot interact with them on any real level.

Also, with a game this short do you really need three swords? The option to use one uzi or one in each hand? Do you need to end the game on a cliff hanger, especially since it’s unlikely we’ll see a sequel?

This is a great game overshadowed by what could have been.

The Bottom Line
Let’s see: we have a scantly clad woman running, jumping, swinging, and blasting baddies with a wide variety of weaponry… and it’s not Tomb Raider… even better, although similar to Tomb Raider, it’s fresh and exciting… and then it ends.

The Good
The action is frantic. The wide array of weapons are really entertaining to play with. Ritual did a good job using the Quake III engine in a 3rd person game. The character models look great and the environments are interesting.

The Bad
The game was way too short. I don't end up finishing many of my games but this one seemed over before it began. This may be a good thing though. It at least kept my interest long enough to finish. Also, while set in the "Heavy Metal Universe" it didn't really truly feel right. The game really needed to have a "M" rating and be for adult oriented. I don't mean like a porno, but like the magazine. More graphic violence, nudity, and dark themes are kind of what I expect in a Heavy Metal project.

The Bottom Line
Fun action game with a sassy buxom protagonist. Good use of the Quake III Arena engine.