www.Multiplayergames.com – Multiplayer Games

Maybe buried deep within the Internet, there was a small petition with the aim of forcing Eidos to release a sequel to ShellShock. What other reason could there to be push out this junk onto a crowded market? Even at $40 this isn’t a deal.

ShellShock 2 is a Vietnam FPS, setting the player up against the usual Vietnamese army and zombies. Yes, zombies. What they’re doing here is anyone’s guess. The short ten level campaign lasts about six hours, covering the usual basics of jungles, broken down towns, and caves.

Bland, flat visuals are instantly noticeable, and might have been acceptable if this thing kept a decent frame rate. It doesn’t. Instead, it chugs along, barely able to keep itself moving at times. Mechanics are slightly below par, with imprecise aiming and enormous kick back on most guns. Ammo is plentiful, but since you can carry so little, it’s a constant race to find more. This is made worse since glitches will prevent the player from picking up extra bullets from dropped guns.

The storyline is terrible, introducing new characters and wiping them out in the next scene. There’s little flow or pacing, and the zombie invasion isn’t cleared up in the end either. The ending does present a moral choice, meaning you’d have to play through the game twice to see everything it has to offer. It’s not worth your time.

Level design is atrocious. There are countless unnecessary rooms taking the player off track. If there were a purpose to them, it would make sense. There are no collectables or secret areas. These rooms exist purely to exist.

The final two stages fall victim to the latter design issue, and one of insane cheapness. Zombies have the magical ability to warp onto platforms that would otherwise be safe, jump up from behind you even though it was clear, and take a ridiculous amount of fire before going down if the spotty collision doesn’t register a head shot. Oh, and don’t even try to hack one up with the machete. Grenades don’t work well either, somehow missing a zombie in a pack even if thrown between them.

To think of all the other shooters available for $20 more (or probably even less used) than this failure makes ShellShock 2’s release even more baffling. This is the type of title you expect from a piece of hardware near the end of its life cycle for $20. With no multi-player to speak of or replay value (you could get every achievement except one in a single play through in theory), why this would even sell a copy is a mystery better left unsolved.

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