Heavy Gear 2 is not just another giant robot game, they are more medium-ish in size, and in all fairness should not be compared to other giant robot games. The futuristic setting of Heavy Gear 2 picks right up after the civil war between the forces of North Terra Nova and South Terra Nova. A peace treaty is signed but they need to have a reason to keep these ‘gears’ around. Solution: Those naughty Earth folk need to be taught a lesson. So, before you know it, special commando teams (you) outfitted with robots are sent out to raid the forces of Earth and teach them a lesson.

This game is a lot like fishing. No wait, stop laughing. In fishing you have to have incredible amounts of patience and experience in order to be successful. In Heavy Gear 2, you need patience because a lot of the game involves sneaking around slowly: to shoot your enemies in the back. You need experience, because you almost have to take a special course in the game controls just to learn the configuration, more on that later though.

The graphics were excellent, as expected from a 3D accelerator hardware required game. Game play was smooth, although after a few missions I was very sick of seeing angular hillsides. In fact, those angular hillsides made me ask the question: why do I always have to run in the bottom of the valley all the time in this game? I was getting quite frustrated, if I can kneel and crawl then why can’t I climb? Besides the angular polygon hills everything was really good graphics wise; especially the weather of the game environment which was stunning, lightning, rain, snow, and fog.

I said I would get back to talking about the game controls; well here is where I do just that. The default controls were easy to understand when you are using a training mission that deals with only one aspect of handling. But, if you throw yourself into a real combat situation (even worse in zero-g) and your hands are seriously lacking enough fingers to handle it all. After realizing this I decided to customize the controls, only to be frustrated by the sheer magnitude of commands I would have to re-map. Not to mention the mildly annoying interface of the key configuration screen. Needless to say after replaying the first six or seven missions a lot, I finally got accustomed to the default settings and the game went smoothly.

The sound was what I expected. From the array of weapons, the sounds did not change all that much from one class of weapon to another of the same class. Again, the weather was the high point of the game. Thunderstorms were beautiful and a good thunderclap could pierce through the loudest of combat situations.

I had a difficult time trying to classify Heavy Gear 2 into a tactical or strategy category. It seemed to me more like a first person shooter with AI squad mates. This game will probably be difficult to get use to for people that enjoy the MechWarrior series. But if you are a fan of Heavy Gear, then be prepared for some serious game play.