Ubersoldier II

You know, most fantasy, no matter how crazy, probably originated from something obscure that was indeed fact. Case in point, it has been well documented that Adolf Hitler was interested in the occult. Just based off this simple fact, we have had countless movies, books and even games that take this idea and go hog wild. Heck, the first Indiana Jones movie talks about Hitler's obsession with religious artifacts and the beginning of Hellboy talks about some of the sinister things Hitler was trying to do in order to gain power. And who could forget all that fun blowing away mutated Nazi's in the Wolfenstein games? And since I really like the idea of taking real historical events and then wrapping it in a shroud of fantasy, well, lets just say I wanted to review this game pretty badly.

So with that said, you play as Karl, one of the German resistance fighters helping the Allies defeat the Third Reich. You start the game off with a bang as you are manning a large machine gun mounted on the rear of a jeep as all sorts of Nazi vehicles are chasing after you. Its a great way to start an action game and provides some genuine thrills. From there, you begin your adventure in trying to locate a secret Nazi experimental base where all sorts of nastiness is going on. And pretty soon, our man Karl isn't just fighting soldiers, but comes face to face with the mutated creations that Hitler's scientists have been working on.

"Ah! There's a mouse in my bunker!"

For a game that is only $19.99, you can't help but think that this title is a bit better than the usual bargain-game fare, and you would be right. Karl has some abilities to help him dispatch his enemies including a mode where if you complete a series of headshots concurrently, you will enter into sniper mode, which is sort of like bullet time, only not quite so visual. Your enemies slow down and you can pretty much whup them up easily for a brief amount of time. The same occurs when you make multiple kills with your knife, berserker mode kicks in and you become a Nazi killing machine.

Now I realize this is nothing terribly new, but since that might have been chalked up to being a Wolfenstein clone, it's little things like this that give the game its own unique take on the subject. Personally, I felt it added a slight challenge to the game but not much more; still, I recognize that the developers were trying to come up with a little something extra, and it was, at least, a benefit.

Additionally, the game looks better then I would have thought for a bargain-priced game - smooth framerates, some attention to detail, the game for the most part does the job adequately. There is some breakdown in textures at random points in the game, but it is not a hindrance in the game's tempo. But those players who love FPS games will probably pick this one apart and find a million things wrong with it. Yes, you are correct, this is not Half Life, HALO, Deus Ex, Counter Strike or any of the other top-tier first-person shooters. This is a limited game, but it is at least acceptable.

"Huh, so the headless horseman really can't pass the old bridge."

I found that i really had to tweak the control configuration before I could actually even function in this title. With the addition of many weapons and even some arcane skills, it takes time to get down a good flowing control scheme that works well for the game. Some of the weapons are truly of the period, and function as so. Being that the game does touch on the fantastical, you can expect some pretty wild things to occur.

Luckily for us, the game has a fairly smart way of unraveling its story. No, its clearly not a really great story to begin with, but between levels a sort of comic book-framed story unravels and you view the events that happen between levels. And it is with this, I again, admire that this title is a bargain-bin selection. Clearly there was much love and attention given to these segue's and it shows. I may not feel the same about the voice work, as every German character speaks like they are from Cincinnati. But since the game was an European export, I guess I can give it a little slack. Voice work aside, the game does bring the sound effects. Gunfire, explosions, engines, all done with modest effect and if you have the system, will make you take notice. Yes, there are better sounding games out there, but this one provides adequate sound effects for the action at hand.

Lucky for us, many of the villians are in masks or wearing military uniforms to help the lack of varied character models look passable. Some of the "experiments" you run across are decent enough looking, but I can't help but think that they look all too familiar. It's hard to not compare this to Return to Castle Wolfenstein and then kind of look down on the mutants after seeing them.

Review Scoring Details for Ubersoldier II

Gameplay: 6.2
While not the most tuned up and dialed-in control schematic, you can find a comfortable way to play with some work. Couple of puzzles appear throughout the game that aren't difficult at all, getting multiple headshots with antique rifles can be.

Graphics: 6.5
Better than the price would suggest and comes complete with some actual good usage of terrain and destroyed areas from a texture standpoint, but ultimately will be compared to other titles that look far superior.

Sound: 6.5
German's with American accents ... go figure. But the sound effects do well to help the game run its course.

Difficulty: Medium
I didn't have that hard of a time with this game. I would die occasionally, but never hit that part of a game where I would pull my hair and say "This is impossible!"

Concept: 6.9
Like I said, I have always thought it was a good idea to take real historical data and then add the occult or fantasy to it.

Multiplayer: 6.0
Not too many people playing this game online. The standard fare for online shooters, nothing particularly jumps out at you.

Overall: 6.4
The game passes ... barely. I would be lying if I didn't say there was some fun hidden in it, but you really have to go in and find it, and most of the time, that's just not enough.