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Dark Reign 2
by Nelson “Admiral” Hernandez

I get the sense that Dark Reign 2 was designed for multiplayer first and foremost. That was perhaps a calculated risk by Activision on the hope that most people will be playing DR2 online and thus not notice the moronic AI. DR2 is not the only RTS that has lousy AI either, but given all the other good things in this game it is something of a letdown to not get any challenge during the campaigns except through the absurd time limit quests.

But the other problem is that the storyline isn’t really compelling enough to make you want to progress through the campaign, like the more movie-like Starcraft or Command and Conquer. So I am sorry to say that the single-player side of DR2 may not put too much wind in your sails for yet another traditional RTS. The beautiful graphics can’t make up for a lack of soul.

I see potential for great multiplayer action with this game, however. Matchmaking is handled through the WON.net server and reports from that have been good, though I was unable to test it because I am Internet-less at the moment. The interface is great and the units are varied enough to make it interesting. If the formation problem were fixed I think DR2 would be able to contend with the best of them in the multiplayer arena.

Putting together an RTS is a fine art, especially since there is so much competition in the genre. I would put Dark Reign 2 in the “good effort” category but I believe it falls short of the best games because it fails to break any new ground and set itself apart from a number of other games that offer the same experience.

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