I looked back at my notes when I played Unreal 2 the first time. I remember thinking, right off the bat, the "scale" of the game was off. That is, your virtual head was too close to the floor or something. Like you walk up to a door and it's like the door is 4x taller than you are? Maybe they were giants on this planet? It just didn't feel right.

I also remember this was one of the first FPS games to have, what I called, "doped-up hyped-up hyper-active super-jumping monkey monsters". Attacking from all directions, they head straight for you and LUNGE at you from like 200 feet away and now they're in your face. I hate that! I hate games with enemies that basically don't have the common sense of self-preservation. Which these days seems to be most of them. Bioshock 1 & 2 come to mind. That is just sooo lazy. Don't bother to give the enemy an AI, just put them on auto-pilot and drive them straight into your face at 300mph. Ugh. And LOTS of them, from all directions, so you can't escape.

I played most of U2 with godmode turned on, because... after awhile I just didn't care. Here's a direct quote from my notes in 2003... "So. Lame. So. Lame. Must. Chew. Off. Own. Head. (sigh) "

I agree the AI isn't all that great but I think AI in shooters like this only really started to evolve with FEAR. I am interested however in your note system. Do you keep notes on all games you play and why? Do you keep them all? I really am intrigued by this.

Some time in the '90s I created a "Recent Games.doc", a list of all the games I owned, organized by genre/category kinda like GOG does their classification. That way, when I was "in the mood" for a particular kind of game, I would look to see what I had. Back then, when I "finished" a game I would delete its entry and move it to the bottom of the .doc, to a section called "Finished Games", and I would put a 1- or 2-word "review" and the date I finished it. Something like "System Shock 2 excellent! 9/9/99" (an actual entry).

This seemed sufficient at the time, and I used this single file for a long time... but when I started playing Ultima IX Ascension at the end of 1999, I had so much I felt like I wanted to remember about the experience, that I created an entirely new file called "Game Reviews 2000.doc". For each game I played, I create a header with the game title, the date(s) I started/finished the game, and a numeric score out of 10 possible points (very subjective). Following this brief I would just write out what I thought about the game, usually after I'd completely finished it, mentioning its pros and cons, things I liked/disliked, etc. I wanted a way to remember whether I liked a game, and maybe why I liked (or disliked) it, beyond just a "thumbs up/down". I also created a list 'index' at the top of the file with the titles of all the games played that year, date started, and final score. I made these entries "hyperlinks" into the game review itself, so I could just scan the top of a Game Reviews doc and instantly jump to its actual review below, kinda like a Table of Contents.

Over the years, I've greatly expanded my "reviews" to include daily session reports. Sometimes not very long, but the idea is I wanted to capture my thoughts of what I liked and didn't like as I played the game, because I'd often forget something by the time I was done. Every game starts with an "Initial Impressions" section, captured right after I've installed the game, maybe journaling any trouble I had installing, and quickly what I think of the graphics, playstyle, etc. I enjoy this because sometimes my initial impressions are far different than my final impression! Following will be dated "Update 6/9/2013" entries whenever I play the game next, but only if I had something I wanted to remember. After the game is finished (if ever!) I'll put up a "Final Impressions" section and rate the game.

Not much of a "system", but it gives me something I can use to go back and remember my experiences through the years. I find as I get older there is just so much of your life you don't remember! Even good games, sometimes I don't remember playing them if they went by real fast! The only important thing I'd say is... I don't try to write as-if I'm going to publish it, but a no-holds barred account of my experience, good or bad. Has come in real handy when GOG releases one of these old gems and I need to remember if I liked it or not! :)

Janus

In Gandalf's words: I have no memorie of this place. This is the first planet i don't remember playing back in the day...not a good sign. The planet looks quite cool: a misty planet with dead trees and has some nice atmosphere. Right of the bad they start with rocket enemies on towers where you would normally expect snipers. They really loved their rocket launchers. It starts once again with an approach mission and this one is interesting: they actually try to defend the bridge to the base with defense turrets and defense perimeters and you actually see them put them up. It's pretty cool.

But then it turns uninteresting. You enter a base that looks and feels a bit like solaris base but a lot more lineair and uninteresting. It's a few short maps ending in a defense mission. Nothing interesting here. Just 5 very small mediocre levels: It doesn't do anything wrong but nothing really right and I think that's why i didn't remember this level.

This is just a filler mission and a lot of games have them, but they can be fun and interesting. This mission is just bland and mediocre but since it doesn't do anything wrong: 5/10.




Na Koja Abad

This mission start pretty bad but get's better as it goes on. Again an uninteresting approach mission that is a lot bigger then the other approach mission and you actually have objectives here but the planet is a bit boring with some boring wildlife combat. But at least it mixes things up.

But then it get's better: the base has different assets then other base levels or it's lighted differently. Whatever the case it looks fresh and it's fun to run through a "new" looking indoor area. Also the level is a lot better designed then previous levels.

Then you'll get to the alien digsite and again new assets and some cool looking flying alien machine enemies. that again is a welcome change when the game was getting stale. It made we want to continue playing so that's a good thing.

Difficult to rate this one: It's starts really bad but it really picks up and mixed things up: 6.5/10


Once again we get an interesting interlude where your crews starts to question the objectives, it again makes them more believable. The main story is a bit of a mess and a reason to get to different planets but these interludes really elevate the story! I know i mentioned this a lot but i really really enjoy these parts.




Drakk Hive Planet

Very interesting mission and one i really liked. It wasn't perfect: the fighting again these machines i a bit slow but it's balanced to use the new drakk weapon that is also a slow weapon. The mission look really cool. Think the matrix but the areas where the humans are being used as batteries: it's like it takes place there. Another cool thing is that the bigger enemies have medics and if they come down a medic pops up who repairs the enemy and you have to blow them up so they stay down. That sounds annoying but it actually works really well.

The 5 little levels are a bit too short and easy. Way too easy this far in the game actually. It has some interesting story elements but the game doesn't use them and it more background story for these enemies then it's actually a main story element. That's a shame because they do some interspecies experiment but the game doesn't use them. It could have made for some interesting gameplay and enemies but it's not used.

Last part is a fun but easy and pretty standard bossfight. This is probably my second favorite level after hell. 8/10