State of Emergency 2 review

The first State of Emergency was a promisingly anarchistic, pleasantly violent game that lost its fun within an hour or two. Living in a society kept down by an opressive government, it was yourrebellious civic dutyto literally incite and maintain riots. It looked the business, with impressive gaggles of hysterical civilians crowding your screen, but it quickly betrayed its shallow, under-developed, beat-and-shoot 'em-up gameplay.

Nearly four years (and several publishers) later, State of Emergency 2 arrives courtesy of publisher SouthPeak and newdeveloper DC Studios - makers of Whac-A-Mole and Bratz. If you're wondering if this is really a less-polished sequel made for less money and with the same technology some four years later, you're right. And if you think that's bad, you'reright again.

SOE2 is made up of three modes. If you want to know which is the "fun one," it's the bonus mission called "Let's try to return this game to the store an hour after we bought it." The story mode strays too far from the manic, riotous nature that made the first game tolerable, instead fixating on awful escort missions or painful sniping tasks. The arcade mode gives you bite-sized levels where the absolute best ones still don't compare to the original. Finally, multiplayer is perhaps the least fun of them all - save for being able to laugh at the horrible looking levels and flawed gameplay with friends.