Unreal II: The Awakening

Unreal II: The Awakening is described as a sequel to Unreal, though many of the story elements, including characters and locations, are entirely unrelated to the original. The game was released to stores on February 4, 2003.

History
Primary development on Unreal II was performed by Legend Entertainment, with some assistance by Epic Games, and published by Atari.

Unreal II
After much delay, the Unreal II demo was finally released on May 1st, 2003. It included one level from the Single-player campaign.

XMP
The Demo for XMP was released on December 5th, 2003 and included one map, XMP-Garden, out of the 8 maps included with the XMP addon.

Release Details

 * February 4, 2003 - Unreal II release
 * December 9, 2003 - eXpanded MultiPlayer (XMP) addon
 * December 9, 2003 - Unreal II SE (PC)
 * December 9, 2003 - Unreal II SE (Xbox)

Reception
While Unreal II received above average review scores from most of the major game news outlets, it was not received well at all. The most common complaints were that, while it looked pretty, the game did not have much depth nor any replayability to speak of. The game did gain somewhat of a cult following sometime after the XMP addon was released, however this community focused more on the multiplayer aspect of the game, with the single-player campaign receiving very little time or attention.

Most people dislike Unreal II in name only. The game had relatively little to do with the original game, including leaving out any characters, location, and most enemies from the first game. Some people agree that the game is fine as a game, but is not by any means a sequel to Unreal.

Engine
Upon release, Unreal II utilized build 2001 of the Unreal Engine 2 (verify?). Upon release of the XMP addon, the game utilized build 2226. The game appears to use a different series of build enumerations from the base Unreal Engine, as the XMP release was described as build 6496, with patches to 6497 and 7710 (the latest patch).

Music
Jack Wall (Tommy Tallarico Studios), Clint Bajakian (Tommy Tallarico Studios), Jeremy Soule (Artistry Entertainment), Crispin Hands (Artistry Entertainment), Brian Min (Weddington Productions), Chance Thomas and Richard Schneider are credited for working on the music in Unreal II.

Most of the music files of Unreal II use DirectMusic, and only the cutscenes use OGG Vorbis format. There are some additional music tracks that were not used in the game. Overall the music is very cinematic and uses much effects.
 * OGG tracks

Note: they have .con extension and needs special software to play.
 * Direct Music tracks

Gametypes
The base game of Unreal II is a single-player mission. A multiplayer addon was released in December 2003, known as XMP (eXpanded Multi-Player).

Weapons

 * Dispersion Pistol (LEPEW-13, T-13 Popgun)
 * Combat Assault Rifle (CAR, M32 Duster)
 * Grenade Launcher (M406 Hydra)
 * Shotgun (M700, Crowd Pleaser)
 * Flamethrower (Vulcan)
 * Pistol (Magnum, Avenger, Grace)
 * Rocket Launcher (Shark)
 * Sniper Rifle (Widowmaker)
 * Energy Rifle (Shock Lance)
 * Spider Gun (Spore Cannon, Leech Gun)
 * Drakk Laser Rifle
 * The Takkra (Drakk Hunter)
 * Singularity Cannon


 * Auto Turret
 * Rocket Turret
 * Force Wall
 * Proximity Sensor

Vehicles

 * Raptor
 * Harbinger
 * Juggernaut

Races

 * Animals
 * Araknids
 * Drakk
 * Humans
 * Marines (Terran Colonial Authority)
 * Liandri Angels (Liandri Corporation)
 * Ghost Warriors (Izanagi Corporation)
 * Izarians
 * Kai
 * Skaarj
 * Tosc

Characters

 * John Dalton
 * Aida
 * Isaak
 * Ne'Ban
 * Sector Commander Hawkins

Maps
The single-player maps are included in the base game of Unreal II. The XMP maps are included in the XMP addon.

Essential Files
Here you will find all the links to the downloads of the essential files for your Unreal II installation (due to BeyondUnreal not supporting the Essential Files wizard any more. Note: you can still see the unsupported page here).

Patches

 * Unreal II: The Awakening 2001 Patch - Fixes a variety of issues with the retail version of Unreal II: The Awakening. Not needed for Unreal Anthology. File Date: March 25 2003

eXpanded MultiPlayer

 * Unreal II: XMP Full Version Addon - Upgrades your full version of Unreal II: The Awakening to Unreal II: Special Edition (XMP), with 8 new levels and online Expanded MultiPlayer action. Note: this installer is of old official build. The newer Community Installer is suggested. In order to play online with this version, you will need to download the 6497 and 7710 patches. File Date: December 9 2003
 * Unreal II Expanded Multiplayer Community Edition Installer - a newer version of the XMP installer. It already contains the two patches, the most popular maps and mutators and the latest server configuration.
 * Server browser fix - a thread describing what you need to make your U2XMP Server Browser work.
 * UGameTray - an utility for monitoring XMP servers. Use this if you can't normally see the XMP servers.

Demos

 * Unreal II: The Awakening Demo Fully-playable demo of Unreal II: The Awakening. File Date: May 2 2003
 * Unreal II: XMP Demo - Fully-playable demo of Unreal II: Special Edition (XMP), contains one level (XMP-Garden). File Date: December 4 2003

Cut Content
Exactly a half of the game was cut from Unreal II. The content that was cut include:


 * Three races that includes nine or more enemies (N, Striders, Shian)
 * Five weapons (Tractor Beam, Stun Baton, Mind Claw, Shock Rifle, Flak Cannon)
 * Seven SP maps, around 10 Tournament ladder maps and several more multiplayer maps
 * Various graphics, gameplay and sound technologies (MP3 music player, GOLEM tool for mod creation, Co-op support, multiplayer support, dynamic conversation system, armor changing)

However, this content isn't lost forever. Beta versions of Unreal II have survived, and eventually they will be released, bringing all of this content back into the main game.

For more information, see the Cut content of Unreal II article.

Bonus Content
An additional map has been created by Matthias Worch, called Solaris Base. The action takes place between Hell and Acheron missions.

User Created Content

 * XMP Community Bonus Pack

Previews and Reviews
Gamespot (7.3/10)