A new Unreal 2 preview is available on Computer and Video Games. The preview is based on some hands-on impressions of the game, which the author says is as exciting as seeing Half-Life for the first time (being better than all the other FPS games). It's too bad the buying public has seen nothing of these redeeming features yet... Thanks Blues News.

Tolstiy's Place has an interview with Legend's Scott Dalton, Aaron Leiby and Chris Hargrove, who are all working on Unreal 2. The interview focuses on the particle and animation system that we'll be seeingin the game.

The Skaarj Still Bleeds is the title of an Unreal 2 preview on CG Online. The preview comes loaded with quotes from people at Legend and Epic, and goes over the story and the missions, the enemies (24 of them) and NPCs, the weapons, and the dialogue system as well as the multiplayer modes, a new team mode specifically. Here's a bit from the part about the multiplayer mode

In the new expanded game, class-based player teams will fight for control of planet surfaces and alien artifacts using nanotechnology replicators to build ever more sophisticated weapons and structures. Each of up to 32 players may be a Marine, a Mercenary, or a Skaarj, and can choose among three different classes. Available are the Grunt-soldier type, an all-brawn, all-combat hard hitter who will be able to use all of the heavy weapons in the game; the "Spook," a Light class unit who can move very fast and use all of the more exotic weapons; and a Tech soldier who can control replicator units that build all the weapons, ammunition, and equipment, as well as place force field generators, rocket turrets, health and armor healing stations, sensors, recon and repair robots, and any other items you can build to modify your base.

CG Online concludes the preview mentioning that the game should be out by spring 2002, which seems sooner than some of us might've thought (it surprised me).

Over at Computer and Video Games are five new Unreal 2 screenshots showing more from the upcoming Legend FPS.

Unreal Sector has an interview with the Infrogames PR guy discussing their upcoming release of Unreal2. Not any particular new information out there but rumor has it Legend's interpretation of the Unreal universe is gonna be pretty darn good. Thanks GSD

GameSpot has fired up some Unreal2 concept images you can look at (Thanks Stomped). 6 new images in all, no new details about the game revealed though.

PC Game Central is the latest site with an Unreal 2 interview. They talk to Infogrames producer Matt Frary about this upcoming Legend title.

Unreal 2 Interview With Mike Verdu and Mark Poesch is a new article on Unreal Center, asking Legend's Mike Verdu and Mark Poesch questions about Unreal 2 (bet that was unexpected). The questions are user submitted and touch on the game being fun, GeForce 3 support, voice over net capabilities, a demo release and more. Thanks Blues News for the tip.

The great weapon debate? You decide! A recent update mentioning the return of the Flak Cannon and ASMD for the sequel to Unreal being called Unreal2 right now isnt as set in stone as you'd think. The villagers are raising hell in the forums and well, here this post should explain (Thanks Adam & Blues) what's up with those weapons in the Unreal sequel.

Okay, I know I'm going to catch hell for saying this, but I'm not going to let this one slide, otherwise misinformation will spin things out of control and make us look worse in the end. Without trying to throw a slam at our PR people or anything, I'll merely say that Mr. Frary should have consulted us before making his statement. The ASMD/Flak issues were in discussion between Legend, Epic, and Infogrames well before the topic was even brought up here on these forums. I'm not saying that we're ignoring the fanbase here or anything (we're certainly not), but by the same token, we've been considering these issues for some time now.

That said, the ASMD and Flak cannon *MAY* make it into U2, and the current trend in our discussions (which may have led Mr. Frary to jump to a conclusion here) is that they will... but this is not carved in stone. [snip]

As we've learned in the past, game designers use carving stones for final decisions, and that hasnt occurred just yet. update: Looks like it is now CARVED IN STONE!!!

Unreality received an email from an Infogrames PR guy saying that after the many complaints about the fact that the ASMD and Flak Cannon would not be in Unreal 2 (as seen in this interview), they are now being included with the game. There are now 17 weapons in Unreal 2. Saw that on Blues News.

Unreality has a pretty lengthy interview with Mike Verdu who is part of the team working on the sequel to Unreal being called Unreal2. Pretty informative stuff and worth reading. Mike gives out some details on the single player campaign as well as DM features.

ActionVault has a new Unreal2 interview today discussing the Unreal sequel with Mike Verdu from the team. Mike gives some pretty good details about the game and what they are focusing on along with the improvements that can be expected when compared to the original Unreal. Some of you may still be waiting for the shareware release of Unreal though...

We gave weapon design a great deal of thought. We want to have cool, innovative new weapons that give the game a distinctive flavor in multiplayer - but we also wanted some familiar weapons that people will be immediately comfortable with when they fire up the game. The result is a large selection of guns, launchers, projectors, and beam weapons - some made by humans, some made by aliens, and all packing some pretty serious firepower. FPS gamers should feel right at home with the rocket launcher, grenade launcher, pistol, combat assault rifle, sniper rifle, and shotgun. They'll also have a chance to play with some new, exotic weapons like the hunter/seeker Takkra, flamethrower, and biological Leech gun. [screenshots]

There's a new Unreal 2 preview on Gamespot tonight. There was some Infogrames press day where the Legend game was shown. The author pretty much gives a run down of what was shown in the press demo, with info on creatures, weapons, missions and more

As such, Unreal II will have some gaming conventions that people don't really associate with action games--conventions like text trees, for example. But Unreal II won't be an adventure game in any sense of the word. Powers said that the varied missions will include stealth-based levels, hostage rescue, bomb defusal, and squad-based combat. Some levels will even force you to defend a base from oncoming attackers by manning different stationary weapons and giving out orders to other marines to do the same. And while Unreal II will largely be a single-player game, it will have a sizeable multiplayer component. In addition to deathmatch and capture-the-flag maps, Unreal II will have a mode called expanded multiplayer or XMP

PC.IGN also has some impressions.

The latest GameSurge level design interview is with Legend's Scott Dalton. Scott is one of the guys working on Unreal 2 and at GameSurge they ask him all about the art of making levels.

The Gamesurge interview series with level designers continues. Today they talk with James Parkman who is working on Unreal 2.

Gameplex has scored an interview with Mike Verdu of Legend Entertainment. As you all should know, Legend is working on Unreal 2 at the moment. There are questions about the story, multiplayer capabilities, the enemies you encounter, new engine features in Unreal 2 and much more.

- How long will it take to finish Unreal 2 and what are the elements that make gamers play it again and again and again?
- Legend: We’re hoping to make a single player game with 15-25 hours of game play for an average gamer. Of course there is much more game play in the multiplayer - you can fight bots or go on-line and spend many, many hours playing. It’s worth noting that there are some single player missions with considerable replay value. ....

XGR sends word they'll be broadcasting an interview with Legend designer Mike Verdu, talking about the upcoming Unreal 2. The interview starts at 8pm CST.

FiringSquad has finished up their E3 coverage (Yeah mine is cooking, honest) which features a few shots of Unreal Championship and Unreal2 that I dont recognize. Plus there is a chick with boobies. Thanks Stomped update: Ok Maarten tells me I am dumb and we have all of those screenshots here.

What, we missed E3 screenshots? Say it ain't so! The official Unreal 2 site has been updated with 5 new screenshots that were released during the game expo. Thanks Blues News. Here they are in 640x480 format, you can download higher res versions if you want any as your desktop pic.

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Tolstiy's Place has conducted an interview with Legend's Scott Dalton. Nothing really new on Unreal 2, the questions focus on things like increased complexity when mapping, creating fear and suspense, if sketching out a map is any good, the style of U2 compared to U1 and more.