Official Xbox 360 Magazine - Play new games every month with the UK's number one Xbox 360 magazine
The OXM Awards 2009 - Xbox 360
The OXM Awards 2009 
VOTE: Make your vote count in this year's awards!
Resident Evil 5 - Xbox 360
Resident Evil 5 360
PREVIEW: Survival horror? Long live action horror!
Tomb Raider Underworld - Relics - Xbox 360
Tomb Raider Underworld - Relics 
GUIDE: Grab these relics, get some achievements
GTA IV: The Lost & Damned - Xbox 360
GTA IV: The Lost & Damned 360
REVIEW: Tales from a new corner of Liberty City...
CV confirms Aliens RPG is canned | Worms Armageddon Decade exploding onto XBLA | Midnight Club: Los Angeles DLC revealed | Sega classic Virtual On heading to XBLA | HD Remix designer attacks Street Fighter IV | Quake III Arena 'almost finished' | Lost Planet 2 only announced for 360 | Rose McGowan joins Terminator the game (not film) | Resident Evil 5 viral has massive troll | Flock flocking to XBLA in April | Left 4 Dead update finally released | Beneath The Ashes now out for Tomb Raider | SFIV 'Beat The King' challenge and character guide! | OXM Podcast Episode 14 | Red 'Resident Evil 5' Xbox 360 revealed | Lost Planet 2 confirmed (eventually) | Over half Xbox Live users have Gold accounts | Chronicles Of Riddick demo next month, full game April | Bioware: keep your Mass Effect saves! | Exit 2 is definitely out tomorrow | Resident Evil 5 demo serves 4 million players | Street Fighter IV World Record set at 108 wins | DiRT 2 DLC already planned | Monsters vs Aliens demo now available | New Alan Wake info reveals... nothing

PreviousHalo Wars 360Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned 360Next

Review

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

2.0
Format Xbox 360
Developer Unknown
Publisher Eidos Interactive
Genre First Person Shooter
OXM.co.uk
20-Feb-2009 Look - it's a retro game in disguise!
Say this was the year 2000, you had just bought a PS2, you had never played a videogame before and heating up a microwave lasagne for one was as much technology as you had even been involved with. Then Shellshock 2: Blood Trails might have been impressive.

Sadly, this is the year 2009. The era of BioShock, Halo and Call of Duty. A brave new world of innovation, atmosphere and drama. You can even play multiplayer! Against other people! Who aren't even in the same room! Rebellion would claw at the screen in fear if they witnessed such powerful medieval magic being played out before their disbelieving eyes, before throwing their HDTV into the nearest river to see if it floats.

Advertisement:
There is nothing to be found in Shellshock 2 that suggests it was made in the last ten years, let alone a title released well into the Xbox 360's life. Visually, it's dull and lifeless. The same goes for the gameplay. At least the multiplayer is... oh wait. It doesn't have multiplayer. Whoops.

If we had to pick the biggest of its many, many problems, it would be the gunplay. It does the 'first-person' bit of the FPS equation right but not the 'shooter' part. It just doesn't sit together properly. It's hard to explain why an FPS doesn't feel right given all you're doing is aiming a crosshair and pushing a trigger, so we'll list some of its problems instead.

Your pistol is more effective than your generic machine gun. Ammo is scarce so putting your knife two awkward D-pad presses away from your main gun is dumb. You're firing at enemies you can't see (the Vietcong) or at enemies who claw at you until either they die or you die (the Infected). You can't tell what weapon you have or what you're picking up, so refilling ammo is often a case of pick up weapon, drop weapon, pick up weapon, drop weapon. Just like the real thing! Presumably.

Throw in a bunch of QTE events, terrible voice-acting, some of the worst AI we have ever seen and a total running time that would merely be a fart in The Orange Box's world and Shellshock 2 truly is shocking stuff. The idea of mixing survival horror alongside warfare has potential but, on this evidence, we hope it's a while before anyone dares try it again.

Ryan KingOXM.co.uk

Overview

Verdict
This really is absolutely shocking
Uppers
  It loads...
Downers
  ...And then it hurts
  Looks terrible
  Really quite dull
  No multiplayer

Screens

Interactive

No comments have been posted yet.Post a Comment

Screens

PreviousNext1 / 5 Screenshots

Related

Reviews:
Shellshock 2: Blood Trails
Previews:
ShellShock 2: Blood Trails
More Related

Popular

HD Remix designer attacks Street Fighter IV5 comments
Resident Evil 5 360
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned 360
Left 4 Dead update finally released1 comment
Lost Planet 2 only announced for 3601 comment
Quake III Arena 'almost finished'
Movie! Resident Evil 5 viral has massive troll1 comment
Rose McGowan joins Terminator the game (not film)
CV confirms Aliens RPG is canned2 comments
Shellshock 2: Blood Trails 360
Worms Armageddon Decade exploding onto XBLA
Sega classic Virtual On heading to XBLA
Realistic Driving Games...
Dreaming Of Revivals
Street Fighter IV - The Character Guide 360
Halo Wars 360
Tomb Raider Underworld - Relic Guide
Flock flocking to XBLA in April
Screenshots! Midnight Club: Los Angeles DLC revealed1 comment
Screenshots! Race Pro 360
1/10 Games
OXM Podcast Episode 142 comments
The OXM Awards 2009
Street Fighter IV 360
Screenshots! Red 'Resident Evil 5' Xbox 360 revealed3 comments
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited,
Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885