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The Surge 2 is out now, and I remember reviewing the original The Surge. Having read back on the review, it reminds me of just what an enjoyable game it is. My biggest hope for this sequel was more of the same, and with some better sound.
A little bit of background is always needed. The Surge 2 is a grinding game, and I don’t mean those games you play with your mates every time you see a pool and you’re on the beers. It is a game where, to progress, you need to repeat a number of different stages (or areas), and fight the same enemies, to be able to level up and upgrade. Some people will never play these games due to the sheer annoyance, but I quite like the grind.
The game starts off with some shaken memories of a crash. Did anyone survive? Then you seem to wake up in some form of chamber without any clue what has happened apart from being under attack by other hospital goers as well as some mechanical flying pains in the…
The confusion the story line conveyed, unfortunately ran strife throughout the majority of the game. Graphically, The Surge 2 looks great during all the filmed sequences. However, as soon as you get to the actual gameplay, you will be pretty sure that you had gone back in time and you were once again playing your PS3. I mean, actually some PS3 games (The Last of Us) definitely are visually more pleasing, no doubt due to it coming out at the end of the last generation of consoles. The stark difference between the cutscenes and the gameplay was outright embarrassing (disclaimer – I was playing on the PS4 Pro).
One thing that they had definitely improved on was the atmosphere. This sequel is much more pleasant for your ears than the first one. The voice acting wasn’t too bad either, and I found myself not hating on the accents. At times, I was even a little spooked by what was going on around the corner. I have to admit, that on one point I turned off the game just because I didn’t want to die again.
As you progress throughout the game, you will keep on repeating certain parts and gaining extra spending points. You use these to upgrade, and although nothing out of the ordinary, the upgrading system works well. You can upgrade your health, stamina and power. I normally find with these sorts of games, it makes sense to upgrade your stamina first. This is because it frustrates me completely when you try and attack and your character is running out of power and they just flop.
Obviously, when it comes to upgrades, The Surge 2 has a more mechanical style. I found myself getting deeply involved with a number of different weapons just to see that they no longer had the strength to continue. That was a tad frustrating.
There was a nice range to the enemies you fight, but I found it quite easy to learn their patterns and defeat them. Hence, it in no way poses the difficulty of most other Dark Souls-style games, but I am not that good a gamer any more so that pleased me.
Despite the poor graphics, the game wasn’t all bad. It was relatively fun to play and will take most of you around 25 hours (unless you’re a pro gamer – then you’ll probably do it in 18). It doesn’t quite follow on as nicely as you would have hoped and seems like it has been rushed to release on time but overall I enjoyed my journey.
The Surge 2 is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Also available is the PS4 Limited Edition.
Important info:
- Developer: Deck13 Interactive
- Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
- Players: Single-player, multiplayer
|
GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
6 7 7 7 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
I have been a video game player since 1993 and a music fan since I can remember. I studied Film and Journalism at university and ended up becoming a Primary School teacher. Video games changed my life and sent me on the right track and have stayed with me ever since.