Unreal II goes gold

Unreal II: The Awakening has gone gold. Yes, amazingly Epic Games and Legend have finished the long awaited first person shooter when they said they would, and the game will be released in Europe on February 7th, with those lucky Americans getting the game on February 4th.

We're busy getting our PCs in training for what is likely to involve a serious workout for our GeForce4s - and we anticipate bringing you some in depth coverage once the review code arrives; hopefully soon. It's been nearly five long years since the original, and it's hard to think of many first person shooters that have topped it for visual splendour since.

This time around you play as Dalton, a "grizzled space mercenary" who has been sent on a mission to halt a "malevolent plot to awaken an ancient power". Sounds like the usual paper thin excuse for a plot to us, but the important thing to know is that it is set on 10 worlds, with Dalton returning to an orbiting ship between worlds to "interact with other crew members, research items acquired during missions and refresh your arsenal."

It's bound to look amazing (providing your PC's kit can keep up), with a tenfold increase in detail, but the talk of RPG style interaction and a real time conversation system sounds promising.

Expect a full first impressions and review over the coming weeks.