The original Shellshock game just so happens to be one of those games I missed out on. The first time I'd even heard of Shellshock in fact, was upon me receiving this newest title for review. The sequel puts you in FPS action in the Vietnam War, where a plague has been unleashed. You are brought in to clear up the mess... as after all, it's a family matter, as your very own brother, Cal, appears to be the first infected, and thus the source of the infection. The mission is simply to retrieve Cal, and something known simply as 'Whiteknight,' although there's plenty of rebel forces and the undead to contend with; that's zombies in Vietnam, which should more than keep you on your toes.

That seems like a good concept that could work well, that being zombies and Vietnam in a first-person shooter. The big question though, is does Shellshock 2 deliver the thrills and spills or is it left in a clumsy bloody trail and ultimately only to be lost in the gaming shuffle like its decade-plus old original?

Gameplay:

With a methodically distinctive slow paced and persistent tone, Shellshock 2 otherwise plays like the more typical shooters, where you can carry grenades and a primary weapon to go alongside a pistol to dole out damage to enemy forces, as well as the grotesque infected hordes. The frag grenades themselves prove to be completely useless, you might as well just throw a party popper into a horde of the undead, and even then you'd probably dish out considerably more damage. As far as grenades though, the only useful one is the flare, which emits a bright red smoke, lighting up the surrounding area, which proves ever so vital in the more narrow and darkened of areas in the game.

The weapons include a knife and a machete, they serve their purpose, but it would have been nice to have had some sort of slicing and dicing combination or special execution move. After all, most of the enemies you encounter are already bleeding and missing chunks of flesh, but instead you can only melee with one of these supposed sharp weapons in hand, and there's nothing at all satisfying about it. You might as well just run through and punch your enemies to death, even if it does take a couple of extra hits. The firearms in particular do serve their purpose, with a range of automatic weapons including an AK-47, shotgun, RPG, and even an un-mounted heavy machine gun. The shotgun and un-mounted heavy machine gun are easily the more powerful and useful weapons in the game. More often than not, a convenient weapon for the task ahead will lie near-by, so it's vital to explore a bit for the more powerful weapons, and even more so to keep a healthy supply of ammunition. The last thing you want is to be caught with no ammunition, and have to deal out damage with your seemingly useless rubber knife or machete.

Quick Time Events (QTE) have never been so frequent and overused in a game, their supposed to come at unexpected times, and indeed they do, but after you experience your first two, there's nothing particularly shocking or surprising about them. You simply press one of the face buttons displayed on-screen to avoid a near certain death, from things such as a truck trying to mow you down, or collapsing rubble. In a similar fashion to Treyarch's Call of Duty 3, there's also often a struggle where an infected or enemy rebel will pounce on you, here you simply have to press three random sets of face button correctly, at the end of which point you will typically snap your opponents neck or have the choice to finish them off with a flurry of melee attacks or a gruesome close-range headshot, all in a rather nice slow-mo esque fashion. There's no way to unleash such a finisher manually, which is a shame, as while the QTE events happen frequently, the chance to stylishly decapitate your enemies is few and far between.

Ten levels for a campaign seems to be expected and it's what Blood Trails delivers, you simply move from A to B and so on, eliminating any enemies in your path. Boss encounters, especially for a horror game is something that is expected, and Blood Trails does have a boss of whom you encounter a few times. The only problem with this, is that there's no variety to the boss encounters, it's rather dire to simply face the same boss each time. He simply stomps around slowly with his large blades and takes the odd lunge towards you. You simply just keep out of his way, continuously unloading ammo clips on him, and having the odd sprint away from him whilst reloading, and repeat until he dies. It's exactly the same method for each and every Boss encounter, there's no challenge as such, no strategy to work out, just simple run and gun.

Graphics:

When you fire a game up, the first thing you see is the visuals as you get accustomed to the way the game plays, first impressions usually count for everything. This is not the case with Shellshock 2 however, the game starts out in darkened buildings and streets, and while the detail isn't so in your face, when you get to what should be the lush jungle environments of the Vietnamese War, you are ultimately left with a game that would be visually put to shame even amongst the Xbox 360's gaming launch line-up. Horror fans will like the distinctive subtle touches, such as the use of lighting in some enclosed environments, blood smeared across random walls, and the odd soldiers body left hanging or nailed nearby with an arm, head, leg, or something else that's gone walk-about.

Audio:

The audio is something that grabbed my attention in Shellshock 2, while I would have liked to have heard some more variety from the enemies, especially in regards to the zombies usual moans and groans which could have been emphasized further. Though I suppose that's the least of this game's problems. The voice-acting is another thing to touch-on, the way in which the story is delivered by the voice-acting during the brief cutscenes is rather intriguing, it's just a shame about the rest of the game though.

Longevity:

We're in a day and age now where multiplayer and even co-op is expected to be included with most games,where only very few high profile single-player games get away with not including such features. Shellshock 2 is single-player only, and most certainly not a high-profile or triple-A title, and as such, there's no saving grace to latch onto. The single-player campaign, while it has the odd high moment here and there, is rather poorly conceived and unsatisfying. If you battle your way through once, the achievements may entice you back in for another play-through. However, are those extra points worth enduring the game for a second time? I think not, maybe on a level-by-level basis, where you quickly dive out for a breather to remind you of what good games play like between missions.

Overall:

It was pretty clear from the off-set that Shellshock 2 wasn't going to be a great game. The opening mission proved to engage enough with the atmosphere and tone set to provide an admirable immediate first-impression; but sadly the rest of the game is quite simply a clumsy experience right up until its conclusion. You know those games that you downloaded a demo of, that let you play the opening level to give you an impression of the game, and then you buy the full game to find out it's rubbish? Well, this distinctively sums up Shellshock 2, although on the plus side we're fortunate enough to not get duped by a demo.

Horror and shooter fans alike may find some cheap thrills within Blood Trails, but ultimately the majority of the game is quite simply a very unsatisfying experience. On a more positive note it does, on the rarest of occasions reminds me more of Monolith's outings with Condemned and F.E.A.R., in regards to the more claustrophobic environments and use of sound, but this is heavily outweighed by Shellshock 2's clumsy enemy A.I. and poor attention to detail. Shellshock 2: Blood Trails is sadly best to be avoid like the plague.