Heavy Metal FAKK 2 is a 3rd person Action game using the prolific Quake 3 engine. Think of it as Tomb Raider meets First Person Shooter.
The game is based on the Heavy Metal comic book series and the main character is modeled after actress Julie Strain. The game takes place right after the events of the movie Heavy Metal 2000 that came out in the same year.
The planet, known as Eden, with its super natural water which prevents people from aging is under attack again from an alien group. Eventually, these creatures appear out of nowhere and is teleporting to the planet from their space ship above the planet and starting to attacking its citizens. It turns out that these Alien creatures are knows as the Gith and they are after a secret that is in the planet of Eden that will allow them access to immortality. And of course Julie being the defender of the planet (like last time when the planet was under attack) as per the Heavy Metal movies she springs into action and tries to get to the source of this immortality before the Gith does.
The levels in the game are diverse as Julie makes her way to the source of this immortality entity. I got some Unreal 1 vibes in the game where the game is in a strange alien world. Of course it’s not as big as the levels in Unreal. The characters in the game you fight are often the same creatures you fight when you start the game. The levels involves solving puzzles which can be easily solved, platforming, and your regular run and gun. One thing about this game, unlike in the Tomb Raider series, you can carry a variety of weapons and swords all at the same time. You can carry a gun for example on your left hand and a sword in your other hand. This might be tricky but with some time you can get used to it.
The game strong point would have to be it’s level design and architecture. Combined with the Quake 3 engine the graphics are some of the best for a 2000 game. Some of the levels towards the end have these grandiose architecture and tomb like environments that are fantastically designed. It’s clear that Ritual had some very talented level designers. However, where it falls short is the fighting mechanics which can be frustrating. You are often attacked by barrage of flies and these alien creatures at the same time which can be frustrating when you are switching from guns to your particular swords. Also, the lack of sufficient health potions means you may have to keep on trying until you complete the level. The last level in particular was frustrating in which is one of the negative points in this game was where you fight the final boss while you are fending of the same alien creatures at the same time. Even though I got the level of the boss health down to all the way I still couldn’t finish him off even after grabbing a huge swords which I assume you use to finish it off. After spending over 45 minutes trying to kill of the boss I finally went through walkthrough on how to kill the boss. It turns out you have to kill it using the sword using sequential strikes using the sword which you would have probably not known unless you read a walkthrough. It wasn’t like killing the other bosses in the game. Another point could be that the game wasn’t long enough for a AAA title.
In summary, if you are looking for an action game from a 3rd person shooter perspective that is unique from the early 2000s give Heavy Metal FAKK 2 a shot. Due to the game being in licensing limbo you can get the game for free at myabondware.com. I used mods to spruce up the characters and the textures by downloading 1.2GB worth of mods from moddb.