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Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.-2
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purchase this game
 Macintosh Version available! Click Here to Order!
Making a "sexy" game is a tricky business. Even the most
subtle of sexiness in Tomb Raider led to incessant arguments about Lara
Croft's unlikely chest size(!). Add too much sexiness, and you'll probably
end up sold only by mail order, as software stores chicken out of selling
that title. Then there's always the examples of games that didn't know
what was sexy at all, like the abysmal Man
Enough, or the equally flawed Meat
Puppet. Thankfully, Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2
has Julie Strain as the character model to base its sexiness on (as does
the film the game is based), and if it wasn't for a few tiny flaws, it
might have even become the must-have game of the year.
The game is based on Heavy Metal 2000, the sequel to the first Heavy
Metal film, and which sadly had a very limited release (though it is
available on DVD, and was even reviewed by Techtite here).
Julie is
the defender of the planet of Eden, where nobody ages a single day. This
is several decades after the story from the film, where everything is back
to normal on the planet...for now. A
satellite defense system, the FAKK-2, has kept the planet safe from all
attack for 30 years. However, now the system has met its match, and is
starting to collapse. It is up to Julie to attempt to repair the system
controls, save the planet, and hopefully defeat the threat as well.
The
interface uses the Quake 3 game engine, so you can imagine
the excellent 3D acceleration, detail, and animation. In these respects, FAKK2
is truly a work of art, in many ways. Explore the village and you might
even see a painting here and there, which are (I'm guessing) conceptual
photos made for the film; a cute touch. Julie is equally well (ahem) created, and even changes her outfit on several occasions. NPC characters
you talk to are all unique (unlike other games, the same texture isn't
used for all "villagers"), and even move their lips when they
talk. If there's one choice that was well done, it's the use of the Quake
3 game engine.
While the game is basically a "shoot everything moving" type
deal --I would have preferred it, if you could save villagers and
get rewards for doing so, a la Deus Ex
or Unreal-- the weaponry
is certainly unique. One intriguing concept is that Julie can hold
different objects in each hand. While this allows you to hold the typical
shield/sword combo, you can also hold two weapons at once; a fire sword
and crossbow, for example. Most of the weaponry is powered by the
magical "Eden Water," so you can often recharge your weapons
just by finding a waterfall or pond nearby and jumping in; another cute
idea. As for enemies, they are often even more imaginative, and are probably
the most macabre and mysterious looking "aliens" ever conceived
for a game of this type.
 The game's flaws begin with "sexiness" that's severely
watered down. Given
the original film, the fantasy magazine itself, and of course the
pictorials of the infamous Julie Strain, this
game's PG-rated sexiness is slightly disappointing. One amusing moment is
when Julie is placed in a fight so severe, her one-piece skin tight suit
has giant holes in it here and there. An amusing piece of dark humor might
have been that, the further she went into enemy territory, the more torn
her clothes would become, until it was literally just a string bikini
itself. Instead, Julie comes across a new outfit, while strolling past a man's (?)
secret lab. Indeed, her later outfits are of the skimpy, "Baywatch"
variety, and yet the sexiness does seem toned down, considerably.
By the finale of the game, I wasn't too upset with how short it was, nor
how basic it was (shoot everything on screen, go to next screen, repeat).
However, the ending --if you can call it that-- was the deal breaker,
putting this game's rating into the just-barely thumbs up category (a
Techtite.com "small crater").
Sadly, the ending is not merely open; it's practically abandoned. Why not
have a celebration for Julie, upon her return home? Why not have the
banners, confetti, and ballyhoos that herald a hero's welcome, especially
after all she'd been through? Very few "sexy" games seem to
realize that this is what divides the better games from the bargain bin
games. If there's more to the story, shut up about it until the sequel,
and give Julie --and her fellow gamers-- the happy ending we both deserve.
To purchase the game, click here...
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed product, are created by Techtite,
copyright 2000; all rights reserved. Screen captures of program
reviewed are discrete thumbnails, used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite and the distributors of that product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
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