Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

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Shellshock 2: Blood Trails
How could Core Design continue from Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness to this?
Protagonist(s): Sergeant Nathan "Nate" Walker Genre(s): First-Person Shooter Platform(s): Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Release Date: EU: February 13, 2009 NA: February 24, 2009 Engine: Asura Developer(s): Rebellion Developments Rebellion Derby (Core Design) Publisher(s): Eidos Interactive Country: United Kingdom Series: Shellshock Predecessor: Shellshock: Nam '67

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails is a 2009 first-person shooter video game that is set during the Vietnam War. It was developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Eidos Interactive for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to a 2004 video game, Shellshock: Nam '67.

The game was formerly banned in Australia and Germany for high-impact gory violence throughout the game. It is also the last game from Eidos Interactive as an independent publisher before they were acquired by Square Enix in November 2009 and rebranded as Square Enix Europe.

Plot

In the Fall of 1969, a special operations team led by Sergeant Caleb "Cal" Walker, vanishes after being sent into the jungles of Cambodia to retrieve a mysterious cargo known as "Whiteknight", which was lost after the U.S. transport plane carrying it was shot down by a North Vietnamese Air Force jet. Cal lost his men to the earliest victims of Whiteknight, the downed U.S. plane crew. It is then up to Caleb's younger brother, Private Nathaniel "Nate" Walker, to find him and unlock the secrets of Whiteknight.

Why It's Shellshocked

1. Despite the title suggesting that it's a sequel to Shellshock: Nam 67, aside from having the protagonist Caleb Walker from the previous game, it has no connection to that game whatsoever.
2. Just like Conflict: Denied Ops, Eidos tried so hard to cash in on the Call of Duty Craze at that time, by turning a game that was previously a third-person shooter into a modern generic first-person shooter, but with zombies.
3. For some reason, there are so many head-bobs/camera shakes when you sprint, or practically get hit by anything, which can cause headaches.
4. The story in this game is a big downgrade from the first one, despite the writing in the previous game not being Oscar-worthy it did its job right, but here, it is pretty much clichéd, boring, and bland, with paper-thin and unlikable characters. The premise of a lost bioweapon plaguing the jungles of Vietnam, while it is an interesting concept, is badly executed.
5. Ugly and awful graphics especially for 2009 standards, and the console versions run at an atrocious framerate, especially during cutscenes. It's on par with a PlayStation 2/Xbox game (which is laughable, considering that the first game was released on both those consoles and even that game looks better than this.) In comparison, Halo 3: ODST, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Borderlands, Killzone 2, Battlefield 1943, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (which came out the same month as this), The Conduit, Necrovision and S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat released the same year and they all look miles better than this. What's even worse is that the game's running on the Asura engine, which powered good-looking games such as the Sniper Elite franchise, Rogue Trooper, and various Aliens vs. Predator games.
6. Despite taking place in the Vietnam War, there isn't much variety of weapons to choose from, there are only 11 weapons to use, with no submachine guns, sniper rifles, or even a grenade launcher. Not helping is that the M60 is the only weapon you will use in the entire game because of how overpowered it is.
   • False Advertising: Despite the promotional materials showing a flamethrower being used, there is no such weapon in the actual game.
   • It doesn't help that the gunplay is outright horrendous, as the weapons lack punch and tracers, which makes them feel like Airsoft toys, especially with the shotgun.
   • And speaking of the weapons, they sound terrible, as they use lots of Hollywood stock sounds, mostly notably the M60.
7. The console versions also suffer from horrible controls, especially the PS3 version, as this version has clunky SIX-AXIS controls that barely work.
8. At the end of the game, it starts to focus more on zombies, while at the start of the game, there are too many shootouts with the Vietcong forces that go on for too long, which gets monotonous and confusing.
9. The game is very short and barely has any extra content. You can finish the whole campaign in less than four or five hours, and there is no multiplayer mode. Even worse, at launch it used to cost a full price of $40, which is too much even when looking at the quality of this game.
   • Even worse, since this game is now delisted from digital stores, it is impossible to even buy this game and play it since it's now completely abandonware.
10. Numerous bugs and glitches. The most common glitches are being unable to pick up enemy weapons or ammo and dead bodies rolling around like a steamroller wheel.
11. The iron sights of the weapons are pointless. All of them are misaligned from the center of your crosshair and for some strange reason using the iron sights of your weapon will increase the recoil, this is more noticeable in the M60 because the recoil you get while aiming is so uncontrollable that you would rather use the normal crosshair instead and simply not aim down sights at all.
12. The zombies are incredibly fast when they chase you to the point that is completely impossible to pass through the levels without killing them before, and because of this, you will often feel that they spawn from nowhere or even teleport.
    • It's also worth mentioning that shooting them in the torso is a nightmare because they can take a lot of hits before dying, especially when using the shotgun. After all, you need to take four shots just to kill a single zombie.
    • Or there are other times when the zombies will behave like complete idiots and have broken pathfinding.
13. The level design is linear and confusing at the same time because of the abuse of mazes and vegetation where you can get lost very easily, there are also invisible walls throughout levels.
14. Terrible and uncharismatic voice acting, except for Roger Clarke. For instance, the Vietcong forces sound as if they were dubbed by Bugs Bunny and his voice actors, the late Mel Brooks or Eric Bauza.
15. Plot Holes: Why would the Vietcong forces shoot down the plane that was obviously carrying deadly cargo?
16. The PC version has horrible mouse acceleration which makes aiming and shooting a total chore.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The atmosphere is surprisingly decent.
2. The tension of walking through the jungle in a Vietnam zombie shooter at night (with some traps) sounds good, even though the Half-Life modification, Heart of Evil did it better.
3. Great and terrifying soundtrack, including various songs such as "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
4. Despite the voice acting being awful, Roger Clarke at least is the only one that did it right.
5. The premise of a Vietnam War with zombies while poorly executed, is interesting.

Gallery

The promotional material for the flamethrower that sadly never appeared in the game.

Reception

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails received generally negative reviews from critics and players alike. It holds a Metacritic score of 30% on the Xbox 360 version, 35% on the PS3 version, and 40% on the PC version. Eurogamer gave the game a 2/10. Both this game and Rogue Warrior, which would be released that same year, were the final nail for Rebellion Derby before they closed their doors the next year.

Trivia

• Roger Clarke, the voice actor of Sgt. Griffin would later go on to voice Arthur Morgan in the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption II in 2018.
• The game was initially set for a Christmas 2008 release, but it was pushed back to its current date.

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