The graphics of Heavy Gear II are a mixed bag. Levels are huge and filled with detail, but the only things that look awesome are the gears. Everything else is good, but only the gears excel. Explosions do the job, but do not impress. Lasers are merely colored lines. Missiles leave nice winding trails of smoke behind them, but don't capture the heart either. Until a vehicle or building is destroyed, the only damage it shows is a smoke trail that grows darker as damage increases. Tanks look better than other vehicles, but we think they could have used a few more polygons. And things like the ground, which is not destroyable, show no sign of damage whatsoever no matter how much you shoot. While the graphics do have their problems, they are still quite good and are much better than previous mech games. There is no revolution here, only evolution. One thing of interest, there is a noticeable difference between 16bit and 32bit color, where color gradations are concerned. Banding is cut drastically with 32bit color, as you would expect. Where the graphics of Heavy Gear truly kick butt is in the cut scenes. Spread throughout the game as well as in the beginning, the cut scenes are among the best we've seen. Though the graphics are not Phantom Menace quality, they're smooth and good looking. They build the game's story line and pull you in. Talented people worked on the cut scenes, and they add a lot to the game.

The sound of Heavy Gear II is pretty good, but like the graphics, it's a mixed bag. Aureal 3D is supported, as well as software 3D. We had a strange echo effect from thunder with our Yamaha powered sound card, but otherwise, there were no glitches at all. We think it's the soundcard's fault. Explosions sound good, but not incredible. Lasers are a bit weak sounding, as are machine guns. The effects are standard quality for current games.

The place where the sound really excels is in the voices. Their talent did the job well. Never have we seen voice interaction between non-player characters (NPC) add so much to play. The amazing thing is, there is not one set script for each level. Since you choose among several different NPCs to join you on each level, you can play the same level twice with only one different NPC and hear a different conversation due to personalities meshing differently. It's more than just the standard "Die evil person." which you hear all the time in other games. Good job there.