Shellshock 2: Blood Trails

If You Want something to put on the box, Mr Marketing Man, try this: "This is so bad, it is like beating old ladies to death with hammers." Sorry, I'm angry at having played Shellshock 2: Blood Trails. And, you know what's worse? I thought that it might be good. I even volunteered to play it, so I suppose I've got nobody to blame but myself.

In this game you play a guy hanging around in Vietnam who's informed that his brother, along with many other people, has been mysteriously mutated into some kind of mindless killing machine. Basically, they're zombies. You even have to kill them with a shot to the head. Well, you can shoot them in the body as well, it just takes longer.

When playing Blood Trails, you'd be forgiven for thinking you're playing Soldier of Fortune II. The graphics are what might politely be described as archaic. In fact, the whole game smacks of amateurism and sloppy design - guns' iron sights are huge, making it very difficult to see what you're doing. Mind you, the weapons aren't much more accurate when you use them. Sound effects are a bit naff, explosions are underwhelming, and the story -probably the best bit about the game -isn't presented in an engaging manner. There was even a bizarrely introduced female character halfway through a gruesome trench battle.

Probably the worst thing about the game is that Rebellion are the people who made Aliens vs. Predator and who will, apparently, be making a third game in that hallowed series. If Shellshock 2 is the sort of game they're producing now, God help us.