The Chaos Engine 2 is an isometric shooter

Shoot 'em up

Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...

 video game, and sequel to The Chaos Engine

The Chaos Engine

The Chaos Engine is a top-down run and gun computer game developed by the Bitmap Brothers and published by Renegade Software in 1993. The game is set in a steampunk Victorian age in which one or two players must battle the hostile creations of the titular Chaos Engine across four landscapes and...

, released for the Amiga in 1996 and developed by the Bitmap Brothers

Bitmap Brothers

The Bitmap Brothers were a UK based video game developer founded in 1987. The company entered the industry in 1988 with the scrolling shooter Xenon. They quickly followed with the classic Speedball...

.

Plot

During the original game, the protagonists succeed in destroying the Chaos Engine, a time-travel device. Its creator, Baron Fortesque, appears to have been defeated. However, in The Chaos Engine 2, it transpires that he and the protagonists are all trapped within a temporal singularity created by the destruction of the Chaos Engine device. In order to survive they must assist the Baron in rebuilding the device, though only one of them will be able to escape the singularity.

Gameplay

Unlike its predecessor, The Chaos Engine 2 is a split-screen deathmatch between two players, one of which may be controlled by the computer: there is no co-operative mode available. Instead, each player must try to obtain the greatest score, either by simply killing the opponent repeatedly or by collecting objects, destroying monsters, fulfilling tasks and solving puzzles. Conversely, points are lost if killed. Inventories are dropped upon death, which means that if a quest requires a key to unlock a door or a safe, it becomes necessary to kill the opponent should they acquire it before the player. If a human opponent has the highest score at the end of a round, they move on to the next; if the computer defeats the player, the round is replayed until the user wins. A game can be played across 4, 8, 12 or 16 rounds, with each consisting of a different environment: Medieval, Aztec and Chaos.

Characters

The Chaos Engine 2 allows players to select one of four available characters. Each character has different attributes that define how quickly they move, how much health they begin with and their starting weapon. The four characters are:

• The Gentleman
• The Navvie
• The Brigand
• The Mercenary

Abilities

Initially, players are only able to obtain a limited selection of special abilities, but the range increases as they progress through each game:

• Teleportion: transports the opponent to a designated spot.
• Duplication: a free-moving clone of the player is created.
• Freeze: stuns the opponent and any monsters on the screen.
• Trap: allows a player to rig a door with explosives.
• Sunglasses: enables a player to become invisible.

Reception

The Chaos Engine 2 was met with highly positive reviews. Amiga Computing commented that "the graphics are smooth and flowing, the action non-stop and there is a huge amount of playability." In a similar vein, CU Amiga praised it as a "totally brilliant single or multi-player game." Amiga Format

Amiga Format

Amiga Format was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when, in the wake of selling ACE to EMAP, Future split the dual-format title ST/Amiga Format into two separate publications...

 criticized the difficulty of the single-player deathmatch against the computer, with the reviewer remarking that while it provided players with "plenty of challenge... the computer seemed to have way too much of an unfair advantage." Amiga Power

Amiga Power

Amiga Power was a monthly magazine about Amiga computer games. It was published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and ran for 65 issues, from May 1991 to September 1996....

 and The One

The One (magazine)

The One was a video game magazine in the United Kingdom which covered 16-bit home gaming during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was first published by EMAP in October 1988 and initially covered computer games aimed at the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and IBM PC markets.Like many similar magazines,...

both previewed the game in 1995 and 1996 respectively, but neither magazine survived to see it published.