[jpowell]

I stuck with IGII for a long time, because I really liked the original IG, and the battles were fun to watch. I gave up on it when I had the realization that the storyline just was tacked on to justify the shooting, and the plot "triggers" didn't work. Example: as the humans, you are trying to solve a domestic mystery, and accidentally discover that a race of xenophobes (Krahen) have massed a fleet and are poised to exterminate the galaxy. Your task is to form alliances (hence the name of the game, IGII, Alliances) with the other races to stop them. One small problem: by the time this story line reveals itself, the Krahen have usually destroyed most of the other races and are on your tail already! This makes the cut-scenes (which are quite good) and the RPG-like quests rather pointless. IGII is another case of a lot of time and money thrown at graphics and audio while comparatively little time was spent on gameplay and balance.