Let me preface this by saying I was very disappointed in the first game.

The only reason I was interested in this one is that I had gotten a little bit caught up in some of the interviews with the guys from gearbox, and the game was sounding like it solved most of my gripes with the first one.

But some little voice in my head kept going on about how disappointed I was with the first game, and I could never convince myself it would be worth a purchase.

Enter: Gamerang. Awesome. I put it on my choice list, it's here.

The bad news: It sucks. They fixed nothing from the first game. Things they said wouldn't happen anymore still happen all the time.

Last night I sat on my couch trying to enjoy this game for a good three hours. Shall we get into some specifics? I think so.

First and most imporantly we have to discuss the AI. It's still awful. They talked and talked about how much it would be improved, but I can't tell you how many times I ordered my soldiers to run to the side of a barn/building/fence, only to have them run around to the other side of it, or stand in the middle of the street getting shot. My favorite bad AI moment of all had my guys under fire a bit crouched next to a short wall. I was a few feet over crouched behind the same wall. I entered the awareness mode.

Two groups of three germans crouched behind sections of fencing, a fair distance apart. Off to my left, the obvious path to flank them with. So leave awareness mode, stand up, look at the left german position, and order my guys to put some fire on them. At this point my guys are supposed to start putting some suppressing fire on that position. Instead, they both walk a couple of steps back away from the wall, stand up on the street where they're elevated high above the top of their only cover, and start firing at the enemy.

Now, after I issued the order I started around the side to flank the germans. I just assumed that my squad was doing what I ordered them to do, not what they were actually doing. I got about halfway there, and both guys start losing health. I hit the awareness mode. Yep. There they are, standing in the middle of the street getting shot. I leave awareness mode. I hit up on the d-pad. My character's arm shoots up in the air, waves around, and he yells "FIND SOME COVER!".

They continue standing on elevated ground, wide open, with no cover.

I think that's explanation enough. Situations like this appear about every five minutes, with the player having to issue the same order six times with minor differences in where they place a movement marker to get the desired result.

I think that about says it for the AI.

Do we need to go over the graphics? Because they're essentially the same as they were last time too. They're passable, not great, but pretty good. The game runs at what feels like a solid 30fps, and it's fairly detailed.

Sounds are generally good, except for some pathetically weak gunfire sounds. DoD does much better in this respect.

I didn't bother with multiplayer because it's going to have the same issues with squad AI that singleplayer has. I'm not willing to deal with that.

So yeah. It's terrible.

The game came yesterday, and after one night of play it's going straight back to Gamerang.

Next I can be disappointed in Ubisoft over Rainbow Six: Lockdown.