Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island

Multiplayer

When it came time for me to test the multiplayer side of things, I didn’t really hold out much hope. Things didn’t look good when I saw that there were absolutely zero hosted games that the in-built GameSpy browser could detect.

I started up a match in one of the game's three provided maps, choosing Deathmatch from the selection of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and CTF.

Soon enough though there were other players joining me, though the Deathmatch game I was creating was the only game I could find and only had four players at the peak.

From here on in though writing this overview of the multiplayer game is going to be a bit difficult, if only because it isn’t at all different from the singleplayer. The three levels are all variations on the three environments of the solo game, the weapons are all the same and they have all the same flaws.

One of the things I like to do when reviewing multiplayer games though is to try and absorb the opinions of those around me by quizzing them on what they like about the game. By doing that this with Code of Honor 2 I was able to confirm my previous assumption about the primary audience for this game.


I was playing in a map called Caves when other people started joining. I started asking questions, starting with a/s/l. One person claimed to be a 14 year old Swiss boy. One person stayed quiet. The other wanted to know where I was from, to whom I said I was from the UK.

I asked what people liked about the game. The Swiss boy with broken English told me simply he liked the guns, then killed me as I typed a reply. One person stayed quiet. The UK unbeliever told me he hated everyone from the UK while I bristled with what I could easily describe as patriotic fury but is actually more of an obsession I have with winding up bigots.

I started sending out random questions to try and get to the root of this unfathomable hatred for my tea-guzzling homeland. I asked; is it because we are better at this game than you? Is it because we can kill you while you type responses to us? Is it because I’m at the top of the scoreboard, twenty kills ahead of you? Is it because we look good in tweed?

Unnecessary trolling? Perhaps, but he started it and I started to smile as I fragged and frustrated him, his swearwords going unnoticed even after he unleashed the CAPS LOCK. I continued baiting him, punctuating myself with improving my score and asking more questions of the Swiss boy.


Suddenly, the silent player burst into voice and outlined exactly what he liked about the game over some excellently punctuated and carefully written messages. It’s weird, but having someone punctuate typed remarks properly in the middle of a match is far more scary than capital letters.

I was tempted to tell this to the UK Hater, but I decided not to when I realised that the Silent Player was a heavy-duty gun nut. Why did he like the game? Because he liked the violence he said, rattling off details of his favourite kills to a level that made me question whether or not he was still talking about the game.

A few minutes later when he asked where I was from in the UK, I decided it was time to quit the game and get back to writing the article for a bit.

Conclusions

The real problem with Code of Honor 2 isn’t the bad graphics, though those are the first thing anyone will notice. Poor graphics we can cope with.

Not every game has to have huge polygon counts and Procedurally Generated Dynamic Mega-texture-awesomeness – but good games do have to have something. They have to have a hook that can draw people in and make them want to play more. Code of Honor 2 doesn’t have that.

Utterly boring and bland and far too easy in the singleplayer game, a quarter-baked and shallow experience on the multiplayer side, Code of Honor doesn’t really do anything right and is doomed to soon reside in the bargain bin.

There are two type of games to find in bargain bins though. There are old or unappreciated games that are still very much worth playing and then there’s stuff that just couldn’t survive in a capitalist market due to a stunning lack of worth. If you’ve read the review this far and still can't figure out which one we think Code of Honor 2 is then this is probably the game for you.