The front-end of D2 is very sparse: the logo set against a minimalist snowy backdrop, choral singing in the background. It is all deliberately very low-key, which seems to be Eno's design schematic. Not only are the settings very forbidding and intense (more on these later), but the game has a rare subtlety that is very refreshing, using only occasional bursts of a spooky refrain and the deep, chilling voice of the wind dogging your every movement as ciphers.

D2 is set in the snow-covered Canadian hills: you play Laura, a woman who is travelling by plane on business. During the flight, Laura strikes up a conversation with a fellow passenger, who picks up her dropped compact mirror (a gift from her mother). Upon retrieval, the compact begins to glow in his hand, and reveals a picture of the outside of their plane in flight, suddenly being struck by what appears to be a small meteor. Just as this man (who has identified himself as 'David') is about to react, the plane is suddenly seized by a small group of terrorists. They appear to be in the thrall of a mysterious robed figure, chanting 'Shadow - the final destroyer' over and over as if it were a prayer. Wasting no time, David warns Laura to stay calm and draws a gun - he is obviously a cop - in order to try and prevent a catastrophe. As he is about to make his move, a combination of instinct and memory causes him to grab Laura and drag her to the rear of the plane…just as the meteor impacts against the wing. You wake as Laura in a small wooden cabin, with no idea what has just happened, or what these events may signify.

From this point, it is your job to investigate the desolate, mountainous location and try to piece together why the meteor struck the plane, how to get out of your situation and, very soon into your adventure, what is turning the locals and crash survivors into hideously deformed monsters. This takes the form of a 3D adventure which uses the control method of games such as Resident Evil, but allows you full access to the environment: you rotate on your axis and 'up' on the pad is always 'move forward', but the landscape is in full 3D. As noted before, said landscape is part of an overall design plan: spartan and desolate, and the appearance of any building structure or enemy is intensified in its effect on the player by the intelligent contrasts between the barren wasteland and the threat of violence. Similarly, the sound effects are mostly limited to feet crunching through snowy hills and the wind hooting through the pine trees, making the affect of a creaking door or a monster's groan even more significant when it finally appears.

Combat is particularly unusual for this genre: when an enemy is encountered, the view switches to the first-person. Control via the stick is limited to the weapon you are holding only, although pressing X or B will swing you 90 degrees to the right. You must fire at the creature's specific weakspot in order to prevent it harming you, and there are often several attackers at once, all coming in from different angles. It is a highly unusual approach, but one which manages to work. You begin with an Uzi with unlimited ammo and work your way up to larger and more dangerous weapons, so you never feel under powered. That said, all guns have to be strategically reloaded, and the sheer number of enemies (plus their unnerving ability to pop-up directly behind you whilst another attacks from the front) prevents the fighting from ever becoming simplistic.

As this is a Survival Horror game there are (of course) puzzles to be solved and, whilst the trappings surrounding these are often very attractive and well designed, they themselves are not at all taxing. You still gain immense satisfaction from uncovering such things as the wreckage of your downed plane and new weaponry though, and all such discoveries are well implemented into the overall design. It cannot be stressed how well D2 operates as an overall package - even though the graphics have been superseded (bearing in mind the game began development in 1997), the production values are so high and the artistry put into making the atmosphere so considered, it succeeds perfectly in what it intends to do: which is present a game that has an intriguing plot, plenty of twists and lots of action whilst being thoughtfully considered and well-acted. It has to be emphasised that the voice acting in this game is generally extremely good. As there is so much spoken dialogue in the game, poor acting would have rendered it useless and destroyed the effect. Thankfully, it remains constantly well performed, and certain patches are performed in such a way as to be genuinely disturbing and quite intense.

D2 is not to everyone's taste, as the combat is secondary to the plot, and the plot also overrides the puzzle element. As with Kenji Eno's earlier games, there are large stretches which still leave the player with nothing to do but watch the cutscenes. Luckily, these are both better acted and more interesting than those in the Metal Gear games, but many will question whether such media is welcome in any video game to such a large degree. This said, the immersive storyline is almost is impossible to ignore once begun: you'll find yourself thinking and pondering on the plot and what will happen next whilst you aren't playing, and keeps you hooked right up until the very end. All in all, D2 is very much down to personal taste, but is a game that definitely dares to spend more time 'thinking', in a mature fashion, about how people react in fearful situations…and passing that feeling on to the gamer