Quake II

The Good
The problem with technical showcases like Quake is that people ditch them as soon as the next hot thing comes along. Id Software no doubt realised this and set to work on a game with a half-decent single-player mode. It's quite telling that even though the game was rushed like hell and shipped with lots of bugs/missing features, it still feels like more of a game then the first Quake was. It's hard to say why, they are both shooters with similar gameplay. Quake II just feels richer and more detailed. The first game made the graphics 3D. The second game made the gameplay 3D.

The game's conceit is that you're stranded on a hostile alien planet and you have to complete tasks assigned to you from earth. This alone is a small but compelling step forward, as instead of an arcady "get to the end of the level GO GO GO!!!" through-line we have a much more mature game where you have to complete objectives like a real soldier would.

Instead of progressing from level to level in a linear fashion, you visit a series of areas (such as mines, suburbs, etc) that have sub-areas divided by short load times. You can go back and forth between these areas and the result is a game that is, while certainly not entirely non-linear, gives the player more freedom, as well as the feeling that he's deciding the outcome of the game rather than riding a one-way train track to the final boss.

The game's masterstroke is in the details. No more empty rooms with monsters just standing around, now you visit realistically designed areas such as nuclear plants, weapon facilities, and underground mines. There are various props like computer terminals to enhance the realism. The weapons are just plain awesome, with my favorites being the chaingun and the BFG 2134124 or whatever it is. The weapon balance is also much better (the rocket launcher isn't as strong as in Quake, so expect to use other weapons occasionally), and everything is spiffed up to become more realistic (example: you can now see your marine's hands reloading the grenade launcher.)

...Now, don't get the impression that Quake 2 is a masterpiece of game design. It's a simple shooter. But it's far ahead of Quake and that's all I wanted.

I also give props for the monsters (there are no goofy three-headed whatevers in this game, they all look like real alien soldiers) and the soundtrack (which features a theme song by Rob Zombie). The graphics were top of the line for the day, and with 3D acceleration they hold up well with most 1999-2000 games.

The Bad
The game's quality is heavily front-loaded. The first few levels are brilliant, but as the game progresses things get increasingly lazy and rushed until eventually you're wandering through empty mazes, shooting randomly-placed enemies...awesome, it's Quake I again.

The game is also really easy. On hard difficulty I breezed through the game with about 10-20 reloads (mostly from unexpected traps). The monsters are really stupid and the pathfinding is even worse than Quake's (larger monsters tend to get stuck walking around corners), and along with the frequent health packs and overpowered weapons means you're not in any great risk of dying. Most of the challenge comes from finding your way around mazes, and that's not what I call fun.

And despite all of the nods to realistic Half-Life gameplay, they couldn't resist adding a bunch of stupid videogame shit like bonus levels, powerups, et cetera. It feels a bit out of place given the otherwise realistic setting.

The Bottom Line
A good single player mode complements this technologically forward-looking game. It's not a must own, but it is nevertheless a good game.

The Good
Although it has basically nothing to do with the original Quake, except the Quad Damage, its still a very good FPS game in terms of graphics, audio and gameplay. The step in further technology from Quake to Quake 2, is almost as from Doom to Quake.

The graphics are really impressive, the monsters look great, and the added feature when you shoot the monster so he has less than 50% of its HP, he already has wounds and blood all over him, all the weapons and effects made by them and the behavior of the AI make this game look very real. Also the epic environments are astonishing.

Just like Quake 1, the game has a powerfully good audio, weapons sound powerful, enemies sound hostile and the soundtrack in the background this time really fits the atmosphere, unlike Quake 1 did.

The game has a very interesting single player campaign, where you can run from a level to the previous level if you want, similar to Half-Life, which is another thing which makes it look real. The campaign itself is huge, includes secrets in it as well and has objectives to complete in it, so this is already a very serious tactical first person shooter.

There are lots of types of enemies in the game, as well as a huge weapons arsenal and several capable items.

The game originally had a quite weak multiplayer deathmatch mode, but it was fixed with patches shortly after.

The Bad
The most disappointing thing in the game has to be that it actually isn't a sequel to Quake, and it may even be that we will never even have one.

But that's not a problem by itself to be honest, in fact, this is my only serious complaint about this game, other than that, the game is very good.

The Bottom Line
This game may not be a Quake sequel, but it is good enough to be one. Definitely worth playing. The game did show itself like a Quake game should, by bringing new cool ideas to the table, which influenced a lot of game developers later.

The Good
An actual game? You mean with a halfway decent singleplayer and multiplayer portion designed BESIDES the techy wow-wow?? Surely you jest! Nope. Quake 2 is (get this) a real GAME!!!

I must admit that this caught me completely off-guard at the time, and when the game came out I planned to shrug it off and wait for the first real game that used the Q2 engine. Eventually I did get my hands on it, and though it's not the best game ever it's still a pretty good classic-styled shooter.

There is an actual attempt at a plot here, what with some alien threat and you being a space marine (hmm were have I heard that before?) shot into the Strogg's (bad aliens) planet to kick ass and take names. However everything goes to the crapper and you get separated from your team, thus your mission is to survive and make contact with HQ and eventually (once you find per standard shooter requirements that you are the last hope of all the universe) go for the Strogg leader.

Paper-thin? Sure, but it's something! They even threw in some pre-rendered cutscenes, and they incorporated the story in the gameplay to a certain extent, ie. you have mission objectives which often involve going back & forth between some levels, briefings, inventory, etc. and you also get a small modicum of immersion a la C&C Renegade, for instance: you see ships fighting around, explosions, heck, you'll even be rejoined with your marine buddies, now helpless and completely traumated p.o.w.s. Cool, huh? That last bit also points out another area were Q2 improves over the original: detail. You are now surrounded by more or less credible settings. You no longer have the rocket launcher floating in the middle of a hallway, instead you find it in a place that makes sense, like an armory or cabinet. Furthermore, the levels become much more alive than on Q1, with working machinery, decorating details (a console there, a dead body here, a bio-mechanical station there, a dismembering machine over there, etc.) and a much more cohesive gameworld (gone is the medieval/techno/chtulu mix of the original) and you instead get a more concentrated bio-mechanical world.

The weapons are both complete ripoffs, and sheer genius. You see, for the most part Id recycled everything, but this time they actually bothered to dress everything up as shiny and new, and even did some nice modifications. Your standard weapon is ranged (a wimpy laser pistol), then you have the standard and double-barreled shotguns but overworked to feel like the pulse rifles from the Alien films; then you have the nailgun and the slicer, now dubbed the machine gun and mini-gun, both well known but now with actual thought put into them (the machine gun has a mean recoil that makes it's use a complicated affair, and the mini-gun is pure rock-&roll-screen-shaking genius); then you have the grenade and rocket launcher (graphically reworked so as to be actually interesting, with pretty complex models were you see the ammo loading and all); a pulse-rifle like gun; Eraser's Rail-gun (stolen with the cool smoky trail and all); aaaaaand... THE BFG! Yes!! Completely stolen and unoriginal??? Yup. Absolutely cool?? That too!! The BFG charges up for an eternity, and then lets out with the first big texture lightning-heavy effect of any weapon in any fps. Kudos to id for updating a classic with full-polygon bliss.

Speaking of which, with 3D acceleration now a reality, Q2's graphics really shine. I remember firing this baby up after just installing my Diamond Monster 2 and just grinning while thinking "yeah, this is what I'm talking about" Hehehe.... The 3D graphics are much sharper and cleaner than those of Q1, and the use of colored lightning is a major plus. Furthermore, id really put some thought when it came to designing monsters, and the end result was a collection of greatly animated and superbly detailed baddies to shoot at (like the Iron Maiden, the Parasite, the all-mighty Tank, etc.). And this detail shows in the multiplayer area too. The player models have now a decided quota of variation and much more realism (gone is the steroid-ladden, blocky fella from Q1) Not to mention now standard features like right/left handedness, gender selection, skins, mods, etc...

The Bad
It took no new strides. Q2 merely attempted to deliver the same amount of braindead action Q1 did, while righting all of said game's faults. This gives us in essence what Quake REALLY should have been, however some time after Q2, the world would face Half-Life, and simple shooters like Q2 would become way too braindead for the uptight masses of "nü shooters". Q2 was the last of a now dying breed. And it's probably best that it died.

Other than that the only bad things you can point to Q2 are the usual "id palette disorder" and the fact that the engine, for as good as it was, didn't incorporate detail textures. Unreal beat it to that.

The Bottom Line
Quake done right! That is what this game really is. Of course, it's still Quake... But hey, that still spells braindead fun for me. Quake 2 is a real classic in the world of fps, a game good enough to be actually memorable as exactly that, and not a technical showcase like most other id games.

The Good
Quake II was far ahead of anything else in its time graphics-wise, with vibrant, fully 3D maps and realistic (for its time) enemies. Its fast-paced action lead you through a long campaign where you play the role of Bitterman, a lone soldier trying to take down a killer race of cyborgs called the Strogg. Sure, it's a cliche storyline, but who really gives a damn about plot in an id Software shooter? Multiplayer is also fun, and the ways you can play online has since expanded with a huge amount of fan content. If you're looking for a mindless, "pick up and play"-type first person shooter, this is a great option.

The Bad
As good as Quake II is, it's far from perfect, and contains a few negative aspects. First and foremost is the horrible AI of the campaign enemies. You'd often find these guys running in place, in-fighting, and or dying in traps which are really meant for the players (lasers and lava pits, for the most part). Another major issue is that the game is almost completely unrelated to the original Quake, minus the ubiquitous Quad Damage (who could live without it?). The weapons seem more like those of Doom, with the return of the Shotgun, Super Shotgun, and Chain Gun. The Plasma Gun and BFG are also reincarnated as the Hyperblaster and BFG10K. The Axe, Electrobolt, Nailgun, and the rest of the familiar Quake I weapons are gone. What gives?

The Bottom Line
Quake II is a generally well-done first-person shooter, and offers hours of fun to those who get into it. The graphics, multiplayer capability, and ease of play make it very entertaining. Although it has nearly nothing to do with the original Quake, it is still a genuine id Software FPS, and deserves a larger audience. If you ever get a chance to play this game, and are a fan of old-school shooters, I guarantee you will enjoy it.

The Good
Quake II a wonderful specimen of what it is. It's an old school first person shooter: light on the thinking, heavy on the reflexes.

The action is hot and heavy from the very beginning, as you land in an alien base with nothing but your side-arm and start making the Strogg pay the price for attacking Earth. All the while a thrashy metal soundtrack pounds at you almost in a rhythm with the furious pace of the action.

The enemies in Quake II are great from the beginning. The Light Guards that you first encounter are well balanced, being both weak enough to take down with your side-arm and yet tough enough that you take satisfaction in defeating them. They even sometimes pull off a sort of from-death's-heart-I-stab-at-thee maneuver, firing a last futile volley before finally dying. This kind of little touch is the kind of detailed design you can expect throughout the game. This game may indeed be essentially running around shooting things, but id made sure to serve that gameplay with exceptional quality.

Sound effects are average for the most part. What is great in the sound department is the above mentioned crushing metal soundtrack. It's the kind of spittin-nails soundtrack that cranks a game like this up a notch from furious to insane.

Weapons are great, though you'll probably rely on the machine gun and the super shotgun most of the game, like I did. There isn't much in the way of new weapons, really, but even the same old stuff is done well. In addition, the weapons are well paced in the game so that you are neither dominating or being dominated purely on the basis of the weapons you do or do not have.

AI is pretty good for the era, though I'm not to much of a judge of that. Mainly, kudos should go to id for excellent enemy placement. There were definitely some nasty surprises in my play through the game.

The Bad
Well, the story.....um....what story was that? The story is rather sparse and while you have objectives in the game, they are not very well linked to a real storyline, relevant as they may be to the overarching story. But, then, is this game really meant to be like that? If you want a great story in an FPS, go play Half-Life (in fact, play Half-Life anyway if you haven't already. It's only one of the best games ever created).

Some of the hunt-n-fetch stuff gets annoying, but they were nice enough not to get too maze-like in the level design so you generally don't get stuck for long.

The Bottom Line
An excellent old school lock n' load shooter. Highly recommended.

The Good
After downloading and installing the patches, it played without a problem. I enjoyed the realistic rebounding of grenades. The AI actually worked. The game played ok. The music could be disabled.

Later in the game, the story started to take on some depth. You found yourself working more towards the Strogg center, and the building design reflected that.

The Bad
The dismal colors. The repetitive game play. Shooting, running, more shooting and running. The sound displacement wasn't very good. The repetitive use of sound effects and graphics became boring. The nonsensical mission briefings.

Unreal came out at the same time. In comparison, Quake II paled.

The Bottom Line
A piece of history. A lot of great games like Anachronox and Heretic II were based on the Quake II engine. You're better off playing one of those.

The Good
Single player is nice, considering this was Id's first attempt to put a story in a game (Doom 3 just happens to be the second...).

Although, by todays standards, the AI may look very weak, it was impressive at that time, and those Stroggs were just tough! The guns are the definitive FPS standards. In other words, almost every generic FPS will have equivalents to these ones. They cover the all of most simple and generic weaponry needs in a game of this type.

The multiplayer, the only thing that Id really tries to care besides the engine, is said to be awesome, but I never really cared about it, so I can't comment.

Graphics? Were all good by the time it came out, so... They don't need to be discussed. (Nowadays, it's plain weak.) Sound is nice, and I really love the musics...

The Bad
For a game that should correct Quake's "brownness", this one is quite "Brown" too. The weapons lack muzzle flashes for some odd reason, and it just wasn't packed with any multiplayer maps (they come with the patches). Considering multiplayer is always Id's main target (except for Doom 3) this is pretty weird.

Id could have used a better plot than the Cybernetic alien invaders and it lacks a bit of level theme variety too.

The Bottom Line
While trying to create another multiplayer blaster and another massive licensing engine, Id happened to forget about game design when they came out with Quake 1. Not that the levels were crap (Building levels is something those guys are good at) but they never fitted together and the "story" was plain Doom, with barely no changes.

Quake 2, while being nothing different from number 1 in objectives, is clearly, an attempt to say "We're sorry" and make a real plotted game.

It doesn't fail in doing that, but it happened to come out right at the end of the times for the Weak Story driven FPS (not that they don't keep coming out, but they don't get as much attention as before).

In the end, one can easily say: It's good old Id style FPS. Fun, Violent and Empty.

The Good
The original Quake, is, in my opinion, thoroughly overrated and disappointing. So, not surprisingly, I was expecting the same with Quake 2...but don't worry, Quake 2 is a great FPS, and the other games in the Quake series don't even compare! Truthfully, this game is so different and better than the other Quakes, it shouldn't be in the same series.

Unlike the first game's boring brown demonic setting, Quake 2 takes place in a MUCH better sci-fi world where an alien race of cyborgs called the Strogg have attacked Earth...searching for humans to convert into their own. Every time Earth loses one man, the Strogg gain one. It's a losing battle, but Earth gears up and attacks Stroggos, but the Strogg have a surprise, which I'm not saying...hold it...is that...YES, Quake 2 is actually a first person shooter with a real plot! While it isn't as great a plot as Half-Life, or many adventure games or RPG's, it is definitely something!

In Quake 2, the single player AND multiplayer are both fun...in fact, as a single player fan, I think that side of the game is better. While there are no really innovative weapons, ANYTHING is better than the first games stupid looking rocket launcher...and here you also get a BFG10K!...Many of the enemies are memorable and different from each other.

The game balances perfectly being an action game and eventually slipping into horror when you find the gruesome results of what happened to your fellow space marine's that weren't turned into Strogg, but this horror isn't overdone as it could easily have been...

The Bad
Why the hell do almost any developers making an FPS take the "it's you" and personality-less approach with your main character? It's boring! Admittedly, it would have spoiled the atmosphere in a game like this to have your character be a "Duke Nukem" or "Bruce Campbell", but it would have only made the game better if you hard-edged marine talked...and don't give me the famous "Half-Life" excuse of you "become" the character...I just end up feeling like I'm playing as some boring and shy moron with a gun...okay, rant over. Also worth mentioning, is with the near lack of colored keycard puzzles here, the ones that do show up stand out in a bad way.

On a final bad note, after the spectacular for-its-time opening cut-scene, the final boss of the game is too easy and the ending sequence a letdown and cop-out.

The Bottom Line
Quake 2 is a great FPS, and far better than the other Quake games. It is no wonder that Quake 4 will base itself off of it...

The Good
I liked the graphics in particular. The enemy AI and models were excellent, just as you'd expect from ID Software. The updated engine had some new features too, like 3D Accelerator support, and switching hands, later to be seen in Counter Strike.

The Bad
The few things that let Quake 2 down a bit were the repetitive levels and the "hardness" of it, even on easy. I had to use cheats to get past it. These are minor things, I know, but the game could have been a lot better if these things were fixed. Other than that, the game was awesome!!!

The Bottom Line
Many people say that Quake 2 can't top the original Quake. I think (out of my own opinion) that this tops the original Quake. And since it's been released as a budget game in a DVD case for $9.95, you can't go past that!!!

The Good
Quake II wasn't all bad, there were some very big improvements over the first installment, even if the game as a whole didn't live up to its predecessor.

For one the graphics engine was phenomenal. Again we're treated to fantastic graphics that run extremely fast even on poor systems of the time. It amazes me how fast and smooth the game would run, while just about everything else out at the time looked worse and ran half as fast.

The single player was a big improvement. Enemy AI was much, much better, the story (although lacking by standards of the time) was better than the first installment, and the level design while not as good in my opinion, offered a wider variety of colors and environments over the first. Furthermore, the lighting effects were much, much better than the first and the character models far more detailed (but we'd expect that with a newer game).

The Bad
Unfortunately everything else is lacking. While Quake 1 gave us fantastic multiplayer action while failing to deliver on the single player campaign, Q2 is the opposite. The single player is decent, but the multiplayer was atrocious.

The state of the online community surrounding Q2 reflected this. This was a game that outsold its predecessor, but still there were fewer ladders, competitions, and online servers.

Some designer got the bright idea that the rocket launcher in Q1 was too powerful, so they dumbed it down, they nerfed it BIG TIME. Not only did the rocket launcher produce a minimum amount of damage, the rockets traveled so slow after being fired that it could take 4 or 5 seconds to reach your target. Not only that but the blast radius was so small that only a direct hit would really do anything, but even so that was dumbed down as well and it would take multiple direct hits on an unarmored opponent. Worthless.

But then they introduce the rail gun. A one shot instant fire, instant kill weapon. This wouldn't be so bad because many FPS games have a weapon of this sort, but to shoot themselves in the foot, the designers slowed player movement to a crawl. The result is everyone using rail guns; the instant kill weapon while players move around at a snail's pace. The result is that newbish, unskilled players are now on level playing field with seasoned veterans, and the game comes down to excessive camping with those that have the faster computer to get into the level first usually ending up the winners.

The multiplayer was slower and buggy. There were crashes, and super low pings were less common than in the first installment. Lots of activity in game would cause slow down, even if your machine is 10x the recommended specifications. The DM was slower, required less skill, and there were fewer customizations available to the end user.

Furthermore, the multiplayer level design was not as good as the previous installment, and the game generally lacked the hard core multiplayer experience that the first offered.

The Bottom Line
If single player goodness is what you're after, and you feel that the original Quake failed to deliver, then this one is for you.

If you're a hardcore multiplayer competitor, then you're out of luck with this title.

The Good
Like any other Doom game, the game offers immersive 3D slayfestivals, either in single player or multiplayer mode. On a decent system, it's a smooth, efficient little combat game.

The Bad
There's really no substantial difference between this and Quake, Doom, Doom II, Duke Nukem 3D, or any one of a bunch of first-person kill-the-monsters games.

Quake II's color palette is one of the ugliest in gaming history; everything is brown and grey. I'm not sure what id's obession is with publishing games that are entirely brown and grey, but to each his own.

The game has no backstory and there's nothing unique or even interesting about the levels, weapons, or interactivity.

The Bottom Line
OK shooting game. Might be a decent diversion if you can get it for cheap.

The Good
In 1996 Quake came out changing the way we see shooters forever or at least until Half-Life Came out then a mere year and six months later Quake 2 came out oddly enough this game has nothing to do with the original Quake other than in name and quad damage is back.

Instead of the original Quake where you played as a marine in other dimensions stopping strange creatures you, still a marine (What’s with id in Marines?) who are on a operation called Operation Alien Overlord against the Strogg an alien race that attacked earth and the operation is to retaliate for that but when heading to the planet Stroggos you crash land in an escape pod on the planet with most of your comrades dead you search the planet to carry out your orders.

The graphics with 3d acceleration used to look amazing back in 1997 but now are only bearable by the standards of games like F.E.A.R., Half-Life 2, and Quake 4 and the sound is pretty good with gun sounds and alien sounds with good ambiance and the music while there isn't much the music in it works well rob zombie does the theme so I’m told.

Gameplay consists of running through the level killing enemies and accomplishing goals provided to you by your personal computer each section has a number of objectives before moving on to the new area and each new area has a scene telling you what the next area is and the main objective in it and there are 8 Areas in all.

Multiplayer rocks Action Quake is one of the best things to happen to this world.

The Bad
Now considering this is a Quake game it’s not as satisfying as the original or as fun and not quite what we expect from Id and certain areas have way too much backtracking the weapons could of used some work like the only weapons suitable for close quarters is the Shotgun and Machine Gun pretty much.

The Bottom Line
All in all this game is a fun shooter while it lasts and now you can get a pack called Ultimate Quake with Quakes 1,2, and 3 all updated for new computers.

The Good
Well, when combined with a 3D accelerator the 3D engine is (or at least used to be) mind-boggling, but the software engine is as bad as they get. The background music is OK - nothing more - and the multiplayer play is really awesome (if your connection is, unlike mine, fast enough).

The Bad
Really low quality sound effects, terrible software engine and a terrible 1-player experience.

I find this game inferior to Quake, mostly because Quake would run on an unaccelerated 486 reasonably (not to mention a Pentium-class machine with a 3D accelerator - it rocks!). The original is also an awesome 1-player experience where as this game is completely no-fun in single-player games.

The Bottom Line
A good game, loved by most, revered by many. Get it and play it, then go back to Quake.

The Good
Nice level design in most parts. Multiple pathways to an objective. Well-designed enemies with soome exceptions. Great Arsenal (Love the super shotgun). Brilliant pulsating music.

The Bad
Absolutely non-existent AI. Some levels are quite tedious and require endless backtracking thru very similar looking areas. Too dark in parts. Wussy boss encounters.

The Bottom Line
Good fun for the mindless shooting crowd.

The Good
For a mindless shooter, it's excellent; good graphics, weapons and enemies. But other games like Half-Life and Deus Ex are way ahead of it, and it's about time id grew up and made a complex one player game with mission objectives or something, besides find-the-key gameplay. Still, Q2 is a classic, though not as good as lets say, Half-Life. BUT, Q2 has awesome multiplay, and it adds some much-needed replay value.

The Bad
Mindless gameplay that makes you always Shoot and don't ask any questions.

The Bottom Line
First person shooter in a sci-fi setting.