Quake II

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
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.

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!!!