Quake II

Summary

Genre: Shooter
Number of players: 1-8

Review

Quake first came out on the PC and was an instant success - so it was only really a matter of time before a sequel was made. Quake 2 appears on both the PC, and more recently, the N64. However, since I haven't played the N64 version in depth (I've played it a couple of times in multiplay) this review is based on the PC version.


Gameplay: Quake 2 can now be considered a relatively old game, especially in light of some of the newer games coming out in the shooter arena - Half Life, Unreal, and Quake 3 - but that doesn't make it any less fun. The action is always fast and intense, as you battle your way through hordes of aliens to kill a really big one at the end. Sounds familiar? It should.

Everyone knows that the success of a shooter is somewhat reliant upon the weapons available. A game wouldn't be too much fun if all you had was a pokey little knife, would it? However, a nuclear missile launcher might just perk things up a touch. Quake 2 may not have nukes, but it does have some other rather juicy weapons. First off, there's the blaster. OK. Boring. Doesn't do much damage, but it doesn't require ammunition. Then we move up to the shotgun, - always a welcome thing in my book - which is later upgraded (in effect) to the super-shotgun. Then there's the machine gun - another favourite - and the chaingun. As if that wasn't enough you also get a rocket launcher, grenade launcher, hyper blaster, railgun and the BFG - easily the most powerful weapon out there.

The enemies in the game might not be too clever, but surprisingly this doesn't actually detract too much from the gameplay. Then of course there's the multiplayer and bot-match, but I'll come to that later. The game plays like a dream.


Challenge: The single player gets very difficult towards the end of the game, as you'd expect, and it will take you a good long while to complete. Another challenge is being able to defeat the most recent bots in the bot-match, which is another thing altogether. Some of them are very intelligent, and never stay still! Excellent stuff.


Graphics: Not too bad. They're pretty good, but when held in comparison to Half-Life they're nothing special. Even so, everything's crystal-clear, the explosions and various fire from the guns is good, and the enemies are well drawn too.


Sounds: Various grunts from the characters, basically what you'd expect from the average shooter. The gunfire's pretty good though, each gun having a very different and highly suitable sound when fired.


Multiplayer: In addition to the bot-match, which basically involves you and some bots running around an arena, picking up weapons and powerups in order to kill each other, you can also play over the net or modem-to-modem against other players. This is always very tense, and the fact that you can't see what the other players are doing does mean that there's always a level of tension that can't be recreated over the N64. However, because of that, it's also possible for a person to hide if they're about to be killed, which takes away from the from the game a touch. But all-in-all, not being able to see what anyone else is doing really adds to the game.

Multiplay is usually okay, but playing over the net tends to have some major slowdown at times, which is a real pain, especially in a shooter. Modem-to-modem is much better, with no slowdown that I've seen. It's a great experience, and one you won't forget in a hurry.


Summing up: A superb title that, although superseded of late by some of the newer games, still deserves to be in your collection. A genuine classic for the PC.


Gamesmark: 89%


Reviewer: Tangycheese



Maverik's opinion: I haven't really played this game much, and most of my experience with it has been sneering over Tangy's shoulder as he gets repeatedly blown apart by bots. No doubt plenty of action for shooter fans, but little active thinking is involved. Not that that's a bad thing...