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
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
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.