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It was a long time coming. But it has well and truly arrived. And Quake II not only lives up to its great expectations, it far exceeds them. And as a consequence this reviewer has spent more time playing it than writing about it.
The original Quake wasn't a bad offering either, but Id software has polished it up in so many subtle ways that this sequel is a shining example to all.
The graphics are much better (particularly if you have a 3D video card and a Pentium 9 million mhz). The sound is improved, the enemies more intelligent and the weapons are to die for. Indeed, the whole atmosphere of the game has changed for the better.
Unlike its predecessor, Quake II isn't divided into simple levels. Instead, there are units, and within each of these are various sections, through which you can move back and forth. Occupying these sections are, of course, enemies, and this time round they don't just stare at you like frightened rabbits: they attempt to avoid your firepower - even crouching down just when you think your rocket is going to blow them away. In turn, you can also duck enemy missiles.
Another improvement on gameplay is the ability to store power-ups. In Quake, once you picked up a power-up it was auto matically activated, but now you can save that invulnerability power-up for when it's really needed.
And, while Quake II in single player mode is a superb game, it really comes into its own in multiplayer mode. You can play multiplayer Quake II over a LAN (local area network) or on the Internet. Playing on the Internet and blasting it out with players from all over the world is a real treat. If you plan to do this, I recommend you download Gamespy. This shareware utility automatically scans the Web, finds what games are going on, how many are playing in them and what map they are playing. You simply double click on the game you want to enter and you're in. And although in some games there can be some lag (due to Internet congestion) even with a 28.8k modem you can usually find a game that is perfectly playable.
In all multiplayer games the balance of weapons is critical. It's is no use one player hogging the most powerful weapon while everybody else runs around with peashooters. In this respect, again Quake II delivers. The BFG10K is without doubt the most powerful weapon but it takes a hell of a long time to charge up so, while ultimately it might do the most damage, 100 bullets could be poured out of a chaingun while the BFG is charging. Quake II is not the most innovative game of all time, but it sets the benchmark for all games of this nature (and others) to follow. 3D shoot-'em-ups might not be to everybody's taste but this one is hard to resist.
Graphics: 94%, Sound: 93%, Gameplay: 96%
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