Quake II: Not To Bad Even Today

Ok so I was board one night and popped in Quake II for some single player action. Needless to say I had the whole night to do nothing but play games. Anyways I sit down to play a nice little game of Quake II so I would have something to do later for an epinion. I hoped to waste the entire night enjoying Quake II, but unfortunately it ended much sooner than I expected and wasn't all that exciting. I beat the game, NOT CHEATING, in less than 3 hours. I mean come on give me something to do please. This was only my second time actually going through the entire game, so I knew where everything was. Anyways afterwards I popped into a nice game of Team Fortress to finish off my night, and TFC was much better. So, with that, here's a little about Quake II and why it's just outdated and boring.

What's The Deal With Quake II?
When you first start up Quake there is a movie introduction. We find out that the main player, YOU, are a space-aged army personnel flying in a small craft towards an enemy planet. The planet is full of Strogg creature made of flesh and metal, and you are going there to destroy them. Along the way your ship encounters problems and you are faced with certain death while plunging towards metal buildings below. Somehow you manage to crash into a Strogg building unharmed (duh if you died there'd be no game), and thus the adventure begins.

Oh Boy A Laser Gun And Enemies
When you step out of your crashed pod, the first thing you'll do is check the system information (pressing F1), this is where you learn about new objectives. You start along the pathway and come across the first few enemies BANG they're dead big deal. You're laser gun is effective, but it's very dull. As you progress through the game, you get bigger and better weapons, and the enemies also become bigger and stronger. You'll definitely want to keep enough ammo for your bigger weapons to battle those Strogg bosses.

There's More To It Than A Gruesome Killing Rampage
As you may already know, Quake II is all about running around killing every moving enemy. Believe it or not, there is actually a story plot and little puzzles to figure out. Example: In order to open the main gate, you must go around the side kill a ton of monster, grab a key, go to another area kill more monsters, destroy the computers and deactivate the lasers, make your way to another key room, grab that key, and then go all the way back to the main gate with the key. The main reason for doing all this is to confuse you and put in more danger from enemies. If they left the main gate open, the game wouldn't be all that exciting. The point is, there are steps you must take in order to complete each objective. Things MUST be done in order, or else you can't win the game, so you have to follow the path provided by the developers.

What's With The Bosses?
Along the way you encounter mini-bosses, they are the ones that usually guard major keys or buttons. These guys are huge, fire off rockets, and can put a chaingun on your in no time. Sounds big and mighty I'm sure, but all you need is a few missiles in their back and they're dead. The mini-bosses are usually confined in a small enclosed area, and can be defeated easily be standing above them, or behind a wall. They are slow and obvious, providing no challenge. Finally, the ending boss is really not that hard. If you have 4 rounds in the BFK and 1 Quad Damage icon left, the boss is easier than the entire game combined. He does have some major firepower, but if you knock him down quick you can get away without any damage being taken.

Multiplayer Quake
In Multiplayer you are in an all out DeathMatch against other players. The basic idea is that you spawn into a level with a simple gun, and you must go around finding better guns, while kills all the other players. Players can also customize their character skin models, handness and name. There were also CTF maps, but they didn't click with gamers until the whole HalfLife era started. Years ago, servers were filled to the brim 24/7 and players had almost no lag whatsoever. Of course nowadays, the idea of DeathMatch isn't as popular and neither is Quake II. Unreal and HalfLife: Death Match still carry on, but even those aren't as popular as Quake was.

CONTROLS: 8/10
The default controls are a pain in the butt, I suggest changing them. Usually I use the A/S/D/W buttons to move around and strafe, while using the mouse to aim and shoot. This is also the way I play on HalfLife, so I guess you get use to it. All the keys can be configured however you want, there are no preset keys you have to choose from. At first things may seem weird, but after awhile they become simple. Having a keyboard/mouse combination is the easiest way to get around.

GRAPHICS: 7/10
Depending on what graphics card you are using, the game can look spectacular or like total crap. If you plan to use Software Mode, the graphics will look blocky, explosions all dotted, and everything will be bright. If you are using D3D or OpenGL, you'll find the game looks and plays much better. The levels are huge and very detailed. Explosions are slighty lame, but at least you know what's going on. If you've ever played Doom 64 or any other console version, you know exactly what the graphics look like. The alien Stroggs aren't well drawn out, they can appear blurry and lack details. For example, their faces are all tan with dots of black to represent eyes and other facial features. When it comes to appendages, don't even bother. They are made of metal and other strange fleshy objects...not all that great. Also I didn't like that the levels were to dark, even if you turned up the brightness it just got even more ugly.

SOUND: 6/10
Is it just me or did this game NOT include music? Never once did I hear a lick of music expect for the introduction movie to the entire game. I'd like to hear some music at least during the menus or something...geez playing for hours straight can make you sleepy. The other sounds weren't all that great. Each weapon has it's own unique sound. Each enemy has their own little noises when they walk, or get shots, or even yell at you. Explosions also have different sounds. Nothing in the game seems realistic, not even the sounds geez.


OVERALL: 6/10
I'd have to say pass up Quake II unless you can find it used or at a garage sell for dirt cheap. The ideas and gameplay involved in Quake II are still being used today, but to be using Quake II still, is a joke. It's had it's glory in the sun, but all good things must die of eventually. I doubt Quake II multiplayer is still around (I haven't played it in soooo long), but if it is around, it's not as popular as before. I'd suggest you get HalfLife: Team Fortress / Counter-Strike - Day Of Defeat, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Areana, or something more up-to-date. The HalfLife series has been around for almost 3 years now, and it's still as strong as ever. Quake II is just old and outdated, I suggest moving on with something else.