Quake 2 Review

Doom opened the door for a completely new wave of shooters. The realism of actually looking around you and seeing your surroundings put real fear in the hearts of gamers everywhere. For many of us Doom brought "twitch" games to a whole new level. In keeping with tradition, Quake II hit the shelves this past June with enough firepower to level a city block.

Highs:

Excellent Graphics

Very Smooth Control

Multi-player Option

Lows:

Shallow Gameplay

Game is Too Short

Too Few Enemies

When you first pop the game into your N64 it's like being with an old friend. That nostalgic Doom feeling creeps all over you as your glide down corridors and plug baddies. The graphics are crisp and sharp, especially with the aid of the expansion pak. Creative lighting effects abound in Quake II. From the flickering hall light, to the semi-transparent halo of flame created by an enemy's mussel flash, Quake II graphically surpasses both Doom and Quake on N64.

Quake II is as fun to play as it is to look at. As with other id classics, the control is dead on. Sweeping through a room of enemies, shooting off a shot or two and running through the nearest door will seem like second nature to you. The playability is simply awesome. This makes the Multi-player aspect of the game one of its strongest selling points.

Where this game suffers is game depth, or lack thereof. The game never seems to really maintain that old feeling of dread when walking around new corners. In this reviewer's opinion, GoldenEye placed the bar so high that no other N64 shooter seems to be able to compare. Quake II offers only a few enemies, and not a lot of weaponry to combat them with. The level design, while pretty, is simple and slightly linear in design. To make matters worse, the game is a little on the easy side. Quake II would probably take and good player two or three days to conquer.

Quake II is a good game. It's just not the second coming of Doom. Without all the perks that PC people get like internet play and level design, it's just not all that great. If you're a fan of the series you'll probably love it. Otherwise rent it and blast away for a weekend. That may be enough for you.