A fantastic piece of visceral, violent sci-fi nostalgia. The best in the series. (Quake 2 (PC))

Member Name: Mutalisk

Product:	Quake 2 (PC)
Date:	22/05/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: visceral, entertaining, reliable, great animation, cool guns, lots of enemies.

Disadvantages: repetitive levels, enemies are blown to bits far too easily.

Quake II is a first person action sci-fi shooter released by ID Software and Activision in 1997.

The player assumes the role of a space marine, Bitterman, taking part in "Operation Alien Overlord," a final struggle to save the human race from a vast and deadly alien invasion by a cybernetic humanoid race, the Strogg, equipped with a vast arsenal of mechanical and biological weaponry. This is attempted by launching a counter-assault on the Strogg homeworld, and ultimately defeating their Overlord.

Although the game's graphics are somewhat dated, the gameplay itself remains incredibly visceral, ripping through the enemy's flesh with machineguns, railguns, hyperblasters and shotguns. (Although the original Quake arsenal - axe, nail-gun, super-nailgun and Thunderbolt are all gone, the much-loved 'Quad damage' is still in the game.)
Animation is spectacular for the time and even now is not to be sniffed at.

One small problem with Quake II is that the enemies tend to burst into ludicrous and unrealistic gibs if you hit them hard, with can detract somewhat from the experience, however a patch can be downloaded to rectify this.

The level design was one of the first to implement the idea of going back and forth through alien installations to retreive items and advance to a further hub. The levels are all a little similar, but the diversity of the puzzles it is necessary to solve, and the vast array of enemies coupled with their variation makes up for this.

Multiplayer Quake II is also a favourite among fans, and was one of the earliest game to use a system of character customization. There are 8 specially designed deathmatch maps as well as the ability to play on the single-player ones. There are 3 single-player difficulty modes.

It is available on Steam, but the retail version will also work with most computers in compatibility mode.

The themetune is a chuggy metal medley arranged by Sonic Mayhem, it is similar in style and sound to the music of Rob Zombie and White Zombie and complements the game's feel excellently.

Summary: Definitely worth a play. The best in the whole Quake quadrilogy.