So in Quake II, your job would be to knock out the big guns before the big dropships could come in. Kevin had this great idea where he said: ‘Guns Of Navarone.’ That was the inspiration for Quake II, and it made sense because in the movie the Allies had to knock out the big guns that the Germans had before they could assault. “Kevin Cloud stepped up to lead the project and refocus us on something that was more story-based and set in a different universe. “Romero was let go, and we took a different approach to the next Quake game,” he tells us. But after helping id to make the FPS mainstream with instant classics such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, John parted ways with the small firm, and its remaining developers made the decision to take their next project in a new direction, as Quake II level designer Tim Willits remembers. This one belongs on the PC.Few western developers had higher profiles during the '90s than id Software cofounder John Romero, and fewer still had a rockstar image to go with their fame. Die hard Quake fans should stay away, and the rest of you With the few other first-person shooters on the N64, even though it’s the most In the end, we have a game that really didn’t need to be made.
In general, however, multi-player is the game’s biggest saving grace. You can play against up to four of your friends, though the four-way split screen is a little too small. The weapons are plentiful and the layout of most levels is smart and fun. Quake II has the same high-quality multiplayer level design you’d find in the online version. This adds much variety and is a step above the somewhat unsatisfying multiplayer in Turok 2. Deathmatch is the famous kill or be killed affair, Fragteams is the team version of Deathmatch, Flagwars is a capture the flag style game, and Deathtag requires you to hold on to the flag for as long as you can before getting fragged. Where the single player game fails, however, the multiplayer shines. What you’d expect from an N64 game – weak and ambient. Presence, but that’s about all you’ll hear from them. This game looks more like original Doom than it should. While the game claims to detect expanded RAM, it’s barely noticeable. It seems that whole chunks of animation were left out. Movements are incredibly jerky and awkward at times Enemies are polygonal,īut horribly animated. Unlike the uncanny realism of Goldeneye or the RAM enhanced smoothnessĢ, Quake II offers very little to impress. The weapon balance is excellent and you’ll end up using just about everything.įalls way short of the mark set by other first-person shooters on the This is one area that Quake II has always excelled in, and the N64 version is no different. Your weaponry is as potent as ever, including the shotgun, railgun, grenade launcher, hyperblaster, and the ever-offensive BFG10000. This leads to a VERY repetitive experience. Emphasis on ‘few.’ Quake II includes a whopping 12 enemy types, though several of these are just upgraded versions of each other. This isĪ linear game – you always know where you need to go, and the only real task Interesting nor memorable and mission goals are very easy to satisfy. The same textures repeated over and over again. However, it is still primarily a corridor-based shooter, so you get Has been altered from its PC counterpart, with entirely new levels and objectives The single player experience leaves much to be desired. There are 2 main ways to play – Single Player and a host of Multi-Player game In to infiltrate and destroy the Strogg homeworld. An evil alien race called the Strogg isĪttempting to eradicate every living being on Earth. Shooters for the N64, which is sad considering that GoldeneyeĬame out before the PC version of Quake II. It pales in comparison to other first-person With dated graphics, weak AI and a disappointing single-player experience, this
Unfortunately, time has not been kind to the one-time king of the fragfest.