Quake II is an absolutely incredible shooter. Intense, visceral, thrilling and challenging, all in the same breath.

User Rating: 9.4 | Quake II PC
Quake II, at its lowest point, is an intense experience. At its highest, Quake II is simply near the pinnacle of PC gaming - an all-out assault on the senses filled with barrel-chattering action and non-stop, thrill-a-minute challenge. It's one of those things I like to call incredible... there's just an unquestionable adrenaline rush when you're shooting enemies with a railgun, strafing all over the place like a headless chicken, and hoping to god that the enemy on the receiving end of your gun doesn't chop you up into scarlet mush. And then, afterwards, he'll probably feed it to the unfortunate prisoners.

Quake II doesn't give much backstory before launching you into the world of the anonymous protagonist. Basically, the human race is at war with the Strogg - an army of biomechanical mutated freaks that range from ordinary grunts to strange malformed aliens and grotesquely organic tanks. After the arranged assault on the home planet Stroggos backfires, you soon realize that you're all alone, with barely anybody to help you wipe out the thousands of Strogg out for your blood. And this is a sense of overpowering fear like no other - for a game as old as this, Quake II does wonders for your emotions. It certainly gives you a sense that you're outnumbered, and there's nowhere you can hide from a clamouring alien force.

And that's basically it - in the game, Quake II gives no cutscenes to add to the plot. Between each major section of the game, you're given a quick reconnaissance view of the area and a quick mission briefing, and then you're launched headlong into the area in question. Your character is never addressed by anybody, so thus you never learn his name - there will be no emotional attachment to the main character.

Actually, by rendering the lead character nameless, then the game sorta immerses you in the game a little bit more. It's hard to explain, but without a personality in the background of this strange character, then it leaves an empty space, and it feels like it's YOU who's murdering waves of Strogg, just for the stray chance of survival.

Now I'll move onto the core gameplay. Simply put, Quake II's main mechanics are straightforward. The controls are the same as every other FPS, the WASD formation to move around and the mouse to look. Firing a weapon in this game is where the real excitement is contained, however - there's a sense of satisfaction upon shooting a Strogg to bits. When your chosen bullet, rocket, shell, slug, or cell comes into contact with an enemy, there's just an unexplainable burst of enjoyment... a sadistic rush of violent bliss. And it makes you want so much more. Hell, shooting the crap out of everything in sight is like gaming chocolate.

Quake II is also a very fast and furious game. The game is quick and your reflexes need to be swift to ensure your own survival. Some of the later Strogg will dodge your every fury like wildfire, and you will also need to be agile to dodge the grenades and missiles they'll fire your way. Its speed also means that there's minimal tactics involved. They'll be no duck and cover movements, or sneaky manuoevres - the enemies won't tolerate any clever stuff. The Strogg AI is deliberately aggressive. If you even try to hide behind a crate, then they'll just simply run into your sights and shoot like crazed psychopaths. If you try hiding from them if they've already seen you creep into view, then they'll just shout out a robotic warcry and root you out of your little cranny. So it goes without saying that Quake II is undeniably a run-'n'-gun game... although it's as good as run-'n'-gun will ever get.

It doesn't help that Quake II's environments are generally very cramped and narrow. It's unquestionably a linear game - there's only one path through the levels. Although there are secret areas and unlockables to find, the missions are always straightforward. And while Quake II is a corridor shooter, I must stress it again - it's as good as on-rails shooting will ever get.

Quake II also has a wide range of weapons to mutilate the Strogg with. You'll start with an underpowered rechargable blaster, which is your standard weapon and can never run out of ammunition. You'll progress through the game wielding all sort of gruesome firepower, such as the Super Shotgun (yes, it's as good as it sounds) the Railgun (second best weapon ever, behind the Gravity Gun :P) and the BFG (I believe this means Big Freaking Gun, but I'm not going to mention the name I usually call it, hehe) The variety in the guns completely wipes out any form of repetition I might have found, because there's always a vast combination of weapons to kill enemies with.

And to add to the formula, Quake II is also proud of its selection of powerups. Each of them can prove to be wonderful in certain situations. There's the famous Quad Damage pickup, which of course amplifies any harm you usually cause by 4 and then uses this awesome power to reduce anything in the area into unintelligible red particles. Other highlights are the Rebreather and of course the Health and Armour, because there's a hell of a lot of skilled Strogg out there begging for your death.

The enemies in Quake II are hideous creatures, and all of them are equally memorable. The Strogg have some serious malformations, especially when you've pumped a few bullets into them. Some of them can even instil a sense of fear into your hearts. There's flying drones, grunts, fat ones with machineguns, grenade-launching tall ones, tanks, Iron Maidens, those soul-sapping dogs, floating miniature robots, and of course the nefarious Big Gun. They are all equally cold-hearted... in later levels you'd be amazed at what they do to prisoners. And it's quite entertaining when you get a go at reducing prisoners to slush as well... but that's another story. The fact remains that the Strogg are an unforgettable bunch of deformed biomechanical warriors and it's a pleasure having to fight against them.

Now I'm going to talk about the graphics for a while. You may be surprised at my immediate 9, but take into consideration the age of the game. Now they don't hold up very well, but back in 1997 Quake II really was something special. The character models in particular are great and their animation is fluid. The environments all look kinda apocalyptic... Stroggos is a foreboding place, with ravaged industrial areas and horrible torture chambers scattered all over the place.

Explosions are almost laughable nowadays, but this is coming from an age when explosions were blocks of lurid orange colour. To top it all, the gun models are excellent, the textures are detailed and the sky is possibly the most uninviting shade of fiery canvas I've ever seen... ID do an exceptional job of making Stroggos seem like a horrific place.

The audio is even better... for a 9-year-old game, Quake II is stellar. The soundtrack is definitely not for most people, but personally I found the blend of heavy metal and weird ambient music to really suit the dark atmosphere contained in the game.

In some of the quieter areas every squeak or hideous noise will make you jump out of your seat in a blend of horror and adrenaline, jerking around frantically to see what the source of noise is. All in all, you'll definitely get the most of the game with a good old surround sound system... and play it in the dark for an experience not unlike Doom.

If you still haven't played this game, after 9 years of living without it, I would ask you... what on earth have you been missing? I found the game for - no joke - £1.50 in my local games shop, and is that too much to ask? One of the best games ever can be picked up for about 5% of the price of a recent release. In conclusion, I would give Quake II a 9.4 - that's one of my highest scores ever, something you won't see very often. It's an absolutely incredible shooter - something that has to be seen to be believed. If you take into consideration this game's age, then you will be completely blown away at how advanced it is. Intense, visceral, thrilling, dark, atmospheric, frightening, hectic, frantic, and explosive, all in the same breath. Unmissable.

-stevenscott14