John Connor, Skynet is nothing comparing to the War against the Stroggs. Have a cry.
Quake II is not a true sequel to Quake. There are no grunts, knights, ogres, shamblers or even rottweilers (but id's dog collection has made a bio-engineered version so fear not). No Shub-Nigguraths, no Chthons, no NIN and no...wait for it...no John Romero! How can this be? Is this a good thing? Read on.
The game starts off with a wonderful intro when a military ship heads towards a mean planet surrounded by asteroids. This is the Planet of the Stroggs. Here the big gun needs to be taken out and when I mean big, it's BIG! The Giant Whopper; the triple cheese of cheeses. And the Strogg War Machine knows how to use that thing. Well it's so effective that during the opening sequence it almost wiped out the entire platoon of drop ships when they descended from their military crafts. The good news (?) was that your drop ship was clipped by a 'cowboy' and you veered off in another direction hence saved you for now and scored a great tour of the planet.
Technically Quake II was superior. There was a lot of competition at the time of Quake II release (Age of Empires, Fallout, Dark Reign and Diablo) however there was not really another worthy contender for the FPS genre. Most of the other FPS were, ironically enough used the Wolfenstein, Doom or Quake I engine! Another words, this game stands out like a wolverine among chickens and this wolverine is hungry.
Some of the weapons carried over from Quake have made some serious improvements. The shotgun for example in Quake was nothing more than a BB gun comparing to Quake II super shotgun. This baby packs a serious slap! Other favourites like the rocket launcher still makes an appearance and of course the BFG. However new harsher weapons were released for total mayhem and enjoyment. One of them was the rail gun. Slow in ROF however it's deemed to be one of the most deadliest weapon ever released. One fire from this darling will either knock your opponent off their feet or simply sprinkle the target with fairy dust. Only a swirly trail leaves the mark of this weapon.
Of course lethal weapons equal lethal opponents. The Stroggs are the creation of Makron (which is your goal to have tea with - FYI Makron likes herbal tea); they are all bio-engineered soldiers. Yes, your fellow soldiers, your fallen comrades are now (with a few enhancements) the servants of Markon's tea runs. From your basic guards to Berserkers (huge swinging spike hammer wielding freaks) to Iron Maidens (chicks with d@#ks) to the mentally instable Gladiators (they have serious issues and concerns and long overdue to seek counseling) along with many more. This is why you need deadly weapons. After all you're up against the freaks of society.
Graphically Quake II had some serious contenders during the release date however it still looks pleasing to the eye. Only the explosions looks a little off-putting however who cares. Give me gibs. The good news though was that Quake II (unlike Quake before the patches) supported openGL straight out of the box. That spells 'tasty cheddar'. A nice touch was added in the game; windows do break and shatter. Am I easily amused? Yes.
Quake II poses the best sounds I have ever heard in any game. Period. All the sound effects are earth shattering. It will punish your speakers. It will make your neighbours duck for cover as they will think a nuclear strike has arrived. This is THE mushroom cloud of sounds. The soundtrack on the other hand is the fallout. Does Sonic Mayhem mean anything to you?
Quake II sported that typical easy, medium, hard and that secret 'nightmare' level, still the single-player mode it's a long game. Long game equals great value and what's id software without secrets and secret levels? There are plenty to search for however not really challenging as in Quake. The manual on the other hand is a little simplistic (and yes I do read the manual). It really doesn't explain about why are we're in a war with The Stroggs. But again who gives a rat's ar$3. Frags and gibs are good.
Speaking of frags and gibs, the multiplayer is what got me addicted into further. Carrying on the tradition from Quake the multiplayer again is not for the talkers. Plenty of death matches for everyone to enjoy however unfortunately the online play was a little buggy. The bugs eventually ended at version 3.21. Do I really care though? Not really.
Overall, Quake II is death. You are weak, die.