Quake II Review
For some odd reason, I seem to be the only person in the world who didn't like this game. Even my sister liked it. It just seemed too stupid for me. It largely consists of running around with insanely huge guns, blasting cyborgs into (very bloody) smithereens. No puzzles to speak of. No using the environment to your advantage. No sudden frights as a well placed enemy attacks you seemingly from out of the blue. Granted, the game was long, but it wasn't the kind of game that deserved to be long. Today I still sometimes sit down and play games like Wolfenstein 3D and the Catacomb Abyss 3D because they never overstay their welcome; the levels manage to end before they get boring, and the next level introduces some new weapon, monster or scenery to keep the game alive. Quake II tended to remain stagnant; just more and more of running after the same enemies with the same guns, until you got sick of it and quit the game. And very often, that's just what I did. Another thing that I didn't like about the game (and this is an entirely subjective opinion) was that it was one of those games that tried to give you a score. Next to the mission breifing you would always see the number of enemies you have killed and secrets you have found next to the total enemies and secrets in the level. And finding the secrets was not always a matter of skill, like in a Hitman game where you have to use deep strategies and timing to acheive a Silent Assassin rating. As the game progresses, the secrets get more and more impossible to find. I remember one where you are required to rocket-jump over a waterfall (sorry about that spoiler, hopefully you'll forget it by the time you get to play the game). Only someone who obsessively looks at each and every corner of the map, and says to him/herself, "I wonder if I can get over that ledge", and then spends the next fifteen minutes trying to do so could have found that secret (I used a walkthrough to find that particular one). So anyway, that's enough over-biased ranting from me. Let me just say that if you want an old-school FPS, go get Half-Life. If you already have it (as you should), then download a MOD.
WAIT. I forgot to mention the good points of the game (hehe, my bad):
1) It's good for modding, as the source code has been released under the GPL license.
2) The graphics don't suck that bad if you're using the Quake2MaX mod.
3) It's a classic. It's from the makers of DOOM.
4) There is a huge fanbase surrounding the game (yeah, I used present tense), so you'll never be alone.
5) For those who like the mindless, meaninglessly violent, and mysogenous (the model for the only female creature in the game has an ugly face and over-sized chest, and is lovingly placed in a directory named "Bitch") atmosphere that Quake II and III epitomise, it's a must-have.
See? I didn't hate it that much. It just sucks compared to so many other games.
