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Quake II
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
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What can you say about a gaming institution? Well, if you're talking about the finally-released Playstation version of Quake II, you can say, "Not too shabby."
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Higher Standard
We've all seen it before. Quake II is a first-person shooter, quite possibly the definitive first-person shooter. It's been available on PCs for eons. Common thought says since it's a console version of an old PC game, it is obviously inferior. Hold it right there.
The Playstation version of Quake II may be different, but it's not at all inferior. Sure, the graphics are a little less clear than on a top-of-the-line 3D-accelerated PC, and the movement isn't as fluid, but the gameplay really doesn't suffer for it. There are frequent memory loads, but these can serve as welcome opportunities for a little breath recovery and hand stretching. Running into a room full of Strogg, armed to the teeth, will still inspire your trigger finger to instinctively clench, and you'll have no problem recognizing the ballistic death being fired toward you. Getting out of the way, on the other hand...
The storyline is simple: you're a Space Marine, all alone on the Strogg home world. Your mission is to cripple the Strogg war machine before it can annihilate all life on Earth. Simple, no? To accomplish your mission, you must perform the tried-and-true tasks set before all first-person shooters. Kill baddies. Lots of them. But do this while running around, over, under, and through the Strogg planet looking for ways to shut the whole thing down.
Obviously, if you revel in meting out swift death with big guns, this is your game. The weapons are all there, from the standard blaster and shotgun all the way to the HyperBlaster, RailGun, and BFG 10K (if you need to ask, you don't want to know). However, the task is a bit simplistic, and all tanks, arachnids, iron maidens and other super-monsters aside, the average gamer might get a bit bored with the run and shoot mentality.
The More, The Merrier
Which is where your friends come in. Sure, PC Quakers might love playing super death matches over LANs, but getting three of your closest friends together in the same room and engaging in some ultraviolence might be the pinnacle of gaming social interaction. There's a certain charm in yelling, "Die, Browns fan, die!" while you empty your ChainGun into the now-exploding screen body of your Cleveland-loving friend.
Anything You Can Do...
Playstation's Quake II moves just as quickly as on the PC, which means that your palms will start sweating when you turn a corner and run into three Gunners and a Berzerker. The graphics might not be perfect, but the sound effects and music are just as good. This isn't your PC's Quake, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
