Quake 2

Quake...You either love it or ya hate it, there is no middle. This game is Frag Fest at it's best, no thinking, no strategy, no I.Q. required. The frantic pace of a death match can be summed up in this one sentence. "RUN, SHOOT, KILL, DIE, SWEAR, repeat..." The only thing that puts this game ahead of Duke's multiplayer goodness is it's easier to get a game going all you need is an IP address and you're off unlike Duke where you must fiddle around with the settings first. Quake 2's multi player is good but lacks a social atmosphere in games such as Sole Survivor. Now my comments on single player mode, (Place sarcastic remark about Quake's hollow and pointless missions here.) Now that's outta the way I can wrap this review up. Quake is good for a healthy does of gibs and showcases spectacular graphics so if you got a hankering for some deathmatch than this is your ticket to cloud 9. If you like to think during gaming stay away, remember no cerbrial cortex required. Without access to the Internet there are other games which are better, but that brings up the question how the hell are you reading this page if you have no internet access. The only thing that keeps Quake from our "classic" rating is because it was sent unfinished requiring multiple patches for features that were supposed to be shipped with the game.

S3TH

Breakdown (For Key)

Music: The music rocks, that is only if the Quake 2 CD isn't in the drive. I want to know what is with id and such bad music.

Sound: Good, but your guy only grunts. I prefer some interaction like in Duke and Shadow Warrior not just grunting. Enemies pretty much sound alike, doesn't matter what sound it makes just kill it. Simple enough I guess.

Graphics: Great. The 3D graphics are top of the line and have good frame rates. With an OpenGL compatible video card this game kicks but without OpenGL it is still awesome.

Solo Play: Huh? I thought that was a multiplayer practice mode?!? Monster intelligence? The only intelligent monster in this game is Diamond's Monster and Monster II 3D cards.

Multiplay: One of the best, although it is brain dead. Basic rule: Shoot anything that moves. 'Nuff said.

Fun Factor and Longevity: It is pretty good and with all the mods out there it extends it even further. Unfortunately it is all based on the same principle of shoot, kill, run. It is fun, but after a while can feel a little repeative.

System Requirements: Pretty high. Really chuggs on lower end machines. Frame rates on low end machines dip continually into single digits even in 300x200. All I can say about that is ouch.

Actual Minimum System Requirements:

Pentium 90 (Pentium 166 recommended)

16 megs RAM (32 megs recommended)

DirectX 5.0 compatible video card (2 meg video card strongly recommended,OpenGL recommended)

100 megs Hard Drive space (200 meg recommended)

DirectSound compatible sound card

Keyboard (Mouse recommended)*

Monitor (ummm...... well it is necessary if you want to see anything)*

For Internet play 28.8 kbps modem and ISP account required

For LAN play a TCP/IP compatible LAN

* Because of the lacking requirement of an IQ for the playing of the game these notes are included to help those readers who have difficulty understanding words other than frags and kill.

My 2 Sense

Ummm...... what can I say? It is lots of fun to gib your best friend but trigger dexterity grows old. The worst is the seemingly endless patches, one request for id software, next time please before you release a game make sure it requires no more than 10 patches. Okay?

The Clair

April 1998