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By Al Giovetti
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Developer: id Software, www.idsoftware.com
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Publisher: Activision
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Website: www.activision.com
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Quake II
History
It all started with Wolfenstein 3D a game based loosely upon Castle Wolfenstein by the Baltimore based M.U.S.E. ( Micro Users Software Exchange). The whole object of the game was to fight your way out of a Nazi German SS fortress. In the original game you played in top down perspective, but the id version of the game was 3D first person perspective.
Just like the original Castle Wolfenstein, the game play was an exciting breakthrough in gaming that lead to many sequels. Everthing id produced sold well because they stayed on the cutting edge of new technology. Their server-based internet gaming left other games in the dirt with compatibility and speed establishing a new genre of gaming on the internet. Quake II is the latest version of this software updated to todays high powered machines.
Company Line
id Software's largest game to date, Quake II challenges gamers to blast their way through more than 30 levels of complex missions using an arsenal of high-tech weapons. The game makes players prey to monsters that will unmercifully hunt them down, execute sophisticated tactical maneuvers and absorb thunderous damage. Players can travel between the levels within their mission as they encounter a new breed of intelligent and aggressive enemies that can evade attacks by ducking, raising energy shields and diving out of the way.id Software, founded in 1991, is a software development company located in Mesquite, Texas. id's team of talented developers continue to make gaming history by creating and publishing one sensational action game after another. Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, DOOM II, Heretic, HEXEN, HEXEN II and QUAKE have created a frenzied demand worldwide and have managed to consistently break shareware and retail sales records. id Software can be found on the Web at www.idsoftware.com.
Game Play
Quake II is more of the same three dimensional game play divided into 30 immense levels with the gun at the bottom of the screen and the monsters coming at you from all directions. id claims that the artificial intelligence of the monsters in the game has improved, but like most members of the human race who also play the game, there is nothing really new in this area. Monsters stick on the terrain and mosly either come straight at you or move near you and circle attempting to straife your character.
In an attempt to make the game more interesting, id has added security alerts, and flooding of passageways which simply make the game more lethal.
Plot
You have landed on an alien world with hundreds of other men in you crew. The alien inhabitants of the planet are vicious killers and you men have been reduced to just a few survivors. In order for you and humanity to survive you must wipe out the enemy and destroy their ability to wage war. You do this by killing everything that moves in heavily fortified military installations, and an alien city, which span 30 large levels of mayhem. Your success determines the fate of your race.
You are fully justified in killing the cyborg Strog race, because this is a defensive strike against their home planet in retaliation to their earlier attack on Earth. During the attack the Strog took body parts from living men and even took the human captives for food back to their home planet. Humans found how the Strog jumped from their home planet to earth and reversed the process to take out the Strog on their home ground, using the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense.
The plot is not the strong suit of this game. Quake II really misses the boat by not allowing you to rescue some of your fellow humans, held captive by the Strog. Quake II is pure and simple mindless violence, where you go around killing anything that moves before it kills you.
Graphics
The 16-bit graphics are 3-D accelerator compatible and have real-time lighting effects including colored glows to show the muzzle blasts from weapons.
Animation
Voice Actors
Music Score
Sound Effects
The three dimensional sound capabilities allow you to hear rockets moving past youUtilities
Multi-player Features
The game allows more than 32 players to play simultaneously. The nice thing about id's multiplayer games is that they are server based so that they play faster, with better real-time response, less warping, and less artifact ridden play than is seen in other multiplayer game systems. id really knows how to do muliplayer right.Cheats, Hints, Walkthrough
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