If you bought this on Steam or GOG. Your Quake II copy will have a newer version included free. One of my favorite things Bethesda does that makes me very happy. I know most game companies isn't perfect. I always enjoyed their games to a degree especially Doom among my favorites. I can say this is an worthy candidate for my Game of the Year selection.
Today I'm here to review the newest version of Quake II. For half an week I kept seeing stuff about this version coming out. When the official announcement hit, I was very excited. I already gotten this through GOG since I previously bought Quake II there. I also got to play it through Game Pass on Xbox. I do wanna own the game on there too, it's so good!!!
Quake II (2023 version)
I'm already feeling better for a few reasons. This version works even better with the controls. Also if you have an controller, it works perfectly. I don't have to cheat in some sections like I originally did for my old Quake II review. I always felt somewhat bad about doing that to a game I like so much. I will be talking about all the additional campaigns too in their own respective sections.
First we got to talk about the main game itself. Honestly, this game held up amazingly well. I absolutely loved everything about it. I would even say one of my personal favorites from Bethesda to date. The art design is amazing with great sound effects. The soundtrack keeps you going, you always want that in a great FPS game.
The achievements are more fair, easier than the newer version of Quake I. You simply play the game regardless of difficulty that's it. Most of them are virtually almost the entire main game campaign you gotta play through. There's a lot of levels with an interesting twist. Not many games done this back in the day.
I also wanna say you can cheat the achievements. I didn't use cheat codes but it does allow you to play the final units of each campaign to get those achievements. I confess I done this but I later went back to fully experience each campaign. I mostly wanted the achievement hunting out the way. So I could focus more in actually having fun while playing.
Instead of calling these related campaigns episodes like in most FPS games of it's era. They are now called units that has every level connected in some way. Basically each unit is like it's own huge map broken up into section to play. The only FPS game I own that also done this is Kingpin: Life of Crime. Which also on a similar game engine.
It's an fast pace FPS game with the right ratio of everything. The enemy amounts is for the most part respectable. There's a few boss fights but they do left supplies around to help you get through. Also with a faster save/load option helps with the difficulty at times. I really can't criticize the main game much at all. It's a truly solid, action packed FPS game.
Like the newer versions of Doom 1, Doom 2, Doom 64 and Quake I. They added a new expansion to the game. You also get all the previous expansions. They even threw in a bonus game, Quake II from Nintendo 64. Believe it or not, this isn't a port of Quake II but rather more of it's own game. Clearly, you are getting a lot of bang for your buck with this.
All of these were developed by different teams. Back in the day we're talking late 90s to early 2000s. Most expansion packs for FPS games were smaller, modded versions of said games. Some of them were essentially updated versions with one additional episode campaign. The only real exceptions are The Ultimate Doom & Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition.
I'm still not done, they found a crazy method. In multiplayer, virtually every multiplayer map within these campaigns are together. I didn't get to play any part of that at this time. I can say that's rather impressive to do something this ambitious right off the bat. Even some newer versions of classic FPS games doesn't have this!!!
Quake II (Nintendo 64 version)
Developed by Raster
Like most FPS games on the Nintendo 64. The levels are in one long campaign. I actually can say they pulled enough of the original PC game to make this version stand out. I was quite surprised how much fun it truly was. It's more fun as well as balanced compared to Doom 64. There's some similarities in the presentation.
This will take you a few hours to complete. The levels ends up being refreshing enough to stand out on their own. I'm actually very happy they included this version as well. Quake I may had similar set up to the newer versions of Doom 1 and 2. Where you can download mods or expansions to the game. You can play the Nintendo 64 port of Quake I but you won't get an achievement doing so.
I would even say this is right beneath both GoldenEye & Perfect Dark respectively. It's a fun time that's faithful enough to the source material. I'm more impressed this turned out to be it's own game rather than a port missing stuff. Simply having this version on there, easily the most definitive Quake II experience yet.
In fact, despite removing the levels being all connected in separate campaigns concept. Quake II plays amazingly well in it's own right. I can't say there was a single bad level either. There's no question, I recommend checking this campaign out if you play Quake II. It was impressive Nintendo 64 handled an FPS game of this scope so well.
I still got some more interesting stuff to point out. Some levels were pulled from the first two expansion packs. Audrey Hodges previously done audio work in Doom 64. He also worked on Doom Custom Edition on PS1. He worked on this Quake II game as well. The late 90s was surprisingly awesome for id Software.
All the expansions
The Reckoning, Ground Zero and Call of the Machine
Developed by Xatrix Entertainment Inc., Rogue Entertainment and MachineGames
All the expansions are short but parts of them you'll quickly get tired of. Like the bosses, you will face them several times. Some of the level designs can be a little confusing at times. Call of the Machine does have some nice textures in game. Sadly, the worst final level in all the campaigns. It's just four bosses in a short boss rush instead more an actual final level broken up into sections.
You know like most of these campaigns done. Some particular sections makes the compass feature frustrating to use. There's plenty of the Strogg to take down here. Call of the Machine sadly feels more like an expansion for an Doom game than an Quake one. Even Doom 64: The Lost Levels was notably better than these.
Only The Reckoning and Ground Zero offers new enemies. Which also appear in Call of the Machine. I don't think the newer weapons added were presented in Call of the Machine though. It's a little weird when the original Quake gets two new expansions, not at the same time. Quake II is mostly solid enough to keep you playing for hours, it's not the greatest FPS game ever made.
The first two expansions also adds a few new weapons. It's mostly decent with a handful just throw em away. I should point out, you get a lot of weapons with an insane amount of ammo. This applies to every campaign in Quake II. Honestly, you mostly be using your standard go to weapons. A little trickier in some sections.
I would say these campaigns are notably harder than the main one. Some enemy placements is questionable at times. I also should point out, you play as different characters. Although, they all end up virtually playing the same. I also liked the newer level textures found in some sections. I also can say both The Reckoning and Ground Zero is better than Call of the Machine.
This is still a very decent game in it's own right. I kinda hope Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Yes more so than Wolfenstein 3D gets a similar newer version. Regardless, I do recommend playing Quake II a lot. I really enjoyed this game with most of it's short comings from the actual expansions. They are notably shorter but more challenging that might take away from the overall fun factor at times.
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