Quake II review (newer 2023 version)

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, I'm one of those people more into Quake II. I previously had it's PS1 port back in the day. My first true exposure to one of the strangest FPS franchises ever. Quake II isn't even an sequel to Quake I, it only got labeled as such to help the game get release faster. Quake III: Arena is also it's own thing, I'm a huge fan of.

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.

My thoughts on A Song of Ice & Dust (Saints Row)

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, today we reached the end of Saints Row reboot's road map with their final dlc expansion called A Song of Ice & Dust. A week ago, they added in the new district with other free stuff. The real question is there any life left in this game or it fully died off for good? I will say I mostly had an decent time.

A Song of Ice & Dust

You need to complete all the previous larp story missions before doing this. They added five additional larp story missions of a new story arc. Mostly taking place in the new district. Unlike The Heist and The Hazardous dlc, they use more of the actual district. Also I actually had a fun time playing most these missions.

You face an new enemy called The Frostlanders lead by The Chill Queen. I swear I didn't write this. I don't know if Batman & Robin's Mr. Freeze was the inspiration of this fraction or not. This actually had a few jokes that's funny, already a huge improvement from the previous two expansion dlcs. Your main allies gets quickly taken out.

In their place is the other fractions coming together to face The Frostlanders. Some of the unlockables I actually liked too. There's no question, they surprisingly saved the best for last. I originally went in thinking this isn't going be great. I stand corrected, this felt more what I loved about The Third to Gat Out of Hell.

The Sheriff being my favorite character added to these missions. Some of the stuff he says is pretty unexpected. This is full blown larp that's done better than the actual larp story missions. They give you some variety of surprises to make this the one dlc to play. It's not quite on the level of How the Saints Saved Christmas neither The Trouble with Clones.

Some of these missions are among my favorite story missions too. Not only that, Yetis get use to seeing em. They are boss enemies but not the only one. The Chill Queen's boss fight is notably better than the Nahualli. This might even be the best portion of the actual game. The story continues after the conclusion of the larp story missions.

A new threat, The Chill Queen seeks to claim everything under her control. I still wish Kev could've been a notable part of this. The new enemies aren't bad but they aren't Marshall annoying at least. The new stuff added is mostly decent fitting the larp theme. I really enjoyed using the Ban Hammer. Yes they actually went for that famous internet joke term.

I felt five missions was more satisfying than the three missions The Heist and The Hazardous offered. I also felt more actual fun even listening to parts of the dialogue too. I would prefer having the option to replay these story missions whenever I wanted. The new five trophies/achievements is virtually just play all the missions, you get em all.

I think my favorite mission among these was you had to earn tickets to get a particular potion. One mini game style objective is take down the coyotes. Another one was finish three laps on the track within the time limit. Which sorta reminds me of Trail Blazing activity or any related variations of it. You get more time by hitting people with your car.

If you hit the boxes, you'll lose time. Unlike those activities, you earn time during between each check point. Another one involved the Sheriff, you have to talk to everyone in this small area. You have to choose someone that killed someone else. They still let you get through if you choose wrong. If you choose anyone but who actually done it.

They will start running away simply take em out. If you guess wisely, the Sheriff directly takes that person instead. This also reminds me of Fallout series with the Raiders. Seriously, The Frostlanders do have some similarities to them maybe that's just me though. I also felt this had the most creativity in the entire game.

On the surface, this is bad for the actual game itself. But as an bigger dlc expansion it works. This alone quickly blew the previous two dlc expansions away, there's no comparison here. I already know if my wife gets to play these missions, she's going to love em. A Song of Ice & Dust might not be enough to save it from being fully labeled as a disappointment or bad game.

Sadly, I can still see people finding issues with it. Then again, a lot of people plays off finding something to target. Then they continue to complain about it's many flaws. At least, the icing on this cake was sweet. The additional lore to the larp aspect was greatly appreciated here. The story twists fits in perfectly with the humor.

Surprisingly, I wouldn't change a thing neither request to add in something else. This felt like the complete package. It's way better than Dead Rising 4 lol. I can honestly say I highly recommend this Saints Row dlc. They made sure this was going to be the best dlc so far. It came two days after my wife's birthday but she would enjoy the hell out of this too.

I would say this is technically better than the other two story dlcs in The Third. Yes one of them is mostly additional variations of some activity with a brand new one added in. There's still a story that connects them together. Gangstas in Space has some stuff in common with this. Like someone cheating to get their way to end up getting taken down.

It's true that offers more achievements/trophies in comparison to this. The Third does have a famous glitch. If you lose internet while playing, some achievements & trophies won't pop up no matter what. Although you do have the option to fully replay them. Just not like in SRIV where you can directly choose which mission.

The point is the story for that it's debatable which has the better story between these two. You deal with different flaws that ultimately affects the entire experience. I do prefer the story in A Song of Ice & Dust more. Also this offered more interesting stuff happening across five missions. To me, this was better than both those story dlcs in The Third.

I still gotta say it's more playable than the high difficulty SR2 dlc missions. I prefer to have actual fun dealing with a lot of enemies in comparison to an truly intense close to the chest missions. I don't think it's better than Enter the Dominatrix though. This had more stuff going for it despite how weird the story for that was.

A Song of Ice & Dust is fitting of it's name. Plenty of craziness happens through out these story missions. I loved they went for this awesome dragon helicopter. Also the amount of enemies, where was this in Murder Circus? This is what I originally expected in that but it never gotten this many enemies. I also felt more challenge at some parts as well.

In all honestly, the team put what they had left into this. I say they done an amazing job. Everything about it surprisingly works incredibly well. They even made the new district more interesting than it already was. More than The Heist and The Hazardous done for it's district. Also, I could see people making an extra save to fully experience this as many times they want.

X-Men: Evolution & Wolverine and the X-Men review

Special thanks to Disney for having these X-Men cartoon shows on their streaming service.

Warning, this will be a long blog entry. Please take as many breaks as humanly possible unless you're an mutant. Then go right ahead, I'm not stopping you.

Hello everyone I'm XboxClown89, today I got a double feature review. I'm still in the X-Men mood, I absolutely loved Death Battle: Phoenix vs Raven despite Phoenix loss. I recently streamed two more X-Men cartoon shows on Disney+. Honestly, I was quite surprised how these were different from the usual X-Men concept in their own respective way.

Quick note: I do remember seeing pieces of X-Men: Evolution years ago. More recently, I learned about Wolverine and the X-Men. You can tell I'm very excited for X-Men '97 show.

X-Men: Evolution (2000-2003)

This aired on Kids' WB back when that was a thing years ago. Most of the cast are portrayed notably younger. In fact, we're talking mostly high school students. Not just the X-Men but also the Brotherhood of Mutants too. Speaking of them, both these X-Men shows has more of them than the classic 90s show. Of course, they made several changes.

Somehow, it worked amazingly well for it's time. You get to see them learn instead of the older, more experienced versions. This also helps making them more relatable as well. Personally, I strongly felt out of these three X-Men shows currently on Disney+. This one had the best portrayal of Rogue hands down. There's more Mystique than you're prepare for.

Yes this was meant for an younger audience. More notable than the previous 90s show in comparison. At the same time, I can say this still heavily felt like X-Men!!! They still saving people while taking on threats mostly other mutants. Sentinels is barely in the show at all. Very notable to the other X-Men cartoon shows I reviewed.

If you love Nightcrawler, this one has the most appearances. They even made the principal strangely interesting too. This one may not pull more from the usual rogue of enemies. In it's defense, they really worked with what they had. All these crazy situations the X-Men deals with. It isn't the 90s show level of insanity but it's more than expected.

I felt the animation surprisingly held up in my opinion. Magneto does come off as being menacing. Personally, he comes off being more feared when they don't fully see his face. Those few couple appearances stuck out to me. I'm also not trying to say by revealing his face, they ruin the character. This ran for four seasons with plans for a canceled fifth season.

They nearly brought in the Phoenix, a small cameo sadly all you'll get. Apocalypse is easily done better than X-Men: Apocalypse, you bet I was going to do that. The movie wasn't great, this felt like a huge fresh breath of air in comparison. X-Men: Evolution is a contender for the best animated X-Men shows. Some characters were made more younger than expected like Iceman.

This was a decent X-Men show that stayed true to it's concept. Yes I'm also aware DC has Doom Patrol that came out very close to Marvel's X-Men. Personally, I felt both had a similar concept rather than ripping each other off situation. Again, humanity is mostly not known to the mutants. Most of these were fine but one particular moment to me sorta came off a bit racist.

Spyke who evolved further with more spikes over his body goes to a small grocery store. He attempts to buy groceries but the store manager chosen to refuse them service because they're a mutant. This already sounds bad until the part I felt went a little too far. Spyke was going to leave peacefully. A kid whose also an mutant suddenly became a target of disliking mutants.

Quick note: Spyke is an original mutant character on the show. His powers are strikingly similar to another mutant character, Marrow. Unlike X-23, he never made it out the show. He also the nephew of Storm making things a little interesting. X-23 herself isn't in many episodes but they're interesting to watch.

Keep in mind, this kid virtually didn't do anything!!! I mean nothing at all, Spyke was forced to step in. He safely got the kid with their mom out of there. Maybe that's just me but I'm curious how did gotten allowed to aired? Especially on Kids' WB block is virtually mind blowing to me. They never fully made Cyclops & Jean an couple.

A little weird I know, a lot of crazy stuff happens when saving the world multiple times. They brought in Scarlet Witch who kinda looks a little like Rogue. Until she changed her appearance not long following things. Quicksilver comes off like a more annoying Scrappy Doo. I loved how vastly different it was from the 90s show.

Gambit is barely in the show but briefly was allied with Magneto. Shadowcat is virtually what Jubilee was on the 90s show. Not in terms of powers but where they fit into their respective show's teams. Speaking of Jubilee, up to a point in the show. She was in a couple episodes until she left. Juggernaut for some odd reason was made an mutant in this show.

I will say this version of Juggernaut better than Wolverine and the X-Men version. I still prefer the 90s show Juggernaut more. Some characters are better in the 90s show while a few like Rogue got done better here instead. Let's be honest, she kept getting owned a lot in the 90s show. This version was actually pretty awesome in comparison, I'm a huge Rogue fan sue me lol.

There's a lot of interesting stories to be told here. This was a vastly different point of view from the usual X-Men stuff. Wolverine is one of the main staff at Professor Xavier's school. There's plenty of moments good & bad respectively. I can't say there isn't much I dislike about the show rather than what I previously brought up.

I do wanna point out Beast comes in during season 2. He does become a supporting character for the reminder of the show. I do liked we get to see him how he was before he further mutated. I also liked he eventually found the peace he wanted through this school. One of the more interesting versions of the character I say.

They do play on a lot of possible real life scenarios. The team easily bests the Brotherhood of Mutants. You got to love from they pull from the comics at times. Even comparing stuff the 90s show previously done, it isn't the same thing. The factors as well as how some of those ended are vastly different. I'm trying to clarify, they don't recycle previous content on purpose to save time.

X-Men: Evolution was an interesting concept of seeing the challenges of attending school while being mutants. I also liked how they done most of the characters. Obviously, Rogue was my favorite hands down. This really shows exactly why I loved the character so much. She is one of the nicest people yet capable of ridiculous potential.

There's a particular episode where Rogue loss control over these personalities. Every time she uses her powers on someone, she gains their memories as well as their powers to a degree. I never thought we would see something like this. There's a lot of potential in this X-Men cartoon show. I highly recommend checking it out if you're an X-Men fan.

Wolverine and the X-Men (2009)

This aired originally on Nicktoons Network, an related channel to Nickelodeon. They got back to the older, more experienced versions of the X-Men. There's a few major changes that helps it stand out a bit. For starters, usually Cyclops the one leading the team in most things X-Mne. In this rare case, that role was given to Wolverine.

They basically made Cyclops more into a lone wolf like how Wolverine was in most X-Men things. Also they heavily focus on how the past could change the future concept. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch & Polaris are in the show. Professor Xavier has a strangely interesting role. The past him is stuck in a long coma stated to be around 20 years long.

Wolverine mostly gets to speak with the future Xavier on how to change things for the better. This was done way better than the canned live action Netflix Resident Evil show. They somehow made Toad not only the ugliest so far but more annoying than Jar Jar Binks. Seriously, you wish he would shut the hell up sometimes.

I'm not trying to offend someone with this. Everyone knows The Blob, an fat mutant. They somehow made him extremely thick, it's like putting the 90s show version then they times that by two. There's some surprises among the characters that shows up. They actually do the Phoenix concept before it got canceled.

I'll talk about that in a little bit, I promise. Gambit has a much smaller role than he previously had in X-Men: Evolution. It just seems like they don't want to use the character. I never said he was used badly either. Unlike X-Men: Evolution, there's a lot of Sentinels. There might actually be more of them than in the 90s show.

Jean is mostly absence in the show as well. They somehow made Shadowcat, one of the most awesome mutants ever. Some of the craziest stuff she does with little to no effort. There's a good amount of Beast as well. I always felt Beast was underrated among the other members of the X-Men. They do bring in some of their other enemies.

Such as Mr. Sinister, Mojo and Silver Samurai to name a few. They held to keep dealing with an organization that's against mutants almost the entire show. Apocalypse shows up late into the show. Sadly they didn't confirm what they would've done for season 2. Thankfully it didn't get canceled due to low rankings.

What actually led to that was simply bad timing on their part. The same bad timing that also ruined Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite that came out a couple years later. It was a notable process of Disney buying 20th Century Fox. They canceled most shows not on their own channels including this show. It's a shame, this could've had a chance against X-Men: Evolution.

If they would've had another season at least. The overall tome is more notably darker but plenty of light moments too. This also had my favorite animated take on Nightcrawler. I also need to point out, parts of the designs came from the live action X-Men movies. This kinda works surprisingly well honestly. I was a little mixed White Queen helped the X-Men but you sorta get use to that.

I also wanna say my least favorite animated version of Cyclops too. I confessed, I kinda liked X-Men: Evolution Cyclops way more. Wolverine does try being a good leader in Xavier's absence. The two major antagonists of the show were Magneto & Master Mold. Yes Master Mold is in the future controlling the Sentinels.

This is vastly different take on the character from the 90s show version. This one was more feminine theme with a more Skynet strategy programming. The story arc quickly reminded me of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Both heavily involve altering the past to save the future from Sentinels. I also wanna say not my favorite version of Rogue either.

Wolverine and the X-Men is a good show. You just wish they had more episodes than it actually has. Well to be fair, it's twenty five more episodes than X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. You know the failed cartoon X-Men pilot episode? Trust me, this show is way better than that!!! It's also notably better than a lot of X-Men movies too.

If I had to rank this with the other X-Men cartoon shows I watched off the same streaming service. I say this would be the bottom but it's not a bad X-Men show. It just got cut a little short before they got going. Then X-Men: Evolution is easily the second best. It's very obvious the 90s show is the best X-Men cartoon show ever!!!