Quake II

"Quake II N64 - Absolutely no excuse for sub-par. :("

Okay, so Quake II for the PC was and still is an outstanding game. Especially revived as an extra for Quake 4 for the XBox 360. Back in the day, two systems got the Quake II treatment. The PSX and the N64. The PSX was thought to be impossible ot handle Quake II. And Hammerhead proved us wrong. It retained everything that was great about the PC, the original levels (though only half of them), great animation, great gameplay, and the original hub structure. Heck, they even added graphics tweaks. Not too bad for an aged system with a mere 2 megs of system memory.

Yeah, I know this is the N64 review. But just so you all know, Quake II ran smoothly on the PSX, even with 4 player split screen. This is at least how well the N64 version should've turned out as, if not better.

Needless to say, it didn't.

The great stuff first. The joystick look, which is the norm by now, is back. The music's been redone, which you may or may not like. It's ambient music, which I absolutely love. Though not the work of the almighty Aubrey Hodges (who did PSX and N64 Doom as well as Quake 64) it's still pretty good. A few tracks have nods to Quake 64's tracks. There's colored lighting, and besides a few exceptions, whole new levels. Think of a Quake II expansion pack. For the exclusive levels and music, this game is worth checking out. However...

The game stumbles. First of all, the levels are no longer in hub style. You just play until the end of the level and that's it. For most games, that would cut it, but the original Quake II's coolness was completing objectives and moving between different levels in the hub to progress. At the end of each hub is the main objective, being a boss, or destroying a huge structure, or, well you get the point. Now it's move from one point of one level to another, maybe set a few bombs, or flip a few switches, and go to the end level switch or teleporter. Really dumbed down. Not to mention, the few levels that have been retained from the PC have been cut up terribly. A few of the exclusive levels kinda make up for it, but the whole feel of Quake II has been reduced to practically every other FPS game.

Oh, and there's 19 levels as opposed to 39. Half the levels. The PSX have just as much as the N64, but the hub structure of the PSX make the levels more interesting and the game longer with revisiting levels.

The next problem is the graphics. I can deal with the obligatory mipmapped N64 graphics (though they're slightly sharper with the 4MB expansion). But the game's animations are choppy. REALLY choppy. And with the expansion, that's with 8MB of RAM, when the PSX has 2MB. That's FOUR TIMES the RAM. What's fluid on the PSX is choppy on the N64. From enemies, to especially the weapons. The weapons don't have the idle animation when standing still, the firing animations (especially for the chaingun and hyperblaster) are missing half the frames, and more. Yes, there's colored lighting, but that's doesn't mean a thing when the animation is choppy. And yet, it seems the game itself runs at a steady pace, but the animation doesn't.

And multiplayer, the lag is quite unbearable. Don't even bother. I'm not much for multiplayer, so I won't comment much on it.

I'm the kind of person who cares not about graphics. As long as I can play the game and still feel the sense of motion that the game promises, I'm happy. But the less animation frames just kill this game. What was once, a fanatically furious blast fest is a slow choppy game.

Lastly, the challenge is much less than all other versions of Quake II. The enemies are slower, there's less of them, and they're much more spaced out. All of the enemies aren't even included. Not even the real final boss.

There's no excuse for a sub-par port. Especially with 4-8MB of RAM. Shorter levels, with no hub structure, and choppy animation when the PSX barely broke a sweat with less memory, and CD loading.

Buy? If you're an id Software fanatic (like me) that must have everything, yes. The exclusive levels and music are worth experiencing at least once. But for actual enjoyment of the game, get any other version. If you don't have it for the PC and can't afford an XBox 360, stick with the PSX version. Cheaper, faster, more fun, and retains the greatness of the PC original (just with half the levels).

I guess that's it. There's plenty of FPS games on the N64. I suggest trying another one.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 04/26/06