Quake II

"A step higher than Quake 64, but not close to Goldeneye yet."

When Quake made its first debut onto N64, it did not brought much attention. After all, the game was two years old already and it was a lousy direct port. Can’t really blame on Midway when they tried to make some quick cash by throwing out old, played out, and most of all, bad gameplay. Quake was so popular on PC because of its multiplayer fragfest. While the N64 did have a 2 player deathmatch mode, but it was so horrible that you would rather play single player and kill those dumb enemies moaning and groaning in front of your screen.

But today, Quake II is the new king of fragfest and Activision thought bringing Quake II to N64 may be getting them some quick cash. Of course, without making the same mistake Midway did, Raster Productions redid the whole game so it makes like a fresh new game. Even though the its still based on the very same Quake universe, but the whole mission design specially for N64, Expansion Pak that will boost the framerate and added some special effects, and probably most importantly, top of the line multiplayer mode.

When you first heard that Raster Productions are bringing Quake II to N64, you thought the game would be as bad as Doom and Quake for N64. Well, Raster Productions this time worked their butt off and re-created the Quake II we seen today to a whole new experience. Their goal was to make Quake II original since many PC owners already know the whole game maps, it would be like playing the same old game with a N64 joystick. Second, since the original Quake II had crotch and some places you need to get to by crouching down, which would be impossible for N64 owners since that option was taken out. And lastly, the game has to have a strong multiplayer mode, and Raster Productions did deliver that.

Although the controller setup are a little bit similar to Turok 2 (Which you aim with analog and walk with the C-buttons) but there are six other additional setups and a customize one for your comfort. Other things you can customize are controller sensitivity, player profile (Name, skin, and color), and crosshair. All these options can be saved onto Memory Pak anytime.

Quake II can be played with either the Expansion Pak or no Expansion Pak. Of course, you can’t really tell the difference between the two, and the framerate does boost up a little, the controller isn’t as jerky as without the Expansion Pak, and the lighting colors are richer. We do recommend playing Quake II with the Expansion Pak to get the full experience. The graphics has improved a lot since Quake for N64. For example, it features real time dynamic lighting effects for missiles light up the hallways as it goes, machine gun that illuminate the immediate area as they fire, and even an explosion would give a burst of light. The texture quality has improved much over Quake. But the lack of animation details made the game seem generic and boring. Seeing a Strogg running towards you with their leg moving so jerky. Raster also throws in some Unreal-like lens flare effect for the lighting. The framerate is running smoothly constant, only slows down when you have many enemies in a same room or 4 player deathmatch in a wide open area.

Raster Productions got smart and took out the music for Quake II on N64. The only time you hear the music is after you beat the level, your outcome score and some cheap midi like music starts playing. The sound effects are the same as PC version of Quake II. With eerie background noise and ambient effects, making Quake II scarier than it is. With typical enemies’ grunt and growl, there isn’t much to talk about.

The multiplayer, this is what made Quake II PC the best of the best. Raster Productions need to make their Quake II multiplayer is as good as Turok 2 or Goldeneye, or even better. They threw in some new modes like Frag-Teams, Flag War, and Death Tag. Flag War is of course capture the flag, and Death Tag mode is timed. Located somewhere in the arena is one flag. Players must search for it and retrieve it. The person who amounts the most time in possession of the flag at the end of the match wins. Though the framerate may slow down sometimes but 4 player fragfest is so much fun. Seeing rockets fly by down the hall, hearing your opponent picking up the nearest weapon, and grab your Quad Damage and kill them all.

Overall, Quake II really isn’t much when compared to PC version. When PC version can have all these Mods, add-ons, and so forth. But for N64 owners, Quake II really show off N64’s hardware power. With its exclusive N64 levels, clean graphic design, and 4 players fragfest, Quake II for N64 is definitely worth looking at. Raster Productions really put some effort into this. If you never played Quake II before, get this, you might like it. But if you have, rent it anyway, see if you can beat these whole new levels of Quake II.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/29/00, Updated 08/07/01