Quake II

"One of the best FPP shooters available on the PSX this year."

The game is finally out for the PSX. After a long wait, Quake II, from Id Software, is finally out. After many years of saying, "No, it's not possible for such graphics to appear on the PSX" it is finally available to PSX users. I confess, I'm no Quake fan but since the game has been ver successful on the PC I thought, "Sure, why not? It's been a great game from what I hear" And now I've not only heard it, but seen it and played it. Here's my review.

Graphics:
The graphics has been tonned down from its PC cousin. They are using simpler textures but nevertheless it's still very beautiful. It can still be compared to the PC Quake II but it will lose by a few marks, unfortunately. The blood effects are great, and so are the enemies. They are (I think) exactly like the PC version. Overall, it's very good you won't vomit. It should also increase the FMV number. The interface is very simple too.

Controls:
The controls in the game are simple and effective, thankfully. Many games have suffered for poor key mapping, and suffered more for not making the program to be able to remap the controls. But Quake II is different. Even if you can't remap the keys, you'll feel right at home. They are conveniently spanned acroos your 8 buttons. I won't detail much about the controls. The only bad thing I have to complain is that they removed the duck ability (as in squat, not the animal). By removing this feature, it had to rip off some of its secrets which require some crouching. Nothing big to complain about, either.

Levels/Gameplay:
One word: Impressive. The levels are beatifully made and constructed and so is the gameplay. The are planned so that it will have several save points just when you need it. It is also known that a lot of the game's level aren't identical to the PC version.Each level is very huge, so the bright minds who made this made sure they broke up the level into a lot of small pieces so that it won't have to suffer a drop in framerates. Ahh, the framerates. It is ultra-smooth and should be about 30FPS. The rates only drop if you have more than 4 enemies shooting at you. But that's okay since you rarely come to a place where you will meet more than 4 angry hooligans under one screen. If this happens, use the Railgun. Talking about weapons, its range of weapons are those that are found in the PC version too. Common great ones are the greanade launcher, railgun, chaingun and the like. Oh, and FYI, there are 2 modes of gameplay in there. One is the usual Single Player mode and the other one is the Multiplayer mode. You can try to beat your friend is this mode. It can support up to 4 players (using the Multitap) and from what I've noticed, the framerates are pretty good even with 4 player gather together. The usual sub-modes are DeathMatch, Team DeathMatch and Versus. You can change its variables and select the level you want to play in.

Sound:
Sound? It's okay too. Let's go into the Sound Effects first. The sounds of the weapons are considered authentic and true and so are the enemies. The sound they emit when they die are just great, especially those pesky ones. The background music however scores. It plays a variety of great rock themes (you don't expect to find Enya on this one) which changes with each loading. But the playlist isn't long and the tunes seem identical. Repititous tracks can make your mind boggle. But it's still great.

That's all. As you would have seen, the game's a good game. They are worth a buy. But I suggest you rent it first and see if it suits you. Me, for example will get a headache after playing the game continuously for half an hour. So rent it out first and play it for 30 mins to see any strains and headaches. That's all. Email me at scool85@hotmail.com if you have queries or suggestions.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99