DOOMATHON entry #9/20
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/

Quake 2 is a very interesting piece of history - it continued id's trailblazing streak by being the first FPS that I know of to have a cohesive narrative and world, one in which every level is connected and gives clear context - but it lives in the shadow of both its more atmospheric predecessor from the year prior and Half-Life from the year to follow, a game whose commitment to naturalism and narrative design arguably outshines its gunplay.

The same cannot be said of Quake 2, which stands out almost entirely because of its damn solid shooting. Approaching this replay with the knowledge that it was a sequel in name only upon its release, I was able to better appreciate its specific brand of gameplay while still admiring iteration of the mechanics that allow it to still feel like Quake from moment to moment, something that will be relevant later in this marathon.

Although the overwhelmingly gray/brown interiors and orange skies of the Strogg homeworld blend together more than the mazes of any previous id game and make the backtracking between loading areas feel more protracted than it is in actuality (the bizarre decision to pause the soundtrack upon the completion of an objective also contributes to this), the level design is commendable for being the studio's first deviation from the classic formula. There's a stronger emphasis on rooms that are specifically designed for large combat encounters, and it allows the weapons and enemy behaviors to really shine. There's some redundancy in the weapon selection here, particularly with the hyperblaster feeling more like a variation of the chaingun than an adaptation of Doom's plasma rifle as it was clearly intended to be, but the weapons are perhaps the best feeling of any in this marathon so far. The super shotgun in particular is an absolute joy to use, especially with how it allows you to get an up-close look at the modular damage inflicted upon enemies and the increased frequency of gibs compared to its predecessor.

The previous game's effortlessly smooth movement is entirely maintained here as far as I can tell, allowing full 3D combat to be pushed farther than the before. The final few levels are relentless without relying too heavily on tankier enemies and will most likely remain one of the best stretches of shooting in this marathon despite being capped off by an unsurprisingly underwhelming boss. Quake 2 doesn't have as strong of an artistic identity as its predecessor, but it's not without reason that it would define the franchise going forward - it's a really fun shooter at the end of the day, one that stands the test of time even if it left less of a mark on history.

Cross-posted on Twitter: https://x.com/mariofan717/status/1755166386064900368

Quake 2 is probably my least favorite out of the single-player Quakes. I don't like the music and not a huge fan of the orange color palette. Also some enemies and enemy placements are bullshit. Of course it's not nearly as atmospheric as the first game either. There's a reason Nine Inch Nails decided not to do the soundtrack this time around.

But other than that, it's still a solid game with a cool setting and scripted scenes, and the gameplay isn't much different from Quake 1, which was great. The level design can get a bit confusing sometimes, but this remaster kinda fixes that problem with the addition of a compass.

That being said, something of exploration is lost with the compass. I remember playing the old version and constantly reading the tasks and paying more attention to the environment to find the locations I must reach. There were only a couple of moments in this remaster when I had to do that. I was playing co-op (which I don't think existed in the original?) with my friend, and we basically talked about other stuff while blazing through the enemies without putting too much thought into it. With the exception of a few moments, when the compass wasn't working and we had to stop and discuss where to go.

I like that this remaster allows you to turn off the graphical improvements. And the addition of hit markers on the crosshair is very useful.

Other than that, it plays more or less the same as the original version, which is a good thing. You don't want a remaster messing with the original game too much.

Hmmmm
This game really has nothing to do with the original. It ditches the Lovecraft stuff in favor of aliens, and the gameplay formula is more expanded compared to the Classic Doom style. Multiple objectives, varied objectives at that, etc.
Regardless, I still think it's a great game. The guns are a blast to use, beating the enemies felt slightly more strategic (aka using different weapons on different foes is more effective), and the soundtrack is rocking as hell. Some sections can feel a bit long, but I at least didn't need to use a guide, the levels are designed THAT well.
Get it if you can, it's a treat.

Truly one of the games of all time.

I grew up on first person shooters but came into the genre after the boomer shooter took off, missing out on classics like DOOM, Wolfenstein, and relevantly Quake. It's with this lack of affinity for a bygone genre that I've tried to sort of retroactively understand the hype behind such a landmark franchise. Sometime last year I played the Nightdive remaster of Quake I and had an alright enough time, and with some time to kill I figured it would be a good excuse to delve even further into one of the titles that made id the mammoth of influence that it is today.

Quake II being on Gamepass was the perfect pricepoint for its shorter runtime, with players seemingly clocking in at an average of seven hours. I didn't keep track of my own runtime with the game, but ultimately I felt like even that was too long. I appreciate the legacy of titles like this, but going back and playing them has felt more like a chore than an enjoyable experience as they are intended to be. The levels are intricately designed, which is neat especially for a game of this caliber originally released into to the world in 1997, but it comes with the unintended risk of turning the campaign into a McGuffin hunt. One thing leads to one thing that leads to one thing that leads to one thing... which isn't abhorrently bad game design but feels like it is uneccesarily dragging the game along.

My main qualms with Quake II outside of the monotony of its enemy encounters and the needlessly intricate level sequencing is that the combat didn't feel... good. As an avid Unreal Tournament enjoyer, and a mostly-fan of the recent Doom iterations, I love a good run and jump shooty mcshoot game. Freedom of movement in FPS' creates a level of player agency that makes the titles enjoyable, in lieu of staying stagnant and mowing down enemies as they appear, you are crafting intricate patterns throughout the arena's space. in Quake II you have this, somewhat, but there was a severe lack of reasonable health options. Many encounters in which I thought I was jumping and avoiding attacks well left me beaten and battered. Instead of being able to leap around and take advantage of the game's attractive movement, I was greatly limited to hiding around pillars and firing in between enemy volleys.

Quake II is a game that I understand, but do not enjoy overall. I get that the legacy of this game is far stretching and is probably a magnificent achievment in the first person shooter genre at the time, but it is unfortunately not a title I found myself engrossed with enjoyment in. I can't recommend Quake II unless you're looking for a nostalgia trip or on a quest to understand the history of the genre.

It's not as well-regarded as Quake, and it's not as pure fun as Quake 3 Arena, but Quake 2 is the one that I spent many afternoons as a kid playing. Now granted, that was the Playstation version which is a little different to the PC version, which is what is remastered here.

It's just as fast and frantic as you'd like from a "boomer shooter", with a nice range of satisfying weapons and enemy types to blast them with. The environments are pretty bland, as much as Nightdive Studios has spruced them up, and the map design can often be confusing as to where exactly you have to go next, especially in the later levels. Luckily there's a handy little "compass" feature to point you in the right direction.

A solid shooter experience that doesn't outstay it's welcome.

This was a nice surprise; From my memory, playing Quake 2 at 12 years old was the disappointing sequel following Quake in 1997. It was the first game I played that had somewhat of a narrative, along with missions that was not just, find the red key, open the red door, advance, rinse, wash repeat. There was a ton of backtracking but the maps were super confusing. The remaster adds a welcomed compass to the HUD that helps players navigate the confusing landscape.

The HD remaster does not add much in terms of aesthetics to the maps. They are still boring, unimaginative and tedious, especially when you play through the Ground Zero or Reckoning campaigns. The new campaign “Call of the Machine” is definitely worth checking out and works similar to how the Quake remaster added in their new campaign and adds in the new modern flavor of map design. It also throws a ton more enemies at you than what was possible back in the 90s. Quake is MUCH longer than this remaster however.

An incredible remaster of an absolute classic game, with an expansion pack including some of the best FPS levels I've ever played!

The mission based objectives are incredibly unique among its peers, it makes it feel very open-ended and non-linear.

And the visuals are just, so crispy and nice to look at! The strogg look so intimidating despite their low-poly counts.

This remaster is worth buying just for the new expansion honestly, even if you've already played Quake 2 to death, it's just that good!

Adding Quake 2: 64 was also a cute addition!

I hadn't heard much about Quake 2 before playing it, other than that it was a bit of a black sheep and that people didn't really like it. I played the Nightdive remasters of both Quake 1 and 2, and for Quake 1 I didn't enable any of the new effects the remaster added as I thought they looked kind of tacked on and like an afterthought, but with Quake 2 I kept most of the new effects on as they fit much better with the game's artstyle this time around.

I was shocked when shortly after starting Quake 2 I learnt that it wasn't a traditional mission-based episodic structure like, well, pretty much every FPS of that era, but instead they were interconnected levels with somewhat open-ended exploration, backtracking, and unlocking shortcuts. This is a game that predates Half-Life by two years and yet I rarely see anyone bring up the level/world design of it. On top of this the levels are also a notable evolution. Quake (like many other shooters) had levels that were more abstract series of corridors and brushes that were supposed to represent an area, but Quake 2 levels feel real, they feel purposeful and functional, which is something Half-Life is often credited for being the pioneer of.

The guns are a bit of a mixed bag compared to Quake 1, which had a relatively quaint but functional roster of weapons, Quake 2's weapon selection feels bloated by comparison, and it's detrimental in multiple ways. The most immediate one is that several weapons step over each other in terms of usefulness. The grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and railgun all feel like they're used for the same purpose, same with the hyperblaster and chaingun, both are guns with notable wind-ups (and downs) that do heavy damage and chew through ammo. The shotguns, machine gun, and BFG 10K are the only weapons that feel like they truly stand on their own and aren't competing for usefulness (also small tangent, but the super shotgun in this game is absolutely godlike. The sound design and animation is incredible and several stronger enemies get visibly staggered and knocked back by it if they don't get gibbed altogether).

Another new thing introduced by this game is how power-ups are used. If you've played any 90s shooter you are well aware that power-ups are just something you generally pick up and they're instantaneously used on the spot, you have a limited amount of time to make do with your newfound godhood and that's completely fine. Quake 2 shakes things up, now you have an inventory and power-ups get put straight into it, waiting to be used for later. There are things I like and dislike about this system. Obviously it adds a layer of strategy to using power-ups instead of just going hogwild whenever you come across one, and also stops that horrible feeling when you clear a room of enemies, explore around for secrets, and then find a quad damage you could've used on them but now there's nothing around anymore. But this design was very intentional, FPS games of the time would design encounters around this limitation to make exploring more rewarding or making cathartic rooms where you get something like a quad damage and just unload on all the enemies around. In Quake 2, nothing can be balanced around power-ups, as there's no guarantee as to if you'll be able to use one or not. This also means intentionally difficult sections can be cheesed by popping a quad damage. This isn't a horrible drawback for a game like Quake 2, as even on hard it's not a very challenging game (and that's fine), but it is something lost from shooters of its era.

Story is not worth covering, it's about as light as any other 90s shooter, although it is slightly more in your face instead of just being delegated to a manual or end of episode text block, and it's told more diagetically as well.

The visuals are similar to its predecessor's in some ways, mainly in the color choice of browns and grays, but the environments are a tiny bit more varied. The music is where the real split in presentation between the two games occur. Quake 1's OST was a masterclass in atmosphere and immersion, being famously composed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, it was industrial, ambient, and harrowing, and I often found myself being unnerved by some songs. Quake 2's is quite the opposite, being composed by Sonic Mayhem, it's much more traditional, being full of blood pumping and memorable tunes. I don't like one more than the other, both fit their respective games incredibly well, and I wouldn't change anything about either of them (but Quake 2's is probably the one you'd catch me actively listening to).

Overall I enjoyed Quake 2 more than the first one, it was an incredibly enjoyable and fairly unique experience that I'm glad Nightdive has put in the spotlight. The remaster is only 10 dollars and comes with 4 or so expansion packs and a port of Quake 64 as well, which is a whole other (yet more traditional) beast.

After Quake 1, I played the remastered Quake 2 of the series again in a co-op manner. Despite being the first 3-D FPS, Quake 2 still manages to play itself, which has a very fun and non-boring structure in terms of gameplay time. Although the newly released Remastered does not bring much innovation, there are features that will make the game much easier, such as navigation. In addition, some small but nice-looking lighting has been added. In short, you can choose Remastered instead of playing the original game.

Quake II is fast, gory, and a step up mechanically when compared to its predecessors. It splits its single-player mode into units, which are composed of connected levels. It feels like you're exploring a larger world in this game; a very different experience from the portal-connected worlds of the original Quake. Combine those elements with a Doom-like militaristic sci-fi setting and a shredding metal soundtrack, and you've got yourself a pretty solid id Software title.

Unfortunately, Quake II frequently suffers from truly convoluted level design. Like with previous games, you're sometimes required to backtrack with newfound key items, and it's significantly easier to become lost. If you thought The Pain Maze was too obtuse, just wait until you have to backtrack through multiple stitched-together and labyrinthine levels. The level objectives are also frustrating, especially if you pick up a save file after not playing for a while. Your primary objective at one point is, and I quote, "Establish communication link to command ship." Sure, whatever that means, man. I'm not even incompetent at these games, it's just that the monotony of running back and forth through samey sci-fi base levels really gnawed at me during this second playthrough. Everything blends together, and only a couple of memorable "units" stick out.

Thankfully, Nightdive comes to the rescue. Like with all of their other classic FPS ports as of late, the 2023 version of Quake II has everything you could ask for in a remaster. There's all the bells and whistles that Nightdive worked into the original Quake and then some, along with unique additions like hit markers, reworked enemy AI, new enemy attacks, and a brand new bonus campaign developed by MachineGames. They've even added a compass item that points you to your next objective, going as far as to create a breadcrumb trail that further nudges you towards it—convoluted levels be damned. Like with their Quake remaster, Nightdive has delivered the definitive version of Quake II, and it's available on all major platforms, warts and all.