Quake 2 Remaster Game Review
Summary: A must own game for anyone who loves shooters and wants to see a perfect remaster.
4.9
I will totally admit that I was like a kid in a candy shop when I saw that the Quake 2 remaster was coming out across all platforms, with cross play, with extra levels, with all content, with all that delicious gore, guts, and gun play that I came to love 25 years ago . Yes, yes, I am that old, and unlike many of the reviews that you will read online about this remaster, I was there actually playing this game on my PC when it came out. I was playing multiplayer on my dial-up modem Q2DM1, Q2DM2 multiplayer maps for the win!. I know the maps. I know the joy of that rocket jump, I know what it’s like to take the fight to the Strogg on their home planet.
I’ve been playing quite a few remasters lately, and I must confess I’ve really been enjoying them. Not only from that sense of nostalgia that you get when playing something that you enjoyed back when you were younger, but also, they just seem to run a little bit better than some of the more current titles that are out there. Sure, they don’t need as much fancy hardware propelling them, but they run smooth as silk, and in cases where the game was exceptional when it came out in the first place, a solid remaster can certainly accentuate that for a new audience. And I believe that is what has happened with the Quake 2 re-master.
Just in case you’re not familiar with the game, Earth is buggered and we are taking the fight back to our oppressors home planet. The Strogg are an advanced race that are a grotesque hybrid of organic and mechanical parts, living weapons if you would. You are a marine sent over with a massive strike force, but your drop pod is knocked off its flight path on the way down to the planet’s surface, which is the only thing that saves you when everyone else is taken out.
This was one of the first games where story took as much priority as the game itself. Of course we had the first game Quake, which this is no relation other than it was the same developer who chose to use the same name. Id Software created a beautiful monster, and at the time there was nothing at all like this out there in the market. The camera angles, the direction, it was truly cinematic and made gamers feel as though they were truly part of something bigger. Bear in mind, that at the time these graphics were cutting edge for us and these creatures and ships nearly looked real. Also it was one of the first times that there was a heightened level of intelligence in the AI fighting you and tactics actually had to be used. You had to learn how they moved, what weapons they used, how they took cover, yes, these bad boys would duck under things fired at them which was something I had never encountered before. The story was compelling and kept you playing and the levels were filled with hideous enemies and compelling environmentally based puzzles to keep you thinking whilst you were shooting.
Now, let me get this out of the way. The game only cost $15! You are getting every game in the Quake 2 series bundled in here along with the Nintendo offerings. You are getting multiplayer which is working across all platforms, and this game has released across all platforms. The graphics look great though dated, they are true to what came before as this is a remaster, not a remake, so all you kids out there thinking at all looks a bit blotchy it is and it’s the way it did even back then, we just thought it was smooth as silk
I cannot fault any part of this remaster. Everything is the way it should be along with the fantastic soundtrack that I remember so well. The game departed from using Trent Reznor as the composer, however it rocks hard and is a damn fine time for your ears. Now I thought I should also add going back quickly to the Nintendo comment earlier quickly… Nintendo Quake 2 was a different creature as it was made for a console that used a controller not a mouse and keyboard. It feels different and plays different and developers Night Dive have included the whole darn thing in there for your pleasure, including all the cut scenes!
This is possibly one of the best value for money purchases you will ever make in terms of how much game you get for your buck. These are massive games in their own right and yet they also added another campaign in there, just for this particular edition by no less the makers of the new Wolfenstein saga.
If you are into shooters and want to see how it is done perfectly, then you really can’t go past the Quake 2 Remaster. It is just so good.
Tory Favro.
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