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Quake II (PC) Activision/id
Quake was a bona fide phenomenon. It was the game that made multiplayer action gaming through the Internet a reality, and incidentally was also the first truly 3D first-person shooter. So it's no surprise that Quake was featured prominently in our "Smartest Moments" feature.
Of course, the downside of Quake's success is that everybody expected id Software to up the ante with the sequel, Quake II, and deliver an even better game. Unfortunately, single-player Quake II was more of the same. While Quake II looked nicer, had a more consistent theme than the disjointed Quake, and featured slightly more advanced puzzles, the basic gameplay still revolved around running, shooting brain-dead monsters, and flipping switches.
The good 'ol days.
But Quake II's biggest fault? It didn't ship with any multiplayer maps. That's right; the sequel to the game that created the basic model for playing online action games that still exists to this very day didn't ship with a single multiplayer-only map. Deathmatch worked, but you could only play on single-player levels which weren't designed for such a task.
See, in order to get the game on store shelves in time for the Christmas season, id cut multiplayer from the retail disc and promised to add it later with a downloadable "point release." It took nearly three months for the promised point release to show up, and while it did indeed deliver the promised DM levels and cooperative mode, it also broke save game compatibility.
And, even after making cuts to make Christmas, Quake II was still quite buggy and required a variety of patches. Simply put: Out of the box, Quake II was a rushed, mediocre game.
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Fragmaster: At the time of Quake II's release, I was an insane high school fanboy who spent most of his time running PlanetQuake. So obviously, I was pretty excited about the game. I even bought my first 3D card just to see Quake II's colored lighting.
I remember slogging through the bland single-player game. And I remember being disappointed.
For one thing, id released way too many Quake II screenshots beforehand. So the game really didn't offer many surprises, since nearly every single location in the game I had already seen.
I didn't like the way Quake II felt, it didn't seem as responsive as the original Quake. I didn't like all the orange lighting. I didn't care for the Strogg. Plain Quake II DM didn't do much for me. After awhile, it became clear that I didn't have that much business running the biggest Quake II fansite when I didn't even like the game that much, so I turned the site over to someone else.
Don't get me wrong, Quake II certainly had its great qualities and spawned some really awesome mods (including QPong, probably my all-time favorite), but I think if you compare the two now, classic Quake is the better of them.
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Ben: Back in my misspent college days, I was QuakeWorld fan #1 (more specifically, "QW ThunderWalker Capture the Flag" fan #1). I couldn't get enough online action, but still managed to seriously impair my GPA. So, when Quake II was nigh, I slapped a preorder on that sucker and had a car-owning friend drive me fifty-some miles to the nearest EB, just so I'd have it on the first day.
First impressions weren't bad, since I knew all about the lack of multiplayer maps and the like, and the intro was kind of cool at the time. But as soon as I got in-game, I noticed something very bad: the controls were laggy. Q2Test had the same problem to a much greater degree, which id programming wizard John Carmack promised was only temporary. It wasn't. While less severe, there was definitely a perceptible lag to Quake II's controls. Equally bad, the physics were poor. Phenomena that just worked in Quake, like rocket jumping, had to be hacked into Quake II, adding to the bizarre feel.
This was just one problem. The multiplayer, the heart of any Quake game, actually played much slower thanks to lame additions like location-revealing footstep sounds and a noticeably decreased running speed. Quake II also introduced stupid new quirks like strafe-jumping, which let players travel at faster speeds by hopping back and forth like insane grasshoppers. Some people liked to exploit this, but I didn't. I longed for the solid physics and fast gameplay of the original Quake. The slow, sticky-feeling grappling hook of Q2CTF was the last straw. After a bit of that, I knew the game was beyond redemption and took the only logical recourse: I went back to QuakeWorld.
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Fargo: The original Quake (actually, QuakeWorld, the version optimized for 'net play) had something special going for it: Rocket Launcher Physics. Whether intentional or not, id Software had stumbled on the perfect deathmatch weapon. You could fling rockets at other people to kill them, or hurl people through the air with ridiculous splash damage, or hurl yourself through the air via rocket jumping. It was the most fun you could have on an Internet-enabled PC! It was clear with Quake II that they didn't understand the "magic" that made Quake I such a great multiplayer joy. The Quake II rocket launcher had a firing delay, a slow speed, and minimized splash damage... Balanced? I suppose. But aren't games supposed to be fun?
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Next: John's at it again... »
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