Quake 2

Review

Quake II has been decimating employee productivity for over two years. Now, finally, it can begin to wreak its first-person shooting havoc on the Mac-based workforce as well. The biggest question you probably have about this mega-blockbuster coming to the Mac is, was it worth the wait? The answer is heck yes! Although Activision is publishing the game for the Mac, Logicware ported the code from the PC version, and it seems to have done an excellent job. The original developer of the Quake series, id Software (http://www.idsoftware.com), is renowned for writing games to take advantage of every ounce of speed that a computer can muster. Initially, we had some concern that this level of optimization would be difficult to replicate in a different computer with a different processor (despite the PowerPC's speed, it's still different). Our fears were unfounded as it turns out, and Quake II runs fantastically on just about any G3-based computer, including the original iMac. It even performs well on older PowerPC Macs that use 603- or 604-based processors. Of course, having a 3D accelerator card makes a huge difference in game performance. Out of the box, Quake II supports OpenGL 3D acceleration on ATI chips, including Rage II, Rage Pro, and the newer Rage 128. Of course, the game looks best on Rage 128 that comes in the Blue & White G3 towers. 3DFX card owners can also take advantage of OpenGL acceleration on their machines with the help of the Q2MesaGL drivers and a new OpenGL library file available from the Logicware site (http://www.logicware.com).

Gameplay is just as we've all come to expect from id titles - fast, furious, and violent - earning every bit of the game's Mature ESRB rating. The single player game is level upon level of gothic corridors, grotesque villains, and powerful weaponry. Opponents die agonizing deaths and explode into chunky gore when you shoot them. Many of your favorite weapons from the first Quake, like the rocket launcher and the shotgun, have been upgraded for the new Q2 look. To keep things exciting, the game has introduced a number of new weapons, the most notable of which is the rail gun. This monster sends a bolt of energy at the speed of light - it's powerful enough to take down just about any player that isn't loaded up on armor and extra health. Quake I was often criticized because the single player levels were rather poorly designed. Quake II makes up for that deficiency. Every level is well thought out, with plenty of hidden booty like power ups and more powerful weapons to keep things interesting.

At first glance Quake II appears to be just a better looking Quake I, but the game really takes off as a whole new experience in network play - either over the Internet or over a LAN. Quake always was a good multiplayer game, but with Quake II, the game introduces much faster network code and support for up to 64 players in a single game. All around the world servers are going 24 hours a day hosting Quake II death match games. Because Quake II for Mac is a direct port of the final code for Quake II on the PC, you're guaranteed compatibility and feature parity between the two platforms, so you never have to worry about being left behind by new patches to the PC version. Quake II death matching can take place on any of the single player maps included in the game and in the special death match levels designed exclusively for net play. While the single player levels are often entertaining, you'll find that the net play levels have been designed to truly exercise your death match skills in the most enjoyable way possible.

It's too bad it's taken so long for Quake II to make it to the Mac, but now that it finally has you can rejoice in playing one of the best multiplayer games ever created. With Quake III Arena just months away, you may think that Quake II is already a dated game, but keep in mind that there is no such thing as too much Quake. -- Rick Sanchez

Good News: Awesome net play. Good graphics. Runs on most PowerPC Macs.

Bad News: Keyboard inp -- From MacAddict -- Subscribe now!