After playing through Quake 1 for the first time recently and discovering one of my new favorite games of all time I decided to give it's sequel a go and oh my god I've not been this disappointed in a sequel in a loooong damn time. I'll preface this before I continue and say that I didn't play the multiplayer, which I imagine is indeed quite good from what I've heard over the years and I'm only really talking about the campaign here. (I also didn't play the mission packs because...well I didn't enjoy the main game so I can't imagine they'd change my mind)
First thing I gotta say is that the tone of Quake 1's very unique dark gothic lovecraftian sci-fi is sorely missed. I honestly have no problem with their shift to hard sci-fi and the stuff with the Strogg but it just lacks the same kind of almost juvenile charm that the first game had. It got too serious. As such, the art direction of the game took kind of a blow. Every area and (almost every) enemy look exactly the same. It's the same drab Strogg bases over and over again filled with big angry bald cyborg dudes.
Speaking of enemies, their AI is some of the most brain dead I've ever encountered. So many of them will just run or slowly lumber towards you and that's it. Nothing in the way of variety either, there's like 2 different flying enemies that are functionally the same beyond probably a difference of HP and these weird frog like cyborgs that do way to much damage with their fucked up yoshi tongues. Every other enemy is just a humanoid cyborg that's obsessed with cheap hitscan attacks. Things like Shamblers and Death Knights in Quake 1 really spiced combat up and often dealing with multiple different enemy types was always a fun challenge. Not to much different that a puzzle honestly, a big dangerous puzzle.
Going back to the the levels and stuff, they are really overly complex and long. I think I spent more time in just one level than any in Quake 1, just by getting lost amungst the endless boring steel walls. No major land marks or distinct architecture beyond some computer walls or sci-fi torture devices. I can honestly say that I've can hardly remember any of the levels out side the first and last two. Quake 1 had this problem sometimes too admittedly but they at least made an effort to making distinct areas and lay outs from the reused textures.
One thing I do enjoy about the game is the music. It's pretty good. However, it's incredibly repetitive since there is like a total of like five tracks and the kinda all sound the same and bleed into one another.
There are other things I could complain about like the how boring the combat encounters and general gameplay loop is or how most of the weapons are painfully slow and lack both damage, or general movement not feeling nearly as fast and responsive as the first game. But at the end of the day it really doesn't matter. Quake 2 is a game not made for me. I can only hope one day we'll get a real successor to Quake 1's narrative, tone, and gameplay.
First thing I gotta say is that the tone of Quake 1's very unique dark gothic lovecraftian sci-fi is sorely missed. I honestly have no problem with their shift to hard sci-fi and the stuff with the Strogg but it just lacks the same kind of almost juvenile charm that the first game had. It got too serious. As such, the art direction of the game took kind of a blow. Every area and (almost every) enemy look exactly the same. It's the same drab Strogg bases over and over again filled with big angry bald cyborg dudes.
Speaking of enemies, their AI is some of the most brain dead I've ever encountered. So many of them will just run or slowly lumber towards you and that's it. Nothing in the way of variety either, there's like 2 different flying enemies that are functionally the same beyond probably a difference of HP and these weird frog like cyborgs that do way to much damage with their fucked up yoshi tongues. Every other enemy is just a humanoid cyborg that's obsessed with cheap hitscan attacks. Things like Shamblers and Death Knights in Quake 1 really spiced combat up and often dealing with multiple different enemy types was always a fun challenge. Not to much different that a puzzle honestly, a big dangerous puzzle.
Going back to the the levels and stuff, they are really overly complex and long. I think I spent more time in just one level than any in Quake 1, just by getting lost amungst the endless boring steel walls. No major land marks or distinct architecture beyond some computer walls or sci-fi torture devices. I can honestly say that I've can hardly remember any of the levels out side the first and last two. Quake 1 had this problem sometimes too admittedly but they at least made an effort to making distinct areas and lay outs from the reused textures.
One thing I do enjoy about the game is the music. It's pretty good. However, it's incredibly repetitive since there is like a total of like five tracks and the kinda all sound the same and bleed into one another.
There are other things I could complain about like the how boring the combat encounters and general gameplay loop is or how most of the weapons are painfully slow and lack both damage, or general movement not feeling nearly as fast and responsive as the first game. But at the end of the day it really doesn't matter. Quake 2 is a game not made for me. I can only hope one day we'll get a real successor to Quake 1's narrative, tone, and gameplay.
