Quake II

1997 · First-Person Shooter · PC

About Quake II

Quake II (1997) is id Software's science fiction shooter in which a lone marine fights through the alien Strogg's homeworld, a sequel in name only that shipped with native OpenGL and became one of the most widely licensed engines of its time.

Quake II in Depth

Humanity's war against the Strogg, half-mutant, half-machine aliens who turn captured organisms into cyborgs, reaches their home planet, Stroggos, in "Operation Alien Overlord". Most of the invading marines are captured or killed as they near the landing zone, but Bitterman survives when another marine's capsule collides with his and sends him crashing far short. He fights alone through the industrial Strogg city, destroying strategic targets, and finally kills the Strogg leader, the Makron, in his orbital asteroid base. Unlike the first game's mix of science fiction and dark fantasy, it is purely science fiction.

Movement is slower than in Quake, and players can now crouch. Four of Quake's weapons return, redesigned, joined by the Blaster, Machine Gun, Chain Gun, Hyperblaster, Railgun and BFG10K, with power-ups including Quad Damage, Invulnerability, the Enviro-Suit and Silencer. Single-player now has mission objectives tied to the story, such as stealing a Tank Commander's head to open a door, much larger levels linked by a hub to travel back and forth, captured, insane comrades, and enemies that show visible wounds. Multiplayer offers deathmatch, co-op, one-on-one tournament play and capture the flag, with male, female and cyborg player models and customisable skins.

Making Quake II

It began as a new game, but after failed attempts id kept the Quake name while dropping the original's Lovecraftian horror for science fiction; with John Romero gone, Kevin Cloud led a more story-driven design, a decision that was controversial inside the company. Activision obtained worldwide distribution rights in May 1997, and it was released on 9 December after about a year of development, with music by Sonic Mayhem and Bill Brown. Its game code was published so modders could change it, and the full source was released under the GPL in 2001. The engine powered games including SiN, Heretic II, Daikatana, Soldier of Fortune, Kingpin and Anachronox, and Half-Life used it early on. It received very positive reviews: GamePro said it "lives up to its impossibly high hype", and GameSpot called it "the only first-person shooter to render the original Quake entirely obsolete". It won the AIAS's PC Action Game of the Year and Computer Gaming World's Action Game of the Year, and Nightdive released an enhanced version in 2023.

Quake II Trivia

Names considered for a new property included "Strogg", "Lock and Load" and "Wor"; legal concerns led to the Quake name.
Tim Willits said its premise drew on The Guns of Navarone.
It was made by a 13-person team, and it was American McGee's last id game.
It was id's first game not released for MS-DOS, running natively on Windows 95.
GamePro praised the female multiplayer model as "an overdue nod to the growing number of QuakeGrrls".