Gameplay
Chances are you already have a pretty good idea how Quake II plays. The game is a corridor crawl, with gothic atmosphere, bio-mechanical enemies, hardcore weaponry, and a brutal deathmatch. You navigate through 20 huge levels that are all based very closely on the PC version's levels, with a few concessions made to increase the game's playability on the PlayStation.
First-person shooters on consoles usually suffer from one huge flaw. Poor control. Fortunately, Quake II doesn't have this problem as the developers have delivered a very good analog method, a more traditional d-pad method, and for all those mouse owners out there, mouse control! And with great mouse control, Hammerhead's PS Quake II is amazingly fluid and easy to control. If you don't already have a mouse for the PlayStation, I highly recommend getting it for Quake II.
D-pad control is pretty straight forward, moving you backward and forward and turning you left and right with the shoulder and right hand buttons handling the rest. The analog control, which is much better, works a lot like a mouse and keyboard setup would. The analog stick controls your look, the buttons on the right your movement direction, and the shoulder buttons your weapons and jumping. Although it takes a while to get used to this method, once you do you'll find that you have pinpoint control which is essential to weapons like the rocket launcher and rail gun.
But like I said earlier, the surprise control method is the mouse. You can plug a standard controller into one port, the mouse into the other, and use a combination of the two for control that is almost identical to the PC. If you haven't bothered to pick up a mouse before this, you definitely have a reason now.
The levels themselves are pretty close in layout and design to the original PC levels. A few changes were made to accommodate the fact that there is no crouching in the PlayStation version, so some secrets, for example, have been removed or altered to make up for this.
In pretty much any first person shooter, the enemy AI is one of the features that can make or break a game. The creatures in Quake II have varying degrees of intelligence, so you'll find the grunts easy picking, while the Berserker or Iron Maiden rips you a new one.
Of course, the reason most people play Quake II on any platform is for the deathmatch, and the PlayStation version delivers multiplayer mayhem in the two to four player variety. The deathmatch levels are based very loosely on the original game's levels, which is actually a good thing for PlayStation gamers. The new deathmatch levels are fairly small, so you won't spend a lot of time wandering around looking for someone to frag.
And for those who really want to know which is better, the Nintendo 64 version, or the PlayStation version, I finally have the answer. The PlayStation version wins out in several areas. The PS Quake II is faster, with better looking arenas and better frame rates in four-player mode, and an overall feel that is just a notch better than its N64 cousin. Actually, the four-player mode is good in both, but having played both of them, I have to give it to PS. It just has the authentic feel and speed of the PC Quake II.
Graphics
Quake II is a good-looking game. The palettes and textures are well done and the 3D models of the grunts are excellent. Character animation is also very smooth, so leading your target becomes a practical possibility.
The most important graphic quality for a first person shooter is frame rate and in this aspect Quake II excels. The game runs very fast, even when there are a half dozen enemies on screen and the rockets are flying. Hammerhead has broken all of the levels into smaller sections that get swapped in and out of memory as you play. Even though a level may be huge, the area in memory is small, and the resulting performance is terrific. By breaking down the levels this way, Hammerhead could also pack in more textures, better lighting effects, and impressive explosions and weapon effects. Even in four player deathmatches, the frame rate and image quality remains high.
The only problem with the game's graphics is some texture seaming that was also a problem on the PC version. Mostly this occurs in the multiplayer sections, and it's not miserable, but it is noticeable.
Sound
This game is all about bass. Make sure you've got a woofer hooked up to your PlayStation because the sound effects resonate in the low end. Each weapon has a distinct sound and all the enemies have unique death rattles and grunts.
The in-game music, however, is not so good. The game is accompanied by stereotypical metal influenced tunes that you'll quickly tire of. Although it is nice to play a game to some compelling music, you'll find that all the music does in Quake II is make it more difficult to pick up on sound clues that there is an Arachnid around the corner. That's not to say the quality of the music is bad. The sound quality is excellent, and the sound effects, which are exactly like those in the PC game, are right on the button, with deadly screams, howls, blood-in-the-mouth dead gurgles, weapon pickup clicks, and drop-offs from high levels all sounding especially good.
Let me clarify the music thing. The music, actually, isn't terrible, it's just that if you have played the PC version to death, like I have, it's old news. It would have been nice to get a different flavor in there, even going so far as to get some classical selections (just for the reminiscence of Clockwork Orange), but alas, no luck. It's all head-banging stuff, which is somehow all-to-appropriate.
Opinion
There is no question that Quake II was a landmark game on the PC. On the PlayStation, it is merely a very good game among other very good games. The single player experience is rock solid, but after your 13th or 14th level, it definitely gets repetitive. This isn't so much the problem with Hammerhead's port, as it is with the game itself, which is really a multiplayer game at heart.
Hammerhead did an excellent job of translating Quake II to the PlayStation, but ultimately the game is a two-year old product that has been eclipsed in many ways, both from a technological and gameplay perspective. Quake II on the PlayStation is a lot of fun and it would have been mind blowing a year ago, but today it is simply a good game that will keep first person shooter fans very busy. And yet, having said that, Quake II is easily one of the best first-person shooterson the PlayStation. What comes close? The only other game that comes close to it (that's out) is Disruptor, which I still think is the best on the system.
Rick Sanchez and Douglass Perry