Two years after the first chapter, ID Software’s historic shooter returns to Switch: welcome to our Quake II review
And at the end ID Software did it again: two years after our premiere review dated August 27, 2021, we are here again to talk about Quake II. Republished on the same day of its announcement exactly like its illustrious predecessor, the game certainly succeeds in its intent: to act as an improved sequel to the remaster already appreciated two years ago in the same way in which the original 1997 game outclassed the first chapter of 1996. In the following paragraphs we will dissect the various reasons properly, but if you are eager to know ours, the verdict is very positive.
There is not much more to add in this regard. Winning team does not change: we still have the helm of the project Machine Games e Nightdive Studios. The latter has already given us a great review of System Shock in recent months, reconfirming for the umpteenth time the excellent hands in which the second son of the saga finds himself. If you need a list of reasons why the IP on Nintendo Switch represents a distillation of what the entire genre has to offer, feel free to read our previous review. If, on the other hand, you want to know why to remain faithful to the saga once again, continue reading this.
I want to go and live in the countryside | Quake II Review (Nintendo Switch)
Opening the review with the memory of a great Italian music, let’s see what the plot of Quake II. Always on a narrative pretext, however, we are going to deal: it doesn’t matter that our avatar is now Bitterman instead of the Ranger, who somehow landed on Strogg’s planet. Born as an unrelated project, the game maintains a very tenuous link with its predecessor; the strengths of the first campaign certainly don’t include the narrative verve. And no, you don’t even have the guesses: as happened two years ago, once again the single player offer remains massive.
In fact, others are playable quattro single-player campaign. One is a port of Quake II 64, with its pragmatic level design for the game’s arrival on consoles. Expansions are also making a comeback The Reckoning (with Joker, colleague of Bitterman, as the protagonist) e Ground Zero (focusing on comrade Stepchild). Completely new, however, is the additional campaign Call of the Machine. We will avoid spoilers, also considering the frenetic pace with which the gameplay streamlines the duration of the adventure, but we can anticipate that its connection to the lore of the predecessor makes the second chapter much less… alien.
The (star)ship of Theseus | Quake II Review (Nintendo Switch)
We will avoid going too far into the repetitions also in terms of gameplay. You already know the dictates of a first-person shooter: weapons to collect and to switch between them based on which of them runs out of bullets first. The changes, other than the Nine Inch Nails logo (which we will miss a bit) on the ammo for the nail gun, are minimal. Between a medikit on the ground and an armor to have a little more breath, the real difference is made by the sporadic loads between one area and the next: all short and symptomatic of a level design characterized by fewer levels, but more big.
Rather, it was the migliorie quality-of-life. Although the age of the game is not as excessive as generation Z would have us believe, this title (from late 1997!) returns with two precious additions. One, inevitable on Nintendo Switch, is the watch with gyroscope: not a prerogative for who is writing to you, but certainly a flagship for the accessibility of the game. The Trojan horse, however, is another: the Compass, with which to get to grips with a level design that could otherwise disorient newbies of the last hour. As Phil Spencer of Xbox says: when everyone plays, everyone wins.
Crossplay and Delight | Quake II Review (Nintendo Switch)
Il multiplayer, we say it immediately without any interpretative ambiguity, makes the game a real must-have for all console owners. Online, in particular, is (save for one fly in the ointment) the best we’ve seen on Switch so far. The crossplay allows you to play against other users on any platform. The split-screen in locale multiply the cracking fun in each mode. THE match codes they allow you to find each other immediately and organize private matches. And, in a most unexpected move, you can participate in play online by sharing the same console in split-screen! More or less.
Here’s the fly in the ointment: the bureaucracy to play split-screen online. Each player that joins requires a different one profile on the console, and this extends to the need to be a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber. Which is a pity, considering that multiplayer passes through four modes: from the different campaign you arrive at deathmatchthen continuing with the team deathmatch and (gasp!) quel “Capture the Flag” that was so missing in the first Quake. We would also have appreciated if the latter mode had allowed the integration of some bots as in deathmatches, but as long as you play in company the problem does not arise.
A museum to rival Smash, complete with Dragon King | Quake II Review (Nintendo Switch)
Probably only those who have followed our special on Masahiro Sakurai will have grasped the quote, made necessary by the historical importance of Vault Id. This menu, not to be taken lightly, is initially limited to the “museum” aspect of other compilations seen over the last few years. They therefore find a place for visual contents, such as screenshot prior to (was) day one, trailer equally “provisional” e advertising for industry magazines. These being the roots of today’s gaming press, one excuse is as good as another to bask in memories; we greatly appreciated, in that sense.
The historical primacy, however, is all for two gems whose importance really has no precedent or equal in our field. In an unpredictable burst of generosity from Id Software, the 2023 edition of Quake II includes two playable demos belonged (modern interface aside) to pre-release builds of the game. These are trial versions previously passed only for trade press correspondents, one dating back toE3 del 1997 and the other forECTS (European Computer Trade Show, 1988-2004) of the same year. Nothing else to add, except thunderous applause for what we hope it will be a new standard for game preservation.
Nostalgia, rogue nostalgia | Quake II Review (Nintendo Switch)
This leads us to allow ourselves a small overtly sentimental digression. To hell with the mouse and keyboard: from the moment the game’s attract mode starts to the first deathmatches, passing through the various “edgy” settings of the title, this remaster succeeds in the not easy intention of reproduce the feel of late 90s PC gaming. Normally we wouldn’t stop to express such an indescribable (and, we recognize it, subjective) feeling, but we couldn’t help it. The hard and pure flavor of the afternoons spent fragging opponents is perfectly intact.
The in-game chat reminded us of this in the screenshot which, however anecdotal in its nature, we wanted to include below. “Nice game, it was fun.” “Just like the old days in LAN.” We wouldn’t be able to track down our Conquest of the Flag comrades, but we thank them for their gift of synthesis. Repurposing a game on modern hardware is one thing; giving newcomers the feeling that they have always been part of the same family, however, is quite another matter. It’s not about approaching a new audience with nostalgia, it’s about making it playable. And the best part is that the development team may not even realize it.
The charm of graying hair | Quake II Review (Nintendo Switch)
Let’s review the technical aspect. From the point of view graphic, what can be easily seen is the leap in quality from the raw polygons of the first original chapter to the sequel that would have expanded the horizons the following year. With the remakes of years, two have passed, but the polish (thanks to a phenomenal framerate) is always the same. Just as it remains the same the unintended wide-angle effect of widescreen, which, however, is never bulky more than necessary. An applause also goes to the CRT filtersometimes impressive in replicating the illusion of the cathode ray tube (and in doing it better than those who have already tried this trick).
There’s not much to say about the look of the sonorous, Instead. There is no infamy, but there is no praise that Trent Reznor’s input would surely have earned this timeless classic. Ditto for the verses of the avatars and enemies: the first, thunderous “TRESPASSER!” exclaimed by a berserker is always impactful; the thirtieth acts more as a warning signal than as an element of atmosphere. Good, however, the dubbing (in English, of course) of the various cutscenes. The science fiction film atmosphere between the nineties and two thousand is made great here, with the complicity of an excellent upscaling.
Final considerations
During the review phase, we noticed how much shooters weren’t the genre we would have expected to see properly on Nintendo Switch, but Quake II is yet another reconfirmation of third-party support never seen before on Grande N platforms. quality/price, compared to the poor 10 euro that this reissue asks for, reaches new heights for the crazy variety of contents on the tray. It’s not without its flaws, between missing bots for Capture the Flag and an exponential need for Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions for online split-screen, but otherwise the academic kiss is narrowly missed.
The aforementioned blemishes are not symptomatic of a diamond in the rough, but of a rare gem that (although within a breath of its full potential) is still able to go to school. The game is, especially in the case of a newly purchased console, a real must-have in terms of single player and multiplayer. As with Tears of the Kingdom, here too the game replaces the predecessor in the last Advent Calendar. To replace it in turn would take Quake III: Arena, at this point. Or even just the first Unreal Tournament, whose identity survives only with the song Sensazioni d’Irrealtà – on Fortnite (sold for 200 V-buck, sadly yielding more than the 1999 classic).
This was what we thought. But what is your opinion? Tell us below, and as always, don’t forget to stay on techgameworld.com for all the most important news for gamers and more. For your purely gaming needs, you can instead find the best discounts in digital format on Kinguin.
A pure celebration of Id Software
Plus points
- Capture the Flag returns…
- Split-screen pure online…
- Complete buffet in terms of campaigns
- Two demos of enormous historical relevance
- Scarily convincing CRT filter
- Compass…