Quake II was on of the games I always wanted to try since I started gaming. For context, I started playing games in 2010. I just never played games for the previous 14 years of my life. That meant that I missed out on a lot of the retro greats. Quake II was one of those.

I decided to get it in 2015 but couldn't figure out how to use sourceports or getting the soundtrack working. SO I just never played it but thought about it and even tried again but I just couldn't get everything working so I left it in my library. Then in 2023, the masters of remasters, Nightdive Studios released a remaster, with all the DLC, the N64 version and a new campaign. This review will be from a person who played the game for the first time after the release.

Quake II is about war. and killing and stuff. I never bothered to follow the story. The level design was unique for it's time. You had a few levels connected to each other to form a hub (Or "unit" as the game calls it) with objectives to complete. You had to move between the levels to open doors in other levels within the Unit. It was probably tough to figure it out back in the day but the new version has a compass feature to use whenever you got loss that points you to the next objective. You can also spam it continuously if you want to but that's no fun.

The weapons in this version was fun to use and varied, with the expansions having some unique weapons. What should be noted, based from reviews made before the remaster's release is that the weapons have been adjusted. The machine gun had way more recoil in the original version.

The enemies are fun to fight for me but there is a lack of variety. While the look different there are a few types with different weapons. Small guys with guns (Hitscanners, I think), bigger guys with explosives, flying guys with lasers and melee dog like enemies. There were a few enemies that stood out, like the Tanks (big guys on tank tracks), some okayish bosses. What makes the combat fun, engaging and challenging is the combination of enemies thrown at you. It's fair (most of the time and I never felt like a situation was impossible to overcome.

The updated graphics looks great, with a lot of stuff added. I'm not sure if the touched the sound but the soundtrack is included and works right out of the box.

If you like retro shooters or have ever been curious about the amazing game, this remaster is the best way to play it.

P.S. I have since gotten better with sourceports and stuff like that so I put in a few playtroughs with different soureports and still prefer this release.

quake but better

I am pretty much addicted to this game at this point so whatever i am going to write won't be objective. Just buy the friggin game and get on with it. Compass is a nice extra along with gameplay changes.