Quake II has a fascinating legacy. Released only 18 months after Quake in December 1997, it was quickly celebrated as the best game ever made. And I mean the best. PC Gamer awarded it a score of 96, only the second game in the magazine’s history to receive such a dizzying number. A technological marvel, it offered a far more focused adventure than the original’s dimension-hopping escapades, with a distinctive setting and consistent enemy design. It even had something id co-founder John Carmack had previously dismissed as superfluous to a good shooter: a plot.
Over time, however, Quake II’s reputation has diminished. The following year, its narrative ambitions were superseded by Half-Life, which told a better story in a more interesting fashion. More recently, critics have pointed out that its shooting experience is flatter and more sluggish than the 1996 original, while its setting and level design lack the same weirdness and imagination. David Szymanski, creator of the retro-shooter DUSK, has described Quake II as “the worst id game”.
In the wake of Nightdive for modern machines, the debate over the significance of id’s sequel has arisen once more. But the remaster also provides a chance to reappraise . What’s interesting is not which of these two viewpoints is correct, but how both are equally supported by the game.
