Reviews / previews
Just when you think
you've made it out of the
epicenter of Quake II,
here comes another
tremor. This time it's
Ground Zero, the
second Quake II
mission pack. The
storyline is typical: take
out the Strogg's new
weapon, the Gravity
Well, before they use it
to suck the human race
right out of existence.
Ground Zero was
developed by Rogue
Entertainment, the force
behind the second
mission pack for the
original Quake, so
they're not newbies to
this stuff. And they do a
pretty good job of
innovating while
remaining true to the
original, with 14
single-player levels and
10 well-designed
deathmatch levels. The
new levels, weapons,
and enemies offer us
faithful Quakers
something unique, yet
in keeping with the QII we know and love.
The ETF Rifle gives you a rapid-fire, armor-piercing mowdown. The Prox
Launcher (which looks like the grenade launcher with construction paint on it)
lobs out proximity mines that explode when anyone-including you-gets too
close. And the Plasma Beam gives you concentrated death, kinda like holding
a magnifying glass over an anthill.
The most exciting addition (at least for us Doom freaks) is easily the
arm-mounted chain saw. Glorious flashbacks of limb-rending carnage ensued.
The new bad guys are nothing to email home about. Well, the new Medic
Commander is a serious pain, reanimating dead comrades and being harder
to kill than the Medic. The Daedalus, the upgraded version of the flying Icarus,
now has a power screen to block your frontal attacks. And the Carrier is
heavily loaded with armor and weapons and loves to 'port in flyers to mess you
up. But they're all more annoying than deadly once you get their moves down.
The AI hasn't improved too much. Sure,
you'll have more problems with grunts
making clever ducks to evade your killing
blow, but for the most part, it's dodge
behind cover and keep popping back out
until you wear 'em down.
Surprisingly, the creatures with the best
attack sequence are the Stalkers,
spideresque critters who can drop down on
you from ceilings and then jump from floor to ceiling to avoid your attacks.
You'll learn to recognize their screechings quickly-or you'll be fodder.
The sound effects aren't as good as those in Reckoning, the first QII
mission-pack. And the techno soundtrack is good, but sub-par when held up
against Trent Reznor's intense score for the original Quake.
But none of this matters as much once
you've taken Ground Zero out on the Net.
It's not the new weapons that make
multiplayer so much fun (although
chopping a foe with the chain saw makes
for a well-earned frag). It's the extras. The
first time you watch (from your
sideways-on-the-floor view) your Hunter or
Vengeance Sphere track down and erase
the fiend that somehow managed to take
you out, you'll laugh from beyond the grave, respawn, and be plenty wary of
what's floating around other players' heads.
There's also the Doppelganger, which presents a decoy image of you to draw
fire away while you get a bead on the enemy. The Anti-Matter Bomb is the
fastest way to clear a room, and Double Damage, when used in conjunction
with Quad Damage, will fulfill any megalomaniacal desires. Most of these
were borrowed from Quake mods floating around the Net, but that's cool-they
were damn fine ideas in the first place, and it's good to have a bunch of them
in an organized and inexpensive package.-- Joel Strauch / GamePro
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