The Great War

Lore & Background

The game is set during humankind's war against a rogue alien race known as the Strogg, half-mutant half-machine creatures whose homeplanet, Stroggos, is the target of the humans' invasion force. The player takes the role of a space marine (referred to as Bitterman) as he crash-lands on the planet and, being the last survivor of his squad, is tasked with completing a series of missions to cripple the Strogg and end their plans to conquer Earth.

Reader's Guide

Quake II is a first-person shooter. The player shoots enemies from the perspective of the main character. The gameplay is similar to Quake, but movement speed is slowed and the player can crouch. The game retains four weapons from Quake (Shotgun, Super Shotgun, Grenade Launcher, Rocket Launcher) and adds six new ones (Blaster, Machine Gun, Chain Gun, Hyperblaster, Railgun, BFG10K). The single-player game features mission-based objectives, CGI cutscenes, non-hostile captured comrades, larger levels, and a hub system. Multiplayer includes free-for-all deathmatch, cooperative play, 1 vs 1 matches, and Capture the Flag mode. Eight specifically designed deathmatch levels were added via a free patch.

Did You Know?

• Quake II was released on December 9, 1997.
• The game's heavy metal soundtrack was provided by Sascha Dikiciyan.
• Quake II was the first id Software game not released for MS-DOS, running natively on Windows 95.
• The source code for Quake II was released under the GPL license on December 21, 2001.
• An enhanced version by Nightdive Studios was released on August 10, 2023, for multiple platforms.