After the release of Quake, John Romero was been forced out of id software. He would soon be forming his own games company: Ion Storm. Romero wanted to make new kinds of games, whereas John Carmack wanted to continue making doom like shooters and id software's next game was certainly not going to break much new ground in terms of concept. In 1996 a musician named Sascha Dikiciyan sent id software an audio cd called 'Methods of Destruction' it was an alternate soundtrack to Id's game 'Quake'. The cd caught id software's attention and they decided to hire Sascha and his associates who are known better under the name 'Sonic Mayhem' to make the soundtrack for Quake 2. 

 

Sascha Dikiciyan (musician)

 

'Sonic Mayhem's' soundtrack for Quake 2 would be much faster and louder then Trent Reznors soundtrack for Quake had been. Although the graphics engine John Carmack had created for the original 'Quake' had  been simply stunning at the time, allowing for full 3d graphics, which where light years ahead of games like 'Duke Nukem 3d' Carmack wanted something even better for 'Quake 2'. During the production of the Id tech 1 engine used for Doom there where was one thing Carmack had wanted to incorporate but couldn't due to technical and time restraints, and that was a 'hub system' that would allow players to go back and forth between levels. This feature was actually in one of the early alpha versions of Doom but later had to be cut due to difficulty Carmack had with saving and restoring level state properly.  In Quake 2 Carmack finally managed to incorporate a 'hub system'. Carmack would also add coloured lighting, and translucency to 'Quake 2'. The game would also make use of hardware accelerated graphics from it's release, and have improved networking.

 

Whilst the original 'Quake' had a gothic look that Carmack described as Cthulhu-ish, Quake 2 would have a science fiction look and feel to it. Quake 2 was the first of id software's game to feature any kind of story beyond text screens. The game included cut scenes and mission objectives that update during game play as you complete old ones and are assigned new ones. The games 'hub system' meant you would sometimes have to travel back and forth between levels to get items and complete mission objectives to progress. Subtle touches like this added extra depth to the game, and made the universe of the game seem more real to the player. Perhaps the biggest draw for Quake 2 in 1997 was it's multiplayer. If you want to get the game running online today you'll first need an IP address for a server then you'll need to go to the 'address book' in Quake 2's Multiplayer menu and paste the ip address there to get a server.

 

The community for Quake 2's multiplayer is not as strong as it was in 1997, but thanks to Steam there are still a few people around to play and the game is just as much fun now as it ever was. So if you happen to bee in a death match game see a player called 'comicconreviews' be sure to point out there a total n00b.