Quake II Magazine Archive: March 1998

"By hacking its engine and designing new levels, Doom's diehard fans helped make it the most popular PC game o all time. Now they are recruits in the real-world deathmatch between Doom creators John Carmack and John Romero."

Quake II Magazine Archive: October 1997

"The release of Doom II in 1994 was one of the most unnoticed letdowns of the gaming world. The sprinkling of a few new enemies and one new weapon were enough to give Doom junkies their fix, but the game was a mere baby step forward in every way. Now, Quake 2 appears to have finally broken id's sophomore jinx, with so many improvements over the original that, for once, the two games look markedly different."

Quake II Magazine Archive: August 1997

"As predicted by industry insiders (as in 'inside various important people's colons'), Activision have signed worldwide rights to Quake II. This completes their royal flush of Quake-powered 3D shooters which started with both official id mission packs, then Hexen II, and Sin, the new title from Scourge of Armagon designers, Hipnotic. Few new details about the game were forthcoming, bar a reiteration that Quake II is a complete redesign with nothing carried over from the original game concept except for the Quake Unified Engine (a new version which integrates 3D accelerator support, Windows 95/NT and Internet gameplay all in one bite-sized EXE). So total is the redesign, in fact, that the name 'Quake' may even be dropped. According to the rather flowery press blurb: 'Gamers encounter an entirely new breed of intelligent and aggressive enemies which inhabit a complex matrix of interrelated, non-linear worlds, as players seek to avoid becoming a fine mist of blood and bone.' PC Zone spies, however, report that Quake II levels will be two to three times bigger than the original's maps, and that more diverse weapons will be on hand for less rocket-launcher oriented gameplay. Also, coloured lighting and real-time shadows will only be available in the 3D accelerated version."

Quake II Magazine Archive: June 1997

"How do you top the awesome 3D action of QUAKE? All the gaming heavyyweights — including LucasArts, 3D Realms, id Software, and Raven — are working on that very question with the next generation of first-person shooters, which promises to take the genre even further. This month, we grab our rocket launchers and hunt down the most promising QUAKE killers of 1997."