Quake II was developed by id Software and published by Activision in December 1997.  A sequel to the first game in name only, Quake II focuses strongly, but not solely, on single player action.  The plot is woven into the game using mission based objectives, CGI cutscenes and a thematically cohesive series of levels, as opposed to the disparate environments of the first Quake game.  The game's soundtrack by Sonic Mayhem also makes a departure from the original game, being more song-based than the atmospheric and ambient industrial dirges of Trent Reznor's Quake score.  In 2005 the themes of Quake II were revisited in a sequel developed by Raven Software, Quake IV.  A prequel developed by British software house Splash Damage entitled “Enemy Territory: Quake Wars” was released in 2007.
 
 



The first Quake II mission pack, The Reckoning, was developed by the now defunct Xatrix Entertainment and released in May 1998.  Xatrix subsequently became Gray Matter Interactive and went on to develop the sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, Return to Castle Wolfenstein.  The pack includes seven new deathmatch levels and an eighteen level single player campaign featuring new enemies and weapons, including a particle cannon.  The single player campaign takes your character through swamps, sewers and large outdoor areas of the planet Stroggos, culminating in a mission to capture a strogg freighter from an aircraft hanger and fly to a Strogg command centre on one of the planet's moons.
 




The second official Quake II mission pack, Ground Zero, was produced by Rogue Entertainment, published by Activision and released in August, 1998.  The pack includes a new single player campaign, fourteen new deathmatch levels and various new enemies and weapons including a prox launcher, plasma beam and chainsaw.  Your mission in the single player campaign is to destroy the latest weapon of the Strogg, the Gravity Well, and begins in a Strogg mining facility deep in the lava filled caverns of Stroggos.
 









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