Quake II/Gameplay

Installing and Running Quake II
(Content needed here, but low priority).

Quake II starts with a splash screen of the "id" logo being imprinted on a rusty steel plate accompanied by loud thudding sounds. This is followed by two game demonstration sequences that alternate and loop endlessly. The first is what? level and the second is what? level. Both are being played at "hard" difficulty (see below).

Press any key on the computer keyboard or click any mouse button to bring up the main game menu. Navigate the menu with the "up" and "down" arrow keys on the keyboard or numerical keypad and press "Enter" to select one of the five options.



Starting a New Game
To start a new game, bring up the main menu (for example, hit the Esc key) and use the up and down arrow keys to select the GAME option. Press the Enter key and use the arrow keys to select the difficulty level from "easy", "medium" and "hard". Press the Enter key again and an introductory cinematic sequence will begin, showing events that lead up to the action of the game. The running time is three minutes and 30 seconds. When it is complete, the first level (Outer Base) will load and the game begins. If you want to skip the cinematic sequence, at any time press a key on the keyboard or click a mouse button.

Difficulty (a.k.a. Skill Level)
In the manual for Quake II, Id Software states that the easy skill is "... for kids and grandmas". "Most people" are encouraged to play at medium skill the first time through the game. Regarding hard skill, the manual implies at one point that it is "nearly unbeatable", but also says "... we think you should [play at this skill] once you're ready". That was 1997. These days, unless you've not played a first person shooter before, you'll probably want to plunge in at hard. This is the difficulty for which the level walkthroughs here are written (unless otherwise noted). To re-play the game, you might want to increase the difficulty by adopting rules such as not using the Quad Damage or Power Shield "powerups", not using Invulnerability in combat, etc.

According to the manual, the skill setting "... adjusts reaction, health, power and number ..." of the Strogg enemies that you will encounter. At higher settings, the enemies will move more quickly against you, be harder to kill, do more damage to you in their attacks and there will be more of them. Don't be put off by this; by today's standards, hard skill level is very approachable, especially if you make sensible use of the powerups.

A "hard+" difficulty can be set at the console (details needed).

Loading a Saved Game
To load a previously saved game, bring up the main menu (for example, hit the Esc key) and use the up and down arrow keys to select the GAME option. Press the Enter key, use the arrow keys to select the "load" option and hit Enter again. Alternatively, hit the function key bound to loading a game (e.g. F3). You will see a list of available saved games. The top one has been automatically created when you most recently began a level. The remainder are games that you have saved yourself (see below). Choose one using the up and down arrow keys and hit the Enter key. To load the most recently quicksaved game, don't bring up the main menu, just hit the function key bound to quickload (e.g. F9).

Saving a Game
To save the present state of the game, bring up the main menu (for example, hit the Esc key) and use the up and down arrow keys to select the GAME option. Press the Enter key, use the arrow keys to select the "save" option and hit Enter again. Alternatively, hit the function key bound to saving a game (e.g. F2). Choose one of the fourteen saved game locations using the up and down arrow keys and hit the Enter key. If the location was not empty, the previous saved game in that location will be overwritten and lost. The saved game is identified by the name of the level and the date and time at which you performed the save. You cannot change or add to this information. To quicksave the game, don't bring up the main menu, just hit the function key bound to quicksave (e.g. F6).