As the title says, this is Quake 2... if you feel it needs a review about 26 years since first launched then I doubt that anything I, or anyone else, would have to say wouldn't be enough to sway you one way or another. With the new Enhanced update, the game is better than ever. There's plenty of content for first-time players and veterans alike, and the gameplay is as snappy and responsive as ever. Hard to not recommend. Run. Gun. Solve extremely basic puzzles. Find the next switch. Move on. Not that hard, but dressed in a pretty coat of pain that handles modern PCs wonderfully. Also, there's the N64 version of the game bundled in. For a couple hours of fun, I think it's worth the download.
If one loves Soul Reaver - or, really, any Legacy of Kain game - it's because of the story. Gameplay is tiresome. Graphics are fine for the time. Music is so-and-so. The voice acting and the story carry this game in the same way they carry the entire series. The gameplay, as far a I'm concerned, is a vehicle to cary you from one FMV to the other just so you can experience the rich dialogue, amazingly convoluted story, and incredible voice acting. That's it. There's really not much more to be said about this except that.
I... enjoyed my time through Prodeus. Don't let the 3* rating fool you. I enjoyed the game quite a bit. The level design is bloody spectacular. Some of the best level design since the original Half-Life. The music is stellar. Loved it all. Listened to it a lot on youtube. The shooting feels good and the weapons pack a meaty, sattisfying punch, especially as the gore levels are off the charts. And the graphics are great for this particular type of game. Aside from Amid Evil, this would be my favorite boomer shooter from a graphical perspective. But... I can't really recommend the game. As a Doom homage it does well, but it doesn't really go beyond that. By the 3 hour mark I had seen everything the game had to offer. By the 6 hour mark I was slightly bored with it. By the 8 hour mark I was just happy for it to be over. Ironically, the best part of the game was one of the last levels that had you running around a Quake 1-like cathedral, activating switches to ring a bell. Beautiful design. Beautiful encounters. But aside from that, it's very repetitive and most of the available levels are rather uninteresting. I especially don't understand the design choice of having a shop that locks gameplay upgrades behind the barrier of you collecting some various bits throughout the levels. The overworld map is, again, a weird design choice. It doesn't add much except that it blocks you from saving during the levels. The checkpoint system is downright broken. You die, you respawn at the checkpoint, you don't lose any progress. Feels like a cheat. I found a custom level that was amazing, though, so there's hope for further life for this game... if the community sticks around. Remains to be seen.
