Quake Mission Pack No. 1 & 2 Review

Single player Quake? The Horror!

What? Your telling me someone actually put some thought into single player Quake? Yes, that's right! Don't have a modem? Bored with Quake's built-in single player (non)experience? Well, Mission Packs Number 1 and 2 are your answer! Brought to you by the masterminds at Ritual Entertainment (formerly Hipnotic Interactive) and Rogue Entertainment, you're sure to have entertainment times 2!

First off I'll spill the beans on Mission Pack No. 1. The guys at Ritual must have had a stoke of genius: take a cool new technology (Quake) and work on single player levels for more than 5 minutes! (next time id, don't throw together a game under a multi-player shell) Everyone is wondering what's new, right? Well besides the awesomely designed levels, Mission Pack 1 gives you three new weapons. The proximity mine launcher fires off a motion-sensitive mine that clings to walls and ceilings (note to self: fun, fun, fun, for deathmatch!) The laser cannon (ooh, innovative name!) emits a series of laser blasts that disintegrates what ever you hit. Finally you have Thor's war hammer, Mjolnir. When smashed on the floor this bad boy sends lightning all over the place. While Ritual was adding all these new weapons in, they decided to throw in some new power-ups too. The Horn of Conjuring brings up a random creature to protect you (now the Shambler is on my side!), while using the Empathy shield, anyone who hits you has the damage split between you and them, and the wetsuit, well damn, it's a freaking wetsuit! Creatures? You want creatures? Mission Pack No. 1's got 'em in the form of the Gremlin, a creature that travels in packs and steals your weapon, and the Centroid, an armor-plated scorpion that shoots nails. What does it all boil down to? Mission Pack No. 1 is loads of fun, and actually gives you a reason to play Quake cooperatively with friends!

Well, after seeing Mission Pack No. 1 I'll have to be honest, it was so cool that I don't think anything that came after could stand up to it. When I first played Mission Pack No. 2, I thought it was a lot better than Quake, but I just can't say I liked it better than Pack No. 1. The new weapons, lava nails, multi grenades, multi rockets, and plasma cells are all self-explanatory and not exactly what I would call innovative. The anti-gravity belt and shield power-ups aren't too exciting either. Fortunately, the levels are still really well designed, and Mission Pack No. 2 has something Pack No. 1 lacked, Capture the Flag. This multi-player-only game is pretty famous in Quake terms and is probably played equally (or more) than normal Quake deathmatch itself. The new enemies are all here in the form of Phantom Swordsmen, a flying sword that slashes at you, Electric Eels, Statues that come alive, Multi-Grenade Ogres, Wraths, which are basically flying demons, and the Overlord, who fires heat-seeking energy balls. If you want even more single player Quake and/or are really into Capture the Flag, you should check out Mission Pack No. 2.

The bottom line: if you own Quake and care about more than just multi-player mayhem you owe it to yourself to own these products.