Quake II

The N64 version of Quake II features completely different levels to its PC counterpart and is therefore a rather interesting 'port'. Whilst I won't compare it directly to the PC version given I haven't played it in years, the level design here generally holds up, the horrendous second-to-last level excepted. It's less labyrinthine than Doom 64 and fortunately marks the beginning of a shift away from endless key collecting; there's some of that here, but the meat of each level is the objectives, which give the game more substance and assist it in telling its story.

The game's Turok-esque controls take some getting used to initially but are serviceable after a short while. That said, Quake II's inconsistent frame rate regularly makes controlling the action tougher than it should be, varying wildly depending on what's on screen. This is unfortunate, particularly in a game like Quake--the game had the potential to be markedly better had Raster managed to keep things smooth and consistent. Quake II otherwise looks decent, with some nice lighting effects, and the music and sound are suitably creepy.

Of the FPS PC ports on the N64, Quake II remains my favourite, if only by a shade in some cases. It's brief, has aged better than most, and is enjoyable when you're not fighting against its frame rate.