A Nightdive developer and longtime Quake 2 modder, Paril, has rebuilt Quake 2’s distinctive PlayStation port within the recreation’s 2023 remaster. Rather than immediately porting within the maps, Paril painstakingly recreated each within the Kex Engine. Quake 2 PSX is now accessible for obtain on ModDB.
Back within the good outdated days of consoles having wildly totally different chipsets and capabilities from each one another and PCs, video games would typically be “ported” by having a studio remake the sport from scratch, imitating the design (or no less than the spirit) of the unique on new {hardware}. This typically resulted in distinctive remixes of canonical video games which might be fondly remembered in their very own proper, like Doom on N64 and PSX or PowerSlave on the Sega Saturn.
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Quake 2 was no totally different, and Digital Foundry made a deep dive of its ports and their variations again in 2017. The Quake 2 Remaster by Nightdive really included the modified Nintendo 64 ranges at launch, however HammerHead Studios’ PlayStation model was MIA.
According to Paril, the technical difficulties launched by HammerHead’s customized engine meant it was extra possible to recreate the sport’s ranges within the Kex Engine reasonably than making an attempt to immediately use the unique map information. Paril has additionally launched bug fixes, smarter enemy AI, and even some tweaks to the extent design and visuals, making this extra of a remaster of PSX Quake than a slavish recreation.
The greatest enchancment, although, might be the removing of the unique recreation’s management scheme—it supported DualShock twin analogue sticks, however not within the intuitive fashion later codified by Halo. Quake 2 on the PlayStation had topsy-turvy, nearly tank controls the place every stick would alter your purpose on one airplane, and motion on one other. If you wish to take a look at Quake 2 PSX for your self, the bottom remaster’s simply $10 on Steam, and you’ll obtain Paril’s remake on ModDB.
