Action Quake 2

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Action Quake II

Developer(s)	The A-Team (Akimbo Team Productions, LLC)
Engine	Quake II
Latest version	1.0c (stable client)
Release date(s)	November 12, 1998 (v1.0c)
Genre(s)	FPS
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	Not rated
Platform(s)	Macintosh, PC (BeOS/Linux/Windows)
Media	Download, CD
System requirements	90 MHz processor, 16 MB RAM
Input	Keyboard, Mouse, Joysticks

Action Quake 2 (aka AQ2, Action, Action Quake) is a popular mod for the computer game Quake II. It attempts to recreate the fun and feel of an action movie, where one bullet could actually kill someone. AQ2 features many well designed maps recreating realistic settings, such as city streets and office buildings, with a balanced range of weapons and equipment inspired by action movies (after all, the tagline of the mod is "All the fun and speed of your favorite action movie, without the cost of a ticket!!"). [1]

First released in 1998 by The A-Team, Action Quake 2 is probably the first example of semi-realistic tactical shooter, in that there are compromises between what could happen in the real world and what allows for fun gameplay. For example, in AQ2 a shot to the leg with any weapon will cause initial damage, reduced movement speed and jumping ability, and bleeding damage (where the player will lose roughly a hit point each second). The player can bandage himself in six seconds to completely stop the bleeding damage and restore full mobility.

Other projects made by the same team include Action Half-Life (AHL), Action Unreal Tournament (AUT) (project abandoned) and Action Unreal Tournament 2004 (AUT2K4).

There is an attempt to make an Action Quake 3, but it hasn't achieved the popularity of its predecessor. It is developed by community members, called Reaction Quake 3, and following the opening of the Quake 3 source code is currently being made into a free standalone game. It is not an official Action mod, but the Reaction team has been granted permission by the Akimbo Team to create Reaction.

1 Overview
2 Gameplay
3 Credits
4 References
5 External links
6 Action Quake Modifications

[edit] Overview

With its then unique style of play, realistic weapons and fast action, AQ2 quickly became one of the most popular Quake II mods, reaching #1 in popularity for a time. The mod caught the attention of id Software in June of 1998, who wished to include it in their upcoming Quake II: Internet Pack No. 1 (Netpack 1): Extremities, a commercial add-on product for Quake II. This expansion CD was released in the US on November 26, 1998, retailing for $14.99. Included was the final version 1.0c of Action Quake, along with 11 other publically available mods, a collection of Quake 2 deathmatch maps, and player skins. CD sales provided little royalty payments, bringing in roughly $700 per team member.

Despite the mod's success, some members of The A-Team expressed their dissatisfaction with the final outcome. The team considered the project complete however, after having worked diligently on it in excess of a year. With the publically available source code there was no shortage of developers to contribute to a growing number of Action based modifications. Team members left the project around the release of Extremities, parting to work on such titles as Action Half-Life and Counter-Strike.

The gaming community quickly built a strong support base for Action Quake, offering a plethora of servers around the world, custom maps, weapon models, players, skins, sounds and bots. Most notably are the spin-off mods, including CTF (Capture the Flag), CTB (Capture The Briefcase), Action Quake Gangsters, ^JMod (jumping mod), 3-Team, single player, soccer, feature rich tournament servers, and advanced clients. Online gaming ladders offered continual tournament gameplay in über (more than 4 vs 4), 4 vs 4, 2 vs 2, and 1 vs 1 ladders.

Developments in AQ2 continue to this day, eight years after the final release,[2] although at nowhere near the level that was once seen. Many games have advanced technically, graphically and otherwise, but the longevity of Action Quake 2 is due in large to the opinion that no game since its inception has captured the same 'feel'.

[edit] Gameplay

There are two main modes of gameplay in Action Quake 2: Deathmatch (Free For All) and Teamplay. In Deathmatch, spawn points are distributed over most of the map, and players battle out in a free-for-all fashion in an attempt to get the most kills possible. The map changes when one of two conditions is met: either the timelimit is reached (and whoever has the most frags "wins"), or the fraglimit is reached (and whoever reaches it "wins"). By default each player spawns with only the MK23 pistol (with no extra ammo), and a Combat Knife (see below regarding equipment). Additional equipment can be picked up throughout the map, but in Action Quake 2 DM all weapons other than pistols, knives, and grenades are "unique", meaning that only one exists on that map at any time. Staying alive is rewarded with more frags for each player killed. A player will double the number of frags per kill he receives as his kill count doubles above a threshold of 4 - after 4 kills, he will get 2 frags per kill, after 8 kills he will get 4 frags per kill, and so on. A similar streak-based reward system is used in The Specialists.

In Teamplay, players are split into two teams and play is round based. Players select one primary weapon and one item to use, in addition to the default pistol and knife. The teams spawn on opposite sides of the map, and are then let loose to kill each other. If one team eliminates the other, they win the round. The map is decided by a team reaching a set number of rounds won, or by the most rounds won in a certain time. Teamplay is the most popular mode of gameplay.

As mentioned above, players bleed after taking a hit. The exception is shots to the chest when the victim is wearing a Kevlar vest. All wounds bleed quickly at first, and slow down to a rate of only 1 hp every few seconds. This bleeding causes a few unique phenomenon during gameplay. For example, a sniper rifle shot to the stomach usually leaves the victim with about 10 hp. However, it is a mortal wound, as death from bleeding occurs only a few seconds later. In this time, several things could happen. First, someone may kill steal, depriving the attacker of a point for the hit. Second, the victim may still be able to shoot the attacker before dying, possibly killing them. Third, the victim may commit suicide with the kill command, depriving the attacker of the point and at the same time sacrificing one of their own points. The third event is typically done out of spite or humor, as it seldom offers any benefits to the victim.

Another unique aspect of this game is that when a player dies of fall damage soon after being hit, the attacker will get credit for the kill. This may apply in a few situations, including if the player is knocked off of a ledge by a bullet, shot in mid-air, or kicked.

[edit] Weapons

MK23 Pistol: The standard Heckler & Koch MK23 .45 caliber pistol that every player starts with. Two modes: semi-auto (slower rate of fire, more accurate) and automatic (higher rate of fire, less accurate). Fed by a 12-round magazine.

Submachine gun: The Heckler & Koch MP5/10 submachine gun fires quite accurately at a fairly high rate of fire, but with low damage for each hit. Unlike the M4 Assault Rifle, this gun has no recoil. With two firing modes, it is able to operate in fully automatic or three round burst mode (increases accuracy to crosshairs). Fed by 30-round magazines.

Shotgun: The Heckler & Koch Benelli M3 Super 90 pump shotgun shoots buckshot at a moderate spread. Ideal for medium-close range. Reloads one shell at a time, with a capacity of 7 shells.

Handcannon: A 12 guage sawed-off double barrel break-action shotgun. Fires both barrels at the same time at a very large spread. Excellent for close ranges, low damage at medium range, and low chance of doing any damage at longer ranges. Reloads both barrels at the same time, rather slowly. More recent versions of the game added a "single shot mode", allowing two shots at half the usual power before a reload is needed.

Sniper Rifle: While this SIG Sauer SSG 3000 sniper rifle is not accurate unzoomed, this rifle is 100% accurate when scoped. Guaranteed kill unless the victim is hit in the legs, the chest with a kevlar vest, or the head with a kevlar helmet. Reloads one armor-piercing round at a time, with a 6-round capacity. This gun is able to zoom to 2x, 4x and 6x magnification. Due to the steady action of the game, most players use only the 2x zoom, enabling them to effectively navigate the map while remaining ready to enguage a target.

M4 Assault Rifle: The M4 Assault Rifle (Colt 727) fires at a high rate of fire, high damage, and high recoil. This gun has two firing modes; fully automatic and three round burst (eliminates recoil and scatter). Fed by a 24-round magazine.

Combat Knives: The Combat Knives (specifically SOG 37 Combat Knives) function in two modes; slash and throw. When slashing, the knife is held in the hand and does quite a bit of damage to any target directly in front of the player. When throwing, the knife does as much damage as a sniper round, but the kevlar vest does not help at all in this case. The knife has a parabolic trajectory though, so a player must account for this when aiming.

Akimbo MK23 Pistols: The Akimbo MK23 pistols are similar in accuracy to the Mark 23 in automatic mode, but with twice the rate of fire. Unlike the single MK23, the akimbos cannot accept accessories like the lasersight and silencer.

Hand Grenade: The M26 Fragmentation Grenade can be thrown either at short-range, medium-range, and long-range. Has a blast radius of about 15 meters. Can be found on the ground in deathmatch, and in teamplay can come with the bandolier (depending on server settings). Damage received can be halved by crouching.

[edit] Items

Kevlar Vest: The Kevlar Vest reduces damage to chest area and prevents bleeding, with the exception of hits from the SSG 3000 (though it will protect a player from dying after a single shot in the chest). The vest has no effect against the shotgun, handcannon, and knives.

Kevlar Helmet: The Kevlar Helmet reduces damage done to head in a similar fashion as the vest. This item is only available on certain servers.

Laser Sight: The Laser Sight eliminates spread while firing. Does not work with the M3, Handcannon or SSG 3000.

Stealth Slippers: Eliminates footstep and falling sounds, except when fall damage is taken.

Silencer: The Silencer reduces the sound of a player's gun firing to a nearly inaudible zing and eliminates its muzzle flash. Does not work with the Akimbo MK23s, M3, M4 or Handcannon.

Bandolier: The Bandolier gives extra ammo capacity to all weapons, optional infrared vision (IRVision), and a M26 fragmentation grenade. Some servers may allow two grenades or disable grenades altogether. Also allows the player to carry two primary weapons.

[edit] Notable Actions

Kick: Jumping towards an attackable player can result in a kick, damaging a player by 20 hit points and knocking their primary gun (if selected) from their hands. The kick maneuver will launch the victim through the air in the direction the attacker is facing, often resulting in additional (leg) damage for the kicked player. This unique action added a new challenge for many players, often resulting in ''kick wars''.

Punch: A punch could be invoked with a key press in early versions, damaging a player by 20 hit points. This was later removed as it was possible to exploit this bind and kill a player instantly with a flurry of punches.

Bandage: Players must Bandage to stop bleeding and repair leg damage from falling.

[edit] Credits

Main

Patrick "Bartender" Mills: Direction, Sound

Dallas "Suislide" Frank: Skinning, Modeling, Web

It is notable that Suislide may be the most recognizable name in AQ2. Default config files have "Suislide" set as the player name, often identifying newbies who have not learned to customize their player settings. The name also gave way to the term Suislide hack (Formed by the misconception that Suislide had purposefully or accidentally coded cheats in AQ2, by players unable to explain advanced techniques, such as strafe jumping or kicking; this also lead to the term being used in humor).

Sam "Cail" Thompson: Coding Lead, Mapping, Modeling, Sound

Minh "Gooseman" Le: Modeling, Coding

The creator of Counter-Strike, was a part of the team that created Action Quake 2. He was the weapons modeler for the team. His peculiar habit of modeling right-handed weapons as used by left-handed people (so the ejection port faces the player) is first seen here and is brought to Counter-Strike. Prior to AQ2, Minh worked on a counterterrorism-based mod for Quake 1, called Navy Seals.

Nathan "Pietro" Kovner: Coding

Jon "Vain" Delee: Skinning

Evan "Ace12GA" Prentice: Mapping

Extras

Michael "Siris" Taylor: Code, Ports, Sound

James Timothy Cooke: Skins

Roland Andreasson: Skins

David "ViperX" Jensen: Skins

Jesse "Cold Fusion" Gunderson: Models

Shiro: Skins

Ian "Frost" McEachern: Skins

Gleibster: Skins

Mark Watson: Skins

Carl "EpacS" Adreasson: Skins

The Jackal: Skins

Beau Owens: Skins

Will "Zuhoid" Leung: Skins

WiZZeL-tEEts: Skins

Matt "Abraxis" Jay: Models

Caryn "Hellchick" Law: Female Voice

Hellchick has lent her voice to many games and mods over the years. Contributions include Action Quake 2, Action Half-Life and Urban Terror. She works on maps, interfaces and other game design aspects as well.

Eyescream: Announcer

Jess "CLIFFE" Cliffe: Compilation

Cliffe co-created Counter-Strike with Minh Le (aka Gooseman)