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Take out the Big Gun sounded simple enough, except the Strogg were waiting. You, and a few marines like you, are the lucky ones. You've made it down in one piece and are still able to contact the fleet. The Gravity Well, the Strogg's newest weapon in its arsenal against mankind, is operational. With the fleet around Stroggos, 5% of ground forces surviving, and that number dwindling by the second, your orders have changed: free your comrades. Destroy the Gravity Well.

id Software overview[1]

Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero is an official mission pack for Quake 2, developed by Rogue Entertainment and released on September 11, 1998 right after the release of the first expansion.

Plot[]

Main Article: Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero Story

The Gravity Well has trapped the Earth Fleet in orbit above the planet. One of the marines who managed to land must now make his way to the Gravity Well to destroy it and free the fleet above and disable the entire defenses of the planet.

Units[]


Multiplayer Maps[]

*Named Razor's Edge in the "Start network server" menu.


New Content[]

Enemies[]

Bosses[]

Weapons[]

Powerups[]

Other gameplay changes[]

The behaviour of certain enemies has been changed from the original game, making them more dangerous in some cases:

  • Enforcers attack more quickly, due to their reload animation happening after firing, instead of before firing (which was also the case in The Reckoning).
  • Gunners may continue to fire up to three grenade volleys if the player disappears from their sight.
  • Tanks and Tank Commanders will usually follow-up their attack sequence with an additional rocket barrage which fires with less delay than normal, even if the player is no longer visible.
  • Iron Maidens, if they lose sight of the player, will often continue to fire rockets towards the last spot they saw you.
  • Parasites will advance more consistently rather than stopping every few seconds.
  • Flyers and Technicians may strafe sideways when firing.
  • Medics will revive fallen Strogg much more quickly, whereas in the original game they would often take some time even to approach the corpse.

Furthermore, enemies will sometimes sidestep to attempt to dodge the player's projectiles (especially those fired by the Hyperblaster and ETF Rifle), and enemies on a higher level will sometimes jump down to approach the player.

It is a simple matter to play the original Quake II single-player campaign with the above-mentioned gameplay changes applied, making it more challenging. To do this, simply load up Ground Zero, start a new game and then type "map base1" in the console to switch the level to Outer Base. However, the game will crash when you push the switch in the Big Gun, so you should noclip through the locked door instead to reach the exit. The game will also crash if you attempt to disable the laser trap in the Lower Palace.

Enemy appearance statistics[]

Enemy Easy Medium Hard/Nightmare
Light Guard 53 57 57
Shotgun Guard 120 109 103
Machine Gun Guard 79 76 72
Enforcer 64 70 71
Gunner 132 148 187
Iron Maiden 2 4 6
Parasite 16 19 28
Berserker 44 55 53
Stalker* 57 70 86
Mutant 1 1 1
Flyer* 45 56 68
Technician 10 10 12
Icarus 44 48 31
Daedalus 27 35 68
Medic 10 10 10
Gladiator 48 59 69
Tank 2 2 2
Tank Commander 3 3 3
Medic Commander* 20 21 26
Turret 100 132 167
Carrier 1 1 1
Black Widow Guardian** 1 1 1

*Not including Flyers spawned by the Carrier, Stalkers spawned by the Black Widow Guardian, or anything spawned by a Medic Commander.

**The Black Widow Guardian comprises two forms, one fought after the first is defeated; in practical terms it is two separate enemies.

The above statistics refer to the 2023 remaster, which may differ from the original Ground Zero release on certain maps - for example, several maps suffered from missing kills in the original which have been fixed in the remaster.

Reception[]

Ground Zero received mixed to positive review, as Gamerankings rated the game 65.40%, slightly lower than the first expansion. The considerably higher difficulty of the expansion compared to the first one and the base game was criticized. [2]

References[]

External links[]

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