Recap / Quake II: Jail Unit

Recap pages are Spoilers Off by default, so in all these pages all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned

After destroying the Strogg Logistical Train and making it through the Warehouse (PC version) or establishing contact with the main base (PSX version), Bitterman now finds himself at the doors of the Strogg Detention Center.

The levels that compose this unit are "Main Gate" (PC version only), "Detention Center", "Security Complex", "Torture Chambers", "Guard House" and "Grid Control", and the overall objective is to disable the security grid protecting the Industrial Region to access to the main Strogg facility.

Followed by the Mine unit in the PC version and the Reactor unit in the PSX version.

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These levels show examples of:

• Ability Required to Proceed:
  • In the PC version:
    • The Blue Key in a nearby building in "Detention Center" allows you to enter the eponymous building.
    • The Red Key in "Security Complex" allows you to enter the building in "Detention Center" that houses the computer that disables the yellow lasers.
    • The Pyramid Key in "Guard House" opens the pyramid in "Security Complex".
    • The Security Pass in "Torture Chambers" disables the yellow forcefield in "Security Complex" that prevents access to the Grid Control.
    • The Data CD in the Cell Block A in "Torture Chambers" is required to access Cell Block B.
  • In the Playstation version:
    • The Yellow Key in a nearby building unlocks the access to the laser computer.
    • Both Pyramid Keys in the Guard House and Torture Chambers allows you to enter the Grid Control.
    • The Security Pass in the Torture Chambers allows you to enter the chamber from where you can pick the Purple Pyramid Key.
• Adaptation Distillation: The PlayStation version has several differences in regards to the PC version:
  • "Detention Center": The lower level of the starting area has an Invulnerability item instead of a Jacket Armor, and the cell complex's secret Combat Armor was moved out of place and replaced with a Megahealth, and the secret to get the Power Shield (now just the Power Screen) was quite simplified. Plus, you don't need to venture to the Security Complex to acquire a key to disable the yellow lasers, you just do that as you enter the area.
  • "Security Complex": The upper level of the entrance to the Guard House is accessible right after the yellow lasers are disabled. The entrance to the Grid Control now requires two Pyramid Keys (one Purple and one Red) in addition to the Security Pass. The upper entrance from the Torture Chambers has been severed and now houses a small chamber with a Bandolier. Finally, the Red Key area of the PC version now has just a console that disables deadly lasers in certain areas.
  • "Torture Chambers": The level has been severely reduced and simplified. Now entrance and exit are the same, there are fewer rooms (for example, the huge underwater tube that held the BFG is absent) and you don't need to sacrifice a prisoner to obtain the Security Pass. The Invulnerability secret now houses a Hyperblaster. And the sinking chamber room now holds the Purple Security Key rather than a Hyperblaster.
  • "Guard House": The lower level of the path to the house that holds the Red Pyramid Key (was just a Pyramid Key in the PC version) is absent. The ruined chamber that held the BFG in the PC version is also absent. There's a new secret in the area with the Ammo Pack secret, which now is a Monster Closet.
  • "Grid Control": There are more enemies (Light and Shotgun Guards) and two new secret areas.
• Adapted Out: "Main Gate" is absent in the PlayStation version.
• Anti-Frustration Features: The 2023 remaster makes several useful additions in some of the levels:
  • "Main Gate" now has a big cannon covering the player from the enemy Enforcer's missile cannon, preventing surprise kills after riding the platform to the top.
  • "The Torture Chambers" has a Quad Damage added to the prisoner dropdown secret.
  • "Guard House" has a pair of stairs added in the lower level leading to the outpost with the Pyramid Key, preventing a dead-end situation.
• Book Ends:
  • The level "Guard House" begins and ends in the same door.
  • In the PlayStation version, the "Torture Chambers" level begins and ends in the same area.
• Bowdlerization: The PlayStation version completely subverts Video Game Cruelty Potential: The prisoners have no items, and you aren't required to sacrifice anyone to progress. The room with the computer and the crucified prisoner is completely absent, you get the Security Pass somewhere else. Finally, the sinking chamber room doesn't require you to sink your prisoner.
• Cosmetic Award: Completing the unit in the 2023 remastered edition nets the "Destroy Security Grid" achievement.
• Deadly Rotary Fan: There's one in the Cistern area of "Main Gate" which must be disabled by shooting a bunch of cables on the other side of a fence.
• Death Trap:
  • "Main Gate" has two:
    • The fans in the cistern area require the player to destroy a bunch of cables on the other side of a fence to pass through them.
    • The laser trap in the upper level, which fills the floor of an area in the upper level with deadly lasers after a checkout is crossed by a non-Strogg entity.
  • "Guard House" has a floor that breaks when the Hyperblaster on its centre is picked up. The bottom of this pit is composed of deadly spikes, however, if you're lucky, you can land straight into the floor and locate an exit from this pit.
• Developer's Foresight: If you didn't conserve your Invulnerability from the early levels, "Torture Chambers" provides you with a secret one that's meant to be used for its last secret in the sinking cell room.
• Disc-One Nuke: In the PSX version. Because this unit is accessed earlier than in the PC version, and because there's no "Main Gate" to begin with, you can actually access the Power Shield while you're roughly in the fifth level.
• Easy Level Trick:
  • The lower level of "Main Gate" has fewer enemies and traps than the upper level, and spans from the muddy water river at the beginning to a secret entrance to the watchtower where the button to open the gates to the Detention Center is located. This way you'll avoid 90% of the enemies, though you'll miss out on a lot of secrets and items.
  • If you conserved the Invulnerability pickup from "Lost Station" in the PC version, you can use it to bypass the yellow lasers and outright disable them prior to your first entrance into the Security Complex. You get to pick another Invulnerability item as a secret in the Torture Chambers, anyway.
• Foreshadowing: You'll normally find enemies using weapons that you later get. For example:
  • Your first encounter with a Gladiator ("Main Gate", from the Jail Unit) before getting access to the Railgun in "Receiving Center", from the Factory Unit.
  • Your first encounter with Medics ("Detention Center", from the Jail Unit) before getting access to the Hyperblaster in "Guard House", from the Jail Unit.
• Guide Dang It!: How to obtain the secret Power Shield in "Detention Center" in the PC version: First push the button in front of the entrance from the cellblocks, then immediately go to the entrance to the Security Complex level and open the door in front of it, then press the button on the other side of this button, finally go to the left of this last door and cross through it. The PlayStation version simplifies this secret to the point of just having to push two buttons to disable a deadly laser and a forcefield.
• Hellhole Prison: Three levels feature jailed prisoners: "Detention Center", "Torture Chambers" and "Guard House". "Torture Chambers" also features executed prisoners, some of which must be killed by the player itself to get key items.
• Kill Enemies to Open: In the level "Grid Control", the two Tanks surrounding the entrance to the security grid must be killed before the walls explode... revealing a Super Tank (and a pair of Berserkers in the higher levels).
• Laser Hallway: Between the entrance and the boss fight, the player must pass through some laser-filled hallways.
• Mercy Kill:
  • The only way to "rescue" the broken marines from their misery is to kill them.
  • To achieve 100% Completion in the "Torture Chambers" level, the player must execute some of the broken soldiers, especially the one obstructing the entrance to the secret Invulnerability and especially the one who holds the Security Pass.
• Mid-Boss: A Super Tank guards the entrance to the Grid Control alongside a pair of Berserkers, depending on the difficulty.
• Mineral MacGuffin: The Security Grid is powered up by a crystal that must be exposed and then destroyed at the "Grid Control" level.
• Monster Closet:
  • "Main Gate" has several:
    • A hidden room after the second outer area, triggered after pressing an "Alert" button, which contains three Flyers (and a secret Jacket Armor).
    • The cistern has an Alert button at the other side of a fenced window which makes a wall explode and reveal a Gunner.
    • Once the floor lasers are triggered, two rooms with one Enforcer each are also revealed.
    • The last of these is found near the exit to the last area of the level, which reveals a Gladiator.
  • "Detention Center":
    • PC version only, after entering the centre, going to the room at the left, then turning right off the Quad Damage pillar and pressing the Alert makes a wall explode and reveals two Flyers right above it.
    • The same button leads to another instance found by returning to the outside. Two pillars at both extremes of the elevator room reveal two Medics, one at each extreme.
    • Killing the tank near the entrance to the Security Complex triggers two wall explosions revealing two Medics and an Enforcer. In the PlayStation version, this is changed so it's instead the red forcefield button that triggers it.
    • PC version only, picking up the Grenade Launcher in the basement jail opens up a big wall in the room prior with two Enforcers.
    • Finally, after taking the elevator to the yellow laser controls, a wall explodes right behind it revealing two Flyers. In the PlayStation version there are no flyers and the wall must be destroyed manually.
  • "Security Complex": After using the Pyramid Key, the aforementioned pyramid opens, revealing a platform to the final room of the map... And an Icarus.
  • "Guard House":
    • Picking up the Combat Armor in the upper level of the first outdoor area triggers a wall explosion nearby that reveals a Mutant.
    • In the lower level of said area, entering the broken building and killing the Mutant triggers another wall explosion revealing two Shotgun Guards.
    • In the PlayStation version, the Ammo Pack secret now holds two Flyers.
  • "Grid Control": After getting through the Laser Hallways and destroying the two tanks in the outer hallway, an earthquake is triggered, and the four walls are shattered, with only their corners remaining, revealing the Super Tank and a bunch of Berserkers.
• Mook-Themed Level: "Guard House" is full of Mutants; the only level of the unit where they appear.
• New Weapon Target Range: "Detention Center" introduces the Grenade Launcher in a side chamber. Afterwards, two Enforcers come from a Monster Closet. The fixed arc of the Launcher allows better-controlled shots, and the Grenades are quite impactful. Also, the following corridor is full of Enforcers, and a Super Shotgun reloads too slowly to take care of them all, and lacks the Area of Effect damage.
• Point of No Return: In the PSX version, once you go down the pit after killing the Super Tank in "Grid Control", there's no way to return to the surface, unlike the ladder found in the PC version.
• Prison Level: The unit takes place in a prison-like complex, complete with a detention centre, cells, cell blocks, torture chambers, a guard house, lots of prisoners begging to be mercifully executed and so on. It's the area that prevents access from strangers to the mining and factory areas of Stroggos, as operations there are quite vital for operations on the planet.
• Rewarding Vandalism: Some of the secrets require shooting at an exploding wall:
  • "Torture Chambers": The secret Invulnerability combines this and Video Game Cruelty Potential, as it requires you to go to Cellblock A and check for a broken marine screaming in front of a brick that can also be destroyed.
  • "Guard House": Right after the first room and hallway, there's a wall near a bunch of explosive barrels that reveal a secret area with an Ammo Pack and other goodies.
• Room Full of Crazy: Mentally broken marines constantly crying out for help or whispering "Kill me now" can be found crawling all over the place. In some cases, the words "kill me" are written on the walls in blood. Those appear in the "Detention Center", "Torture Chambers" and "Guard House" levels.
• Saw Blades of Death: Present in a small room in the Torture Chambers. It kills the lobotomized marine in place.
• Sidetrack Bonus:
  • "Main Gate":
    • There's an entire alternate path starting from the sewers next to the main entrance and ending right where you need to open the main gate, allowing you to bypass tons of enemies and traps. Of course, doing so prevents you from discovering a secret area. And said area also contains a pair of Gunners.
    • Below the initial building, there's a corridor with a Rebreather.
    • In the main building you have a few enemies and ammo boxes to the left, and a secret Jacket Armor at the right, located after the Alert button was pressed and the Flyers spawned from it.
  • "Detention Center":
    • There's an alternate path to the first key that allows you to bypass a lot of enemies.
    • There's an elevator in the courtyard that allows you to take down the Gladiator next to the yellow lasers more safely. And it leads you to a Chaingun with some packs and a Gunner.
    • After entering the building with the forcefield jails, there's a portion on the right that not only contains a secret and a few enemies, but also disables the lasers protecting the Quad Damage... and it opens a few Monster Closets with a pair of Medics in the courtyard.
    • Before exiting to the Security Complex, there's a building in the middle that contains a Guide Dang It! secret that holds a Power Shield and an Adrenaline pack.
    • After the Red Key door, there's a section of the building that leads to an early Grenade Launcher that you may miss otherwise. Picking it up opens yet another Monster Closet with a pair of Enforcers.
  • "Security Complex":
    • Right after the lasers blocking the way to "Guard House" there's a secret with another Grenade Launcher.
    • Below the stairs in the multi-level room, there's a bunch of goodies such as a Bandolier and a pair of Quad Damage.
  • "Torture Chambers":
    • On the outdoors of your first encounter with a Tank there's a secret Hyperblaster.
    • There's a secret on Cell Block B that leads to a secret Invulnerability. It comes in handy for another secret.
    • The sinking cell room, the last before your return to "Security Complex", contains a secret cache in the pool itself. You need an Invulnerability item in order to pick up these items.
  • "Grid Control":
    • The beginning room contains a Grenade Launcher and some ammo in laser-guarded areas.
    • In the PSX version, there are two shootable walls with secrets in the corridors where you fight the Tanks that are absent in the PC version.
    • Also in the PSX version, on your way to the next unit you have a Rocket Launcher with some ammo that will come in handy later.
• Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom: Right at the upper-level entrance of the first building after your starting point in "Main Gate", you'll be greeted with three crushers that will hurt you.
• There Was a Door: In the 2023 remastered version of "Main Gate", instead of opening the main security gate to the Detention Center via a button, said button triggers a missile cannon that destroys it.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Across the levels "Detention Center", "Security Complex", "Torture Chambers" and "Guard House", you can find several broken marines. While most of them reward nothing after killing them, others reward ammo boxes, and one rewards a key item required to proceed to the Grid Control.

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