Have You Played... Quake 2 CrateDM?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

Have you played the Quake II mod CrateDM? If so, please tell me all about it. It's a simple but oh so wonderful idea, which is best explained in its readme file: "CrateDM pits opponents against each other in a room full of crates, and the players are crates." That's it. All-crates Quake 2 deathmatch. Before Old Man Murray even created their Crate Review System, CrateDM was at the cutting edge of crate culture.

CrateDM exists in that strange hinterland of old mods - things I can find, think sound amazing, and likely never get to play properly. CrateDM is a mod to lark about with some chums, chasing crates around a crateroom, vanishing and confusing everyone by standing still, and laughing and gibbing until Jolt Cola spills frothing down your chin. I don't know anyone who'd be up for that now. I remember stories of CrateDM from pals who played it Back In The Day When We Were All So Young And Beautiful but ah, it's too late to get to play with people who are excited about a small and silly mod for the game we play every night. I've barely played Q2 in a decade myself.

I still adore the idea of it. The idea of CrateDM still brings me a lot of pleasure. I can't think of it without smiling. Maybe the thought will make you smile too.

If you want to actually play, you can download CrateDM here. Who could resist this rich selection of player skins?