Quake 3 will please the newcomers with its new DM maps and pretty graphics however current fans does little justice.
Graphics: 10
Sounds: 8
Value: 6
Tilt: 5
Actual score: 7.2
There is absolutely no denial that part of Quake’s success lies with the multiplayer aspect. Since the release of Quake back in 1996, it places a new meaning to online play as the internet was still at its infancy. Continuing this accomplishment, Quake 2 was let loose with an entirely new story yet still maintained that strong presence with its death matches. With the demand for online multiplayer on all-time high, its natural progression was to create a new game purely for fragging opponents online and offline so Quake 3 was born.
There is no real premise for Quake 3 other than simply getting the highest frag counts at the end of the bout. This was a complete turn-a-around from the previous two as Quake 3 yet again felt differently as there is no single player story (arguably Quake 1 doesn’t have a story either). The offline/single player component are in a form of seven tiers that the player needs to progress to meet the ultimate uber bot, Xaero. Tier one is obviously the easiest with only one match to win, through tier two to six there are five matches to win in each tier then the ultimate tier seven just one (and very hard) match and as a reward a pretty cool ending cut-scene.
You will also have the opportunity to receive awards (e.g. accuracy: which is the hit/miss ratio greater than 50%; excellent award: fragging two opponents in two seconds; impressive: two consecutive hits with the railgun just to name a few) so there’s plenty of death match activities during the single player mode.
Yet the main core of the game is naturally is the online component. Again death match will be your primary target (which includes its variances e.g. team death match) and as a change of pace there are a few capture the flag maps. Make no mistake that here is where your skills will come into play as Quake 3 is an ultra fast game as split second decision is the key; if you stand around pondering what to do next will become a gibbering mess before you can say ‘#$%^’.
The online codes are extremely stable and there’s little chance that the game will crash. Of course you can select the skin of your choice or create your own with an easy skin creator toolkit. In addition to this, there are plenty of maps to choose from however the designs are at times a little languid for my liking as it really feels the same old maps just different pathways. Yet the designers have made some efforts of trying to make things interesting by adding in moving platforms, jump pads and plenty of maneuvering spaces (e.g. all the maps on tier 6).
The AIs are quite reasonable as each bot has a certain type of personality and playing style which certainly adds charm to that otherwise dreary offline death match. These bots can either be aggressive, passive, defensive and so forth and some even have a weapon of choice. In addition each bot will provide cheesy response that almost acts like the human counterpart. That said, if you type some remark (e.g. I’m god) the chances that a bot will provide you an equally tacky statement.
Id software is famed for their graphical engine and Quake 3 is the pioneer of the future. Using the latest id Tech 3 engine it made massive improvements from id Tech 2 (which fueled Quake 2) as this time you won’t be seeing that pixilated effect as all the characters are now full 3D with high polygons counts, accurate animations to boot with superb lightning as this was practically non existence in the previous Quake games. The character’s death animations are also pretty cool as not only they will provide you a smart remark however they also give you that smiley face icon if the shots are worth taking notes and as you will expect, this only applies to the bots.
The Quake series are also famed for its quality for sounds and Quake 3 is no exception and it’s highly advisable to invest in a decent set of headphones or speakers otherwise you’ll be missing those sounds of passing rockets or the heavy thump from those shotguns. Make no mistake that if the neighbours are not complaining about the noise levels you have the wrong game installed. Sonic Mayhem, the folks that made the music for Quake 2 are back again and as a ‘special’ guest, Front Line Assembly (FLA). The only lacking part of the quality of sounds is the commentator: even though he sounds ‘deep and menacing’ it’s a little too childish and really out-dated by a couple of years. Maybe it was good in the early 90s however considering the game was released in 1999, it’s a little too late.
Thankfully, the engine that fueled Quake 3 provides easy modding tools therefore if the ‘build-in’ maps bore you there is no real limits (other than your imagination) that you can create your very own maps. Considering the Quake series have a huge following, there will be no issues when searching or creating a map of your liking. This also applies in skins creation (as mentioned before), sounds and even ‘bot speak’.
Being almost exclusively a death match experience, there is not much else going other than those few capture the flag maps. The Quake series has always been known for their fast paced online experience as evident from their previous two Quake games yet looking at a bigger picture, there is little to show when it comes to innovation. Quake 3 major competitor at the time, Unreal Tournament knew that death match, even though it is exciting needs to add improvements to match the current market therefore introduced many different playing styles (e.g. assault, domination and the teleporter where the character can teleport short distances instead of grabbing the power ups as in Quake 3).
Quake 3 used their previous successes and developed a game that will please the newcomers however for the current fans does little justice as they have already experienced death matches in the previous two games. So it maybe good in the short term however competition does not wait for anyone therefore existing Quake fans most likely jump ship in search of a different online experience . Yet, and thankfully so, Quake 3 does add its own personality in the form of ‘bot speak’ and the awards system which will spark an over-used genre but in a nutshell, it’s all about fragging.