REVIEW - QUAKE III: ARENA
| Reviews are a pain you know. By the time we review them everyone else and their pet shrub has completed them. So why don't you send us in a few when you buy a game and seve me some bleeding cash. Anyway.... | |
It's all ID's fault you know. This site would have been updated last Sunday as 'usual' if it weren't for this game! Well, you know I love excuses for my laziness but it really was this game this time! Like Quake and it's first sequel, Quake III: Arena is a first person shooter with true 3d graphics and impressive lighting and explosions. Unlike the previous two though, this is a multiplayer game through and through. If you've ever played the deathmatches in games right back to the original Doom, you'll know what this game is all about. The idea is to reach a set level of kills (referred to as 'frags’ in this game) to win and that's it. Whoopee, I hear you cry. Well, just you play it and see. Even the one player mode has dispensed with the set baddie positions, keys and exits approach of other games and is played just like the online version albeit with computer-controlled opponents. This is addiction in itself but until you go online with human beings, you haven't really played this! The game is played at a phenomenal pace. 'Run' is now the default and pressing shift slows you down! As soon as you are fragged, you reappear at a random location with nothing but a lowly machine gun. Any weapons held by yourself or your victims are left exactly where they dropped allowing you (or your opponents!) to gain weaponry easily. Also, sound is excellent allowing you to locate opponents through their actions and footsteps. Slowing down can be very handy on a one on one situation as footsteps are silenced leading to some very tense cat-and-mouse situations. Going round the corner to see your mate facing you armed with a rocket launcher will certainly put the willies up you! And it's also very satisfying if you've seen them waiting and lob a grenade around the corner! Locked doors and lifts have been dispensed with but deadly lava, and underwater sections are still here. Another great feature is what looks like a large drum skin which, when touched, launch you in whatever way it's pointing. When using the now default mouse look control system (mouse for looking, aiming, jumping and shooting, cursor keys for moving and strafing), this is great for evading and taking out your opponents despite being more than a little surreal! Boing! The graphics, as usual with 3D games, are of their usual high quality although the colour appears to have been ramped up to the max unlike the grainy brown-looking original Quake. This actually looks more like Descent-a-like, Forsaken than Quake although there are far more true reflection and lighting effects onscreen. The occasional judders were apparent on my PC but, as I only had 64Mb, swapping was to be expected. Presentation is more akin to Mortal Kombat than Quake with a gravelly voiced announcer congratulating and giving out the current character's names. In 640 x 480 the game ran fine apart from the lack of memory swap-a-rama. In 1024x768 things were still playable but the memory problems (swappage) were greater and in 32 bit colour as opposed to 16-bit, it made a mighty fine looking slideshow but I don't think my HD is my friend at the moment! Long term I can't see people playing the one-player after even a few weeks, I am enjoying it immensely but will eventually go back to Alien Vs. Predator and even the original Quake, which have less-brainless one-player games. Multiplayer of course and this does kick serious ass. I haven't had a chance to play main rival Unreal: Tournament yet but so far, this is king of the arena games. 9/10 - Serious doubts about it's long term appeal but in the short term, this is great. |
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The views expressed here are simply those of Rob and nobody else. He's a bit strange but he knows what he likes!