Quake 3
Format : PC
Review by : Sxe_sk8
Players : 1 - 64
Type : 1st person shooter
Pop Pop Fizz Fizz Oh what a relief it is..." to blow someone apart that is. Quake III, easily the most anticipated PC game this year, has finally arrived. Blowing it's wad on multiplayer action, Quake III pretty much ignores the majority of single player gamers who haven't the inkling or the power to multiplay. That's not to say that you can't play QIII alone; of course you can. But don't bother. If you aren't in this to blow someone apart half a world a way, save your cash.
Up until this year, who was the king of multiplayer? If you answered anything but Quake II, you lose! Let's face it, QII had it all. Now, I'll admit, I didn't play it very much, due to a weak computer and no funds to change that horrible situation. This year, it's a whole different story though. Not only did I have the cash to buy the big kuhana of PC gaming configs, but also I have become quite the little multiplayer fanatic. I, like you, waited for QIII with baited breath. I downloaded the 50 Meg demo and proceeded to have a blast with QIII. Man, did I have a good time. Fast forward to the beginning of December, when the good people at Activision sent me QIII and Teen Digital Diva in the same box. Nothing like playing makeup and mall-hopping after I frag the crap out of somebody, eh? All, irony's aside (I know receiving QIII and Teen Digital Diva is not an irony, it's more of an emasculating problem) I couldn't have been happier when that little icon told me QIII was installed and ready to rumble.
So what do you do first, when you get what is supposed to be the finest multiplayer game ever made? Simple; you go multiplaying! Duh! And that is exactly what I did. First impressions of QIII: Man, I suck. Everyone is fragging me. So I had to practice. As I played through the various games - Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, etc. - it became more and more evident that QIII was not the epitome of multiplayer that I had expected, nor was it very original. I didn't want to admit if at first, but the more I played it, the more I wished I was playing Unreal Tournament. Now that is a sad moment, and after hearing from many of you, I'm not alone. So what went wrong with QIII? No doubt it is a beautiful canvas on which to paint the universe red, but the elements of "been there/done that" are too frequent to ignore.
As I mentioned earlier, the focus of QIII is the multiplayer experience, and the single player game leaves a lot to be desired. The initial thrill of playing against bots soon diminishes amongst unimaginative level design and working your way up the Deathmatch ladder. Boring. I couldn't believe that there were only four available modes to play in: Free For All (Deathmatch), Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Tournament. And horrifyingly enough, CTF only has four arena choices. The whole game only has 26 arenas, all of which are based on a few varying themes. Put those against the plethora of imaginative modes and awesome levels in Unreal Tournament like Assault and Domination modes, (to name a couple) and QIII is in serious need of a gameplay overhaul. Even the bot AI leaves a lot to be desired. The easiest skill level is completely useless as the enemies don't even try and make eye contact. If you need to practice at that level, you shouldn't be playing the game in the first place. Later on, the AI doesn't seem much better and then bang, they are unstoppable. From zero to hero in a heartbeat. What's that all about? How about some balance?
Graphically, QIII is one effects filled eye-candy parade that will no doubt fool you into thinking the game is better than it really is. However, I ran into problems when I tried running QIII with the same system config I use in Unreal Tournament. I found QIII's highest playable resolution on my system was 800 x 600, which is less than I run at in UT. If I try and run at a higher res, QIII suffers from some frame rate hiccups and slow down, while UT performs like a dream. Needless to say, that didn't do a lot to impress me. On an up note, QIII's character designs are tres cool and sport some bizarre lookin' characters from the Quake and Doom universes. Unfortunately, all 32-character models play exactly alike. How much imagination would it have taken on anyone's part to come up with differing abilities for each character model? That would have added some much-needed variation in gameplay, don't you think?
The biggest disappointment has to be the weapons. There is really nothing new here. Every weapon aside from the basic machine gun seems to have the same rate of effectiveness. I can kill you just as fast with the Rocket Launcher as I can with the Lightning Gun or Railgun, or more accurately, you can kill me. Of course, that helps to keep gameplay balanced, after all, getting the BFG in QII meant that you were gonna kick some serious ass. Now, in QIII, the BFG just ain't what it used to be. After playing UT and really digging the multiplicity of the weapons, QIII seems dumb downed in comparison. One last desperate question: Where the frag are the Grappling Hooks? They had better be hidden somewhere in this game otherwise I'll never bother to play QIII again. Okay, so I'm half kidding. But why take out what was clearly the most innovative item Id Software has implemented in years? It makes absolutely no sense. At least give us the option, Carmack!!
The multiplayer experience is the big O in this game and it does it extremely well. But did you expect that it wouldn't? Did Id Software get anywhere by changing the gameplay all that much in each subsequent release of their various brainchilds? Of course not, so things would have to be pretty %$#@ed up for QIII to blow in this department. Does it match UT's multiplayer experience? In my opinion, no. UT has such depth in all of it's various areas whether it be level design, team communication and weaponry to name a few, that QIII would have had to have had a completely different focus from day 1 of development to come close. QIII seems to be quite happy providing a no-brains blast-a-thon, for those not looking for anything else. However, the frantic pace of QIII, is phenomenal, even surpassing Unreal Tournament in this department. In Unreal Tournament you've always got time to think; good luck finding a spare moment in QIII. This game will keep you on your toes until someone blows them off. As well, some of the multiplayer environments in QIII are extremely hazardous to your health, which means you have got to know what you are doing and just where the hell you are going. These environments are unforgiving and will kill you more than your enemies if you aren't careful.
The interactivity with your teammates (real or otherwise) is another glaring disappointment of QIII. I don't know whether it's lack of a really good communication interface or if everyone who plays Quake prefers to go it alone, but you'll never feel like you are a part of a team. Being able to set up voice commands (albeit pre-recorded) in UT was genius, but all you can do in Quake III is type in commands. Just what I want to do when in the middle of a heated battle; type some instructions to some team-mates who couldn't care less about me or the flag we are trying to protect. At least if the program barks at you every once in a while, you'll pay attention by proxy.
In the end, QIII comes up a solid game that could have been more. Id was satisfied with taking a step sideways rather than a giant leap, which is right in tune with their career. However, those upstarts over at Epic Games, pulled a David to Id's Goliath and fragged them before they even knew what hit them. QIII should have been Super Amazingly Awesomely Great, but it will have to settle for Great this time out. Don't get me wrong, QIII is a fun game, but in my opinion, it can't touch the scope and magnitude of Unreal Tournament. Now, after this little episode, I bet QIV will be the most imaginative game in the whole series. If not, someone at Id hasn't been paying close attention. Bottom line: If you are a FPS fan and love multiplayer, QIII is a safe bet. However, you'll love both UT and QIII for different reasons, so what the hell smart guy, buy them both and frag until the gibs come home.
Sound :
7/10
Gameplay :
8/10
Difficulty :
5/10
Graphics :
10/10
Overall :
9/10
Review by : Sxe_sk8