Quake III: Arena (PC) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 61 (Part 2)
7Turns out chaos is a ladder... and a pit... and a rocket to the face...
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I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, retrogaming fan, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EVERY game in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game reviews are just for fun, this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey. Let's try out those classic retro games we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
Quake III: Arena
Released 1999
Developer(s) id Software
Platform(s) PC, Mac
Genre(s) First-Person Shooter
Jay's Thoughts
id Software defined the first-person shooter genre with Wolfenstein 3d, then again with Doom, and then again with Quake and then once again with sequels that followed. Though their early games emphasized solo play, even with Doom the real fun was in its multiplayer deathmatch games. Nothing was more fun than getting to shoot and kill your actual friends rather than relatively weak and feeble monsters. As time went on, the internet became a thing and people who bought games like Quake and Quake II started to play the games almost exclusively competitively as the solo gameplay was gradually ignored. Realizing this trend, id Software completely abandoned the idea of a single-player campaign and for Quake III instead crafted a gameplay experience built around competitive play. As a result, Quake III: Arena could accurately be re-titled Quake III: Deathmatch.
The core gameplay of Quake III is therefore, unsurprisingly, the deathmatch. In the single-player mode, instead of playing through a story or a campaign, you literally just play a series of deathmatches against AI bots. In some ways then, Quake III lacks some pretty standard gameplay elements such as a plot and a story and puzzles and levels to explore and monsters to fight. However, to be honest, none of that is missed. As I said above, Quake has always been about the deathmatch, and in Quake III, the deathmatch has been refined to perfection. The idea of having a single-player mode that would mimic the experience of playing against real humans in a deathmatch is also terrific. This means that it is actually possible to train up by yourself before you actually play against your friends. And if you want to play a match against some relatively easy opponents so you can utterly dominate, its as easy as loading in a few bots and keeping them on a low difficulty setting.
In terms of weapons Quake III has a good variety of guns. You start with a machinegun and can get a shotgun, plasma gun, rocket launcher, rail gun, and lightning gun. In fact I'm sure there are a few more weapons that I'm forgetting. Each weapon has strengths and weaknesses, and no weapon is inherently "the best", though with a little practice you can certainly get very good at using the 1-hit-kill rail gun and then dominate almost all matches.
In addition to weapons, Quake III features some fun power ups like invisibility and quad damage. The levels themselves are also quite varied and fun, with a good mix of indoor levels and space levels, and some fun bouncy pads that can launch you across levels, giving you a fun sense of flight.
All in all Quake III is all about action-packed chaotic deathmatches, and on that front, it delivers. In a way it feels a little simplistic these days compared to modern shooters, as it lacks modern features like aiming down sight or sprint. Its game modes are also a little plain by today's standards. But these are small issues. The only question that really matters when it comes to a game like Quake is, "is it fun?" And the answer here is most definitely yes. A great game that is worth checking out!
➙ Must You Play It?
Though Quake III has aged, it still stands up as a great and fast-paced shooter. It's great to kill both bots and friends alike, and with a great assortment of levels and weapons, it's hard to get bored. This is one of those games that will probably always be fun, so check it out already!