First Impressions:

Graphics:

Quake 3 Arena is powered by the "Quake" graphics engine, for which the series has been named. On the technical side the graphics engine is very advanced. Features new to the Quake technology base with this release include curved surface rendering (tessellated Bezier patches), high-detail textures, specular lighting, per-pixel alpha blending, and vertex fogging. Although Quake 3 Arena uses a new renderer, features from older releases of the Quake engine like lightmaps and multi-LOD meshes are present in this new version.

No matter how good the technology sounds, without quality artwork it might as well not even exist. Fortunately, the art (Paul Steed, Kevin Cloud, Kenneth Scott and Adrian Carmack) and level building (Paul Jaquays, Tim Willits, and Christian Antkow) crew at id have done a wonderful job harnessing the engine's power creating both moody environments and hip characters. The quality of both the geometry and texture maps is quite incredible. This is the first game since Unreal, where I have had fun just walking around enjoying the scenery. It is also nice to see more lavish color choices like the sporty purple and green trim on some levels. Past Quake games have generally limited themselves to earthy reddish browns and gray dungeon tones.

The end result of the Arena graphics engine coupled with high-quality artwork is marvelous. Stylized characters run, jump, twirl, and smoothly blast their way through richly detailed environments. Smoky rocket exhaust carves out lines of fire through intricate mazes of criss-crossing pillars and catwalks. Bright streaks of light cut through the sky, as players engage in intense high-speed railgun duels - All at decent frame rates.

The only artwork complaint I have is finicky and extends towards the high-level design of the character models. It would have been nice to see more visually unique characters like Orbb or Klesk, instead of the multitude of human entities. Luckily, the Quake community, which has always been supportive of each subsequent release, will probably give players some fresh character models.

Sound/Music:

As in all first person-action games sound is a crucial gameplay element, and for the most part Quake 3 delivers the goods. Rocket launchers thunder, machine guns chatter, and footsteps clod along the stone and steel. Each character has a unique set of sounds, including running, jumping, death throes and celebratory cheers. Environmental sounds, like boiling lava and computer beeps are also in the mix, giving the levels a little extra mood. The sound effects are played back as positional 3D audio, enabling quick localizing of enemy opponents and orientation within the gameplay. Although it is not mentioned on the box, an Aureal 3D option for sound cards that support it is also available.

The Quake 3 Arena soundtrack by Sonic Mayhem, is a blend of aggressive rock with more ambient pieces that help reinforce the mood for specific levels in the game. The soundtrack seems well composed and appropriate for the pace and style of gameplay, although some of the percussion sounds a little campy.

While voiceovers are not a major component of the game, there are a number of boomy announcer-like phrases that embellish the on-screen action. There is nothing quite like a thundering voice to bellow "IMPRESSIVE" through the speakers after making a beautiful snap-railgun kill.

The only real complaint I can lodge against the Quake 3 Arena sounds is that the environmental sound effects seem a little sparse and overused. Some areas of the game can get a little quiet without the music turned up.

Gameplay:

The elegance of Quake's gameplay has always been its up-front simplicity while still maintaining subtle depth. Although essentially the gameplay centers around one core rule, "frag or be fragged", it exemplifies the adage: easy to learn, hard to master.

The same as most 3D shooters, in Quake 3 players engage one another using weapons, firing away to knock off each other's health points. When a player reaches zero health, he or she is eliminated and can respawn elsewhere in the level. The trick of course is to dodge incoming fire while still drawing careful enough aim on an opponent to take him or her out. To further complicate things, Quake 3's environments are very hostile territory. Not only are enemies able to dart out from behind every corner, but molten lava, poisonous goo, lofty ledges, and other natural dangers permeate the levels. Thankfully, id hasn't forgotten the players. Instead, the designers have thoughtfully left all manners of weapons and power-ups scattered about the levels to both protect players and bolster their arsenals.

While there are no limitations on the tactics that can be employed, each of the items and weapons that can be picked-up in the game is designed around a specific purpose. The machinegun is a great multi-purpose peppering weapon, useful against targets at all ranges, but slow to do heavy damage. The shotgun makes an excellent room-sweeper and close-quarters weapon, while the railgun is a long-range sniper cannon. There are six other weapons each with their specialty including the gauntlet, grenade launcher, plasma gun, BFG-10K, lightning gun, and the venerable rocket launcher.

In addition to the weapons, there are three classes of armor - shards, yellow and red, and a handful of power-ups. The Quad Damage power-up doles out a generous multi-damage modifier, making every weapon an instant carnage creator. The ultimate defensive power-up, the BattleSuit, eliminates splash damage from incoming fire and protects the wearer from the natural nastiness found throughout the levels. Both Flight and Invisibility behave as their names imply and add an extra twist to multiplayer fragging.

Quake 3 features two main types of play, single or multiplayer. In the single player game, a kind of "training" for the more cutthroat multiplayer action, the objective is to work through tiers of levels competing against enemy players, dubbed Bots. The challenges offered by the Bots in the single player game come in two forms, multiplayer free-for-all matches and tournament style one on one match-ups. In either instance, the player with the most frags at the end of the match is the victor. Five skill levels (from "I Can Win" to "Nightmare") allow difficulty adjustment for both players just learning the game to Quake veterans.

Competing with the Bots is for the most part a challenge at the appropriate skill level. The introductory setting, "I Can Win" is for new players and simply has the Bots walk around occasionally taking pop shots. The difficulty increases with each higher setting. The Bots begin simulating good Quake players, maintaining good accuracy and dodging attacks, at the "Hardcore" setting. On "Nightmare" difficulty they are brutally precise, instantly acquiring and shooting their target.

While each Bot character has weapon preferences and differences in their fighting style, they will generally try to grab the best weapon possible, occasionally a power-up, and then start gunning away. They only break off an attack if they are in serious danger of being fragged or if they are taking substantial damage from another player or Bot. Generally they make smart tactical maneuvers, like weaving, circle strafing, and retreating backward to health-up. When a Bot gets fragged they "come back" with a snappy taunt. From time to time, they'll even rocket-jump to get at an opponent.

The real weakness with the Bots is their lack of strategic level oriented gameplay. Because this is nearly as important as being able to move and shoot well, it's relatively easy to defeat them on many of the levels. The most glaring problem is that the AI will take the shortest routes to get to a key item, leaving plenty of opportunity to ambush them or avoid them altogether. In Capture the Flag (CTF) this really shows.

Enjoyment:

Quake 3 is pure action fun. If your not grappling your mouse to peel off the last couple of rounds out of the trusty double-barrel before your opponent does the same to you, you'll be high-flying through the air trying to wiggle-waggle just enough that long-range rail shots miss you by a hair. The simplicity and addictive nature of the gameplay will keep you coming back for just one more match.

Multiplayer:

Any fan of Quake or Quake 2 can tell you multiplayer is "where it's at". Granted single player gameplay has been popular, the real longevity of the Quake series has always been multiplayer. Quake 3 is no disappointment in this category. In fact, the multiplayer game has been cranked up a notch.

Included out of the box are twenty-six multiplayer maps for free-for-all, team deathmatch, and tournament style play. These levels are generally well balanced and can support anywhere from two to twenty-some players depending on their size. In addition, four maps are included for Capture the Flag play. These CTF maps are symmetrical and have home base areas. It should be noted that many of the levels can be mixed and matched with the gameplay styles, depending on your preference.

Outside of the maps, the Bots from the single player game are available for the multiplayer madness. In the past, Quake players have had to resort to unsupported third-party modifications to get deathmatch opponents in the game. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. With Quake 3 Arena it's easy to set-up a quick match against the Bots or with them on your side. As mentioned previously the Bots are very good tactically, keeping up with the players in straight-up duels. In the strategy department, they are only marginally good and if they're playing on your side it's best to take control and give them orders.

The command structure for issuing orders is reasonably complete. However, only a small portion of it is accessible through the game menus. To get the full effect commands can be issued through the console. Patrol routes, defense, and guarding orders are all available.

Id has also done a good job wrapping up all of the multiplayer settings into a streamlined interface, allowing players not only to set-up games, but also to join the type of game they are looking for as well. While it's not bristling with options, this is a definite set-up from the external server browsers and IP memorization found in the previous versions of Quake.

To get everything out of multiplayer, online play is the way to go. Of course, an Internet connection is required. Modem play is decent, but doesn't feel quite on par with the original QuakeWorld, Quake 2, or more recently Starseige Tribes. Still playing on servers with a 200ms or less ping-time should provide a good experience. Internet performance really starts to shine with broadband connections like ISDN, Cable, or better. With a good ISP, connections less than 50ms should offer solid near-LAN performance.

Overall Impression:

Quake 3 is an excellent title marred only by some minor flaws. Bot AI is a little flaky making single player "training" good but not great. The Bots also lack the planning skill to be successful at the more strategic maps or specialty games like CTF. The maps included in Quake 3 are very strong from a gameplay standpoint, but it would have been nice to see a few more maps included straight out of the box. The system requirements (CPU, graphics, network) are reasonable for the type of game Quake 3 is, but to get really good performance with that class of machine system options will need to be turned down.

However, if you want a game with pure heart-thumping action Quake 3 Arena is it. The balance of weapons, speed, and movement is still the best out there. It also features a beautiful blend of rapid fire close-quarters tactics and level-minded strategy that should delight anyone interested in action gaming. Casual gamers looking for that first multiplayer game that works with and not against them won't do much better than Quake 3 Arena.

Anyone up for a one on one?

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

(Written by Trillian): A strong effort was made in Quake 3 Arena to provide female characters as on option for multiplayer games as well as relatively strong female bots to play against. Granted, a number of those female models still display a nearly impossible to attain ideal of large breasts and a waify body. There was an attempt to offer a variety of characters from the buff and weathered Major to the slim and sexy Mynx to the large and in charge Lucy. Even with this variety of female characters, there was something missing. Every advertisement I saw for Quake 3 Arena that sported the female characters seemed to show them in compromising situations. Slash being dominated by the strong and manly Sarge... Q3A's female characters being shown as definitions for brands of condoms on a condom dispenser... It almost felt like the effort to provide a female alternative in gaming was hypocritical. All in all, the female characters in the game are a nice step up from previous releases of Quake and I actually choose to and enjoy playing with a few of the models.