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Quake II Arena
Ever since Id Software released Doom back in the dawn of the First Person Shooter era network games have never been the same. Through it all the multi-player aspect of the genre has always remained pretty much secondary to the single player component but with Quake 3 Arena Id has released a title with the multi-player crowd in mind. Build from the ground up to provide a fast and frantic multi-player experience this game is going to make a lot of people very happy. Fans of the single player game in Quake 2 is bound to be a bit disappointed by this change in focus for the license but Id hasn't forgotten about those without network access completely.
Included with the game is a whole bunch of CPU controlled bots that will give even veteran First Person Shooter players a run for their money (depending on what you set their skill setting at of course). The single player tournament even has a little background story. It would seem that the "Arena Eternal" was constructed by the mysterious Vadrigar race to provide them amusement. In the arena the greatest warriors of all time face each other battling their way through the arenas and competing for the chance to face Xaero, lord of the final arena. Anyone in slain in the arena is revived instantly to continue the action. OK it's not exactly Shakespeare but the story provides enough reason to frag everyone in sight. With 26 levels to conquer the single player game will provide you with hours of challenging gameplay and will definitely sharpen your skills for when you face human competitors. The 32 bots you'll face show a lot of imagination and since this is a Id game you can expect to see characters from Doom and Quake 1 and 2. The other bots consist of a motley collection of aliens, cyborgs, undead, humans and even a vampire and gargoyle. If the first two games are anything to go by you can expect to see loads of user created skins as well. Quake 3 is powered by a brand new engine and I have to say Id has truly outdone themselves this time. Gone are the brownish environments of the previous Quakes and in it's place is vibrant, colorful levels featuring stunning detail and excellent architectural designs. Since the arenas are relatively small Id managed to cram in some stunning effects and details without slowing down the frame rate. The bad news is unless you have a OpenGL compatible graphics card you can forget about playing this one. No software mode this time round I'm afraid. As a side note most of the arenas are plastered with pentagram's and other Doom like insignia so if you are one of those people that were offended by Doom prepare to be shocked all over again. One of the most important aspects of a First Person Shooter is of course the selection of weapons on offer and Quake 3 Arena does not disappoint. Depending on the arena you'll have access to trusty favorite like the rocked launcher and shotgun also complemented with more exotic fare like the rail- and lightning gun and even the BFG 10K. There's also the usual assortment of death dealing devices like the plasma- and machine gun and grenade launcher. To survive you'll also need all the health and armor pickups scattered around the arena that you can find. Cool gadgets like the personal teleporter that transports you instantly to a random part of the arena when activated also makes things more interesting. It's not only your foes that can spoil your rankings either. Each arena features natural hazards like acid and lava. You can also do something stupid like fall off the map or drown while swimming underwater. Map features like the teleport gate shows off the impressive effects that the Quake 3 engine is capable off. The soundtrack (if you can hear it above all the screams and explosions) is provided by Sonic Mayhem and features some cool background tunes to compliment the action. To keep players of the single player component interested (and intimidate human opponents) you get awarded all kinds of "medals" to show off your achievements. This can be anything form accuracy to the amount of kills and definitely gives you something to aim for. While playing the bots will also spew out loads of text messages at the top of your screen. This smacktalking makes it feel even more like you're playing against fellow humans. While langames work fine I've heard some complaints about performance while playing over the Internet but as I am unable to test this feature I can't really comment. I'm sure Id will address this issue though. Judging by the huge community that have sprung up around the Quake games I doubt that you'll have to search hard for opponents either. If you finish the single player tournament there's still plenty of free for all, team death match and capture the flag matches that you can set up against the bots. Although a bit of a departure from the previous games Id has definitely delivered on their promises and Quake 3 is a great game in single and multi-player. With a solid game engine and frantic gameplay it's going to take something special to top this one. If people make as much mods and add-ons for this one as they did for Quake 2 you can look forward to playing this game for quite a while as well.
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System Requirements
TAGS: Quake III Arena,
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