"An Fun Arena Shooter, But A Bit Too Dated"
"Quake III: Arena" was the Quake series' departure from the traditional single-player FPS focus of the era, and instead provided a near-fully focused multiplayer experience (with some singleplayer content). While a compelling game for many multiplayer fans at the time, I was barely a fetus when this title came out and thus "just" missed the mark of playing it myself with my own barely developed hands. Thus, here I am now critiquing a game from my birth year trying my best to combine my understanding of its value to the industry with my delayed experience of playing it myself. This will be fun...
I mostly focused on the singleplayer aspect of this game since there are very few legitimate servers still in existence, and every time I tried to join one of those they would be empty or full of AFK players. Thus, my experience was with the solo arena mode...and it wasn't half bad! Granted the concept of fighting AI opponents in a random stage got a bit repetitive, but each stage was unique and provided a lot of action to get accustomed with the mechanics in this title.
The mechanics are pretty much the same as other Quake games. Here, you will pick up weapons from specific spots around each map as well as ammo from similar spots. There are some upgrades around the map as well that can make your character deal more damage or run faster, and there aren't too many that complicate the game flow or mechanics too much.
Enemies are pretty stupid at the "normal" setting (forgot the name but it was the perceived middle difficulty). They'll be entertaining and run around the map fighting you or each other, and are capable of getting some kills (mostly not on you though). Maps are designed with enough verticality and size to allow for some breathing room between fights, and the textures are about the same as Quake II's.
However, I didn't really get to experience the game's multiplayer, which is what the game was designed around. The singleplayer version of it was alright, but there weren't enough servers in my tie zone to get into games consistently, and honestly playing it this far down the line it would be lacking the original feel anyway. Therefore, I can't review the game based off of that component.
It is still a weird thing to me that ID Software decided to create a multiplayer focused Quake so early on in the IP's lifetime. While it definitely increased the game's popularity in the short-run, in the long-run it stifled the game's potential for solid singleplayer adventures like in the first two titles. I'm aware that Quake IV was somewhat of a return to form, but the lack of future sequels afterwards proved that the original formula lost its audience in ID Software's eyes.
Overall, this is a game that I can Recommend despite difficulties in actually experiencing its multiplayer components. It has a cheesy, basic, but fun solo arena mode, and the mechanics are solid, yet familiar enough to get some enjoyment out of. Try this one out if you enjoyed the first two and would like an arena style version to mess around in, but don't be surprised if there is a lack of content in that same regard. It's a classic FPS multiplayer shooter that had its day and age, but as far as solo play goes its a bit generic now.
Final Verdict: 6/10 (Above Average)
"Quake III: Arena" was the Quake series' departure from the traditional single-player FPS focus of the era, and instead provided a near-fully focused multiplayer experience (with some singleplayer content). While a compelling game for many multiplayer fans at the time, I was barely a fetus when this title came out and thus "just" missed the mark of playing it myself with my own barely developed hands. Thus, here I am now critiquing a game from my birth year trying my best to combine my understanding of its value to the industry with my delayed experience of playing it myself. This will be fun...
I mostly focused on the singleplayer aspect of this game since there are very few legitimate servers still in existence, and every time I tried to join one of those they would be empty or full of AFK players. Thus, my experience was with the solo arena mode...and it wasn't half bad! Granted the concept of fighting AI opponents in a random stage got a bit repetitive, but each stage was unique and provided a lot of action to get accustomed with the mechanics in this title.
The mechanics are pretty much the same as other Quake games. Here, you will pick up weapons from specific spots around each map as well as ammo from similar spots. There are some upgrades around the map as well that can make your character deal more damage or run faster, and there aren't too many that complicate the game flow or mechanics too much.
Enemies are pretty stupid at the "normal" setting (forgot the name but it was the perceived middle difficulty). They'll be entertaining and run around the map fighting you or each other, and are capable of getting some kills (mostly not on you though). Maps are designed with enough verticality and size to allow for some breathing room between fights, and the textures are about the same as Quake II's.
However, I didn't really get to experience the game's multiplayer, which is what the game was designed around. The singleplayer version of it was alright, but there weren't enough servers in my tie zone to get into games consistently, and honestly playing it this far down the line it would be lacking the original feel anyway. Therefore, I can't review the game based off of that component.
It is still a weird thing to me that ID Software decided to create a multiplayer focused Quake so early on in the IP's lifetime. While it definitely increased the game's popularity in the short-run, in the long-run it stifled the game's potential for solid singleplayer adventures like in the first two titles. I'm aware that Quake IV was somewhat of a return to form, but the lack of future sequels afterwards proved that the original formula lost its audience in ID Software's eyes.
Overall, this is a game that I can Recommend despite difficulties in actually experiencing its multiplayer components. It has a cheesy, basic, but fun solo arena mode, and the mechanics are solid, yet familiar enough to get some enjoyment out of. Try this one out if you enjoyed the first two and would like an arena style version to mess around in, but don't be surprised if there is a lack of content in that same regard. It's a classic FPS multiplayer shooter that had its day and age, but as far as solo play goes its a bit generic now.
Final Verdict: 6/10 (Above Average)