------Pretty
pretty bang bang
Is
Quake 3 too beautiful to live up to its promise as the
"ultimate death-match game"?
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By
Marc Spiegler
Sept.
8, 1999 | Sometime before Christmas,
Id Software chief John Carmack will sign off on the company's
long-awaited Quake 3 Arena, unleashing a game of unparalleled
beauty and unapologetic violence. Despite the fact that
it hasn't been officially released, the game has already
swept the online gaming world like a shimmering tsunami.
Following its usual testing tactic, Id put the Quake 3
test version online in May and has since posted several
updates. Already, there are more than 1,100 servers worldwide
where players can "spawn" into the game's stunningly rendered
arenas and start firing away. There is no mission but to
kill other players -- often and quickly, in teams or as
a free-agent fragger. "We will return to plot-based games
in the future," explains Id developer Graeme Devine. "But
this time we wanted to make the ultimate death-match game
available, and we expect it will remain that for a long
while."
On the myriad message boards where gamers trade playing
tips, technical notes and unadulterated bile, Quake 3 already
ranks among the hottest topics. In a typical exchange, one
player on the Gamers Extreme site opined, "Q3 has nothing
new or inspiring to offer and the gameplay is currently
weaker than both [previous Quake games]." Minutes later,
another riposted, "I played many hours of both previous
games, and am really enjoying Q3. Yes, it is more evolutionary
than revolutionary, but I don't think that is a bad thing."
This split in the hardcore gaming community runs as deep
as expectations for Quake 3 run large. Id Software, the
Mesquite, Texas, game developer, has built a powerful reputation
with its "first-person shooter" games. Since its 1991 founding,
the company has released Wolfenstein 3-D, Doom, Doom II,
Quake and Quake II. Each game's success has fueled huge
demand for the company's next product and the hype has brought
thousands of new gamers into the fold. But a faction among
the hardcore gaming community now looks askance at Id and
Quake 3. Even the most lackluster student of American pop
culture will recognize the meme at play here. There's always
a certain amount of "I liked them before they were popular"
prejudice, driving some who consider themselves hardcore
to reflexively criticize Id for "selling out." Then again,
there's no question that talented people do get swayed by
market forces. Film buffs might think of director George
Miller, for example, who went from "Mad Max" to "Babe: Pig
in the City"; rock fans might cite Phil "Genesis to Michelob
ads" Collins.
For some old-time Doom and Quake fanatics, the new game
seems like a lot of overhyped eye candy; Id has dulled its
edge, they charge, to create wider appeal. As King Diamond69
-- a dentist, dad and Ivy League grad who frequently posts
in the forums of the Quake 3 news site, Q3Arena.net -- put
it: "Lovers of realism are a little (to very) disappointed,
because Quake 3 has not really broken any new ground. Younger
players and fast-action fans are basically gaga over it,
for the same reasons the realists are upset: the graphics
are high 'wow' factor, and the gameplay feels a little faster
than Quake 2 [which has taken plenty of heat for being slow],
but allows for much longer firefights between two evenly-matched
players."
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Was Quake 3
built for newbies?