Quake III: Arena

by Activision

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000296ZD
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 8, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,012 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

As in its dozens of first-person shooter ancestors, id Software and Activision's Quake 3: Arena transports players into a violent, virtual world filled with deadly weapons, impressive power-ups, and intense combat. Players compete on 26 maps in either death match (free-for-all or team play), with goals to rack up as many kills as possible; or capture the flag, a team-oriented game with scoring based on the number of enemy flag captures. Though presenting the best death-match experience around, Quake 3's two game types lack the variation and originality of a similar game, Epic's Unreal Tournament.

Although you'll need the latest video card and computer hardware, it's impossible to dispute the sheer beauty of Quake 3's 3-D engine. The 26 maps are filled with exquisite architecture and impressive special effects; further, Quake 3 provides dozens of highly detailed player models to choose from. If you've played other id Software first-person shooters, the weapons should all look familiar: machine gun, shotgun, plasma gun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, lightning gun, railgun, and the BFG 10K. Though impressively rendered and balanced, you've likely used them before in id's Doom, Quake, or any number of other first-person action games.

Hopping online and competing against other Quake 3: Arena players worldwide requires only a 56K or better Internet connection and a few mouse clicks. Quake 3 offers an infinitely replayable multiplayer experience (and a violent one--not for youngsters), but an unsatisfying solo game. Its single-player tournament mode--a series of death matches against computer AI bots--serves simply as a massive training exercise for multiplay. --Doug Radcliffe

Pros:

• Cutting-edge graphics
• Near-perfect death-match multiplay
• Detailed player models
• Beautiful level architecture

Cons:

• Uninspired single-player experience
• Lack of game variations
• Unoriginal weapons

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hottest PC Game this year!, December 15, 1999

By 

Erik R. Carlseen (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Quake III: Arena (CD-ROM)

To say that Quake 3 lives up to the hype is an understatement. I'll admit that, with the exception of the incredible graphics, I was a bit underwhelmed by the downloadable demo.

The final game, however, is fantastic. The bots are great fun - they play with a variety of different styles and "personalities" that make them very life-like. As mentioned above, the graphics are mind-blowing. Q3 is the first and presently the only 3D game that I'm aware of that uses curved surfaces, and they vastly improve the visual appeal of the various environments. The levels are a bit monotonous from a "decorative" point of view, but for actual playability they offer a great deal of variety and are very fast-paced. The jump pads increase the flexibility of the maps to a great extent, allowing players to quickly move vertically.

While the Quake series has been traditionally enjoyed most by the "hard-core" gamers, id software did a good job of providing a few introductory levels in Quake 3 to let the newbies practice their skills a little bit before being thrown into the fire. And Quake is by far the reigning king of Internet play - according to id's statistics, 500-1700 people worldwide join Q3 Internet games every 5 minutes.

Before purchasing, pay close attention to the system requirements. Most mid- to high-end computers purchased in the last 18 months will run Q3 just fine, but some will require upgraded video cards (cards based on NVidia's TNT/GeForce or 3DFX's Voodoo technology are best).

Happy Fragging!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite A Review..., November 22, 1999

By 

Joel R. Tallent (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quake III: Arena (CD-ROM)

I can't review the final product since it just went gold today and hasn't been released in stores, but I have played the DemoTest of the game, and would offer the following comments:

This game requires a lot of energy to play. If you want to sit and relax in front of your computer, then don't try to play Quake 3. Save it for the times when you have lots of pent up aggression and energy. With hard-hitting sound effects, slick graphics and over-the-top gore, Quake 3 is a very satisfying way to release it.

Quake 3 is a fighting game, like Mortal Kombat -- you progress through the game by killing all your opponents. There is also a Capture The Flag option, which is a more strategic, team-based style of play. Both of these modes are playable over the internet or local network against other humans, by yourself with computer-controlled teammates and opponents, or a combination of the two.

Quake 3 *requires* a 3D video accelerator, such as a Voodoo 3 or TNT2. Make sure you have one of these in your computer before trying this game.

I would highly recommend this game to anyone who loves fast-paced action, gore, and state-of-the-art graphics.

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great game but is it the best?, December 12, 1999

By 

"arkansasfrog" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quake III: Arena (CD-ROM)

Being the avid frst person shooter fan I purchased both Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament the moment they respectivly came out after playing both demos. Let me first say that I enjoyed the UT demo better than the quake one but I had high hope s that John Carmack the guys at id software would come out with the best product in the end as their products in the past have been much better than Epics. With that said, I bleive that Quake 3 Arena, although it is a great game, is not nearly as inovative as Unreal Tournament. Comparing two games made by different companies is sometimes unfair because different idea and tooughts went into their production; however, I feel that this case is a bit different.

The Comparison:

Graphics: I will start with graphics because they are usually the first thing to jump out and get the gamer's attention. Graphics will be broken into two categories level design and player skins

Level Design: this category has to go to UT. Where the are about even the inginuity goes to UT. UT offers levels such as castles, space stations, wooden ships, etc., where as Quake 3 mainly limits the player to levels that resemble only castles.

Player Skins: This is the category that Quake 3 really shines in. Unlike UT, who's player skins are mainy bland humans, Quake offers around thirty different skins which range from demons to bikers to eyeballs with legs.

Sound: For the most part the enviromental sounds on both games but UT wins out for offering excellant voice-overs which the bots use when they taunt other player/bots during the match.

Weapons: Both games offer an assortment of well balanced weapons; however UT offers more. Not only do they offer the usual machinegun and shotgun they also offer a flak gun and biogun. UT's weapons also have two fire modes.

AI/Bots: The bots in the single player mode of Quake 3 are challenging. That's not to say that UT's are not but my experience has shown that the bots in Q3 are better.

Online play: Niether game offers a better online interface, but if I had to pick the one that is better overall I would pick UT. This is because Q3 lags more often than UT. I am using a T1 so Q3 may perform better with a modem.

Overall: UT is a better game overall. Does this mean Q3 is bad? Of course not. I like them both; however not everyone is lucky enough to own both. The main reason I would rate UT higher is ingenuity. UT offer several types of play straight deathmatch, Last man standing, capture the flag, team deatchmatch, assualt, and domination where as Q3 only offers deathmatch, team deathmatch, and cpture the flag.

Remember that these are only my opinions and yours may be different. Which is a good thing so that we can get two great games and not just one.