Quake III Arena: Prima's Official Strategy Guide [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Run, fight, frag . . . win!

Product Description

Quake III Arena will be the definitive 3-D action-shooter of 1999! New features in gameplay include internet connectivity, improved graphics, and AI BOTS. Prima's Official Guide helps guide players through this awesome, fast and frantic deathmatch game. The guide provides detailed maps of the arenas, combat basics, Deathmatch strategies, tips for internet play, and much more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Prima Games; illustrated edition edition (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761525882
• ISBN-13: 978-0761525882
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,766,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good overview and introduction to Quake III Arena, May 23, 2000

By	Ben Elliss (Reading, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This 'Official Strategy Guide' from Prima was jointly produced with id Software, the creators of the Quake game series - and the appearance and layout of the book meets the high standards you'd expect from an id product; it's glossy, full of diagrams and screenshots, and is a pleasure to read. If you're already a Q3A player, you'll probably be tempted to sit down and spend an entire afternoon reading this guide!

The book contains a variety of material: a section on weapons (usefully describing their comparative benefits), a chapter on arena basics (including some useful tips on BFG/rocket jumping, air control and splash damage) and a guide to the built-in characters (interesting, but doesn't add much to your gameplay skills).

After these diversions comes the main section of the book: a level-by-level guide to all the arenas provided with the original release of the game. These sections vary in size and detail in accordance with the complexity of the level covered - so the later arena levels tend to get more coverage. Each contains a diagram of the entire map seen from above - these are useful, but the diagrams are literal birds-eye views, so they include ceilings and roof bars (difficult to see through). Also, it's a bit hard to visualize the multi-floor levels from these diagrams. After the map diagrams is a guide to getting around the level in question - this is generally the most useful part, containing many tips and secrets that you'd be very unlikely to stumble across by yourself when playing the game.

Without doubt, reading this book will make you a better Quake III player - though of course it's no substitute for indulging in hours of dedicated gameplay! The book isn't perfect - the screenshots are too small in most cases, the guide lacks an index, and the author makes no mention of the actual map file names (eg 'Q3DM17' for 'The Longest Yard') or the Q3A console syntax. Still, these are small complaints.

A last word: As id continue to bring out Q3A point releases, they add levels (eg the recent new Space CTF map) - obviously the book won't keep up with these. Also, when you enter the world of custom player-designed maps you'll probably miss the helpful advice that Prima's guide can provide! Anyway, with the 'mission pack' Team Arena due for release some time soon, I'm sure we'll be seeing a follow-up guide from the publishers.

3 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quake III Arena, April 28, 2000

By	Phi Hoang Le (usa) - See all my reviews

so clear , ez to understand