Retro Reborn: First Impressions of Quake Live

As Idoliside reports, Quake Live will go from invite-only to Open Beta on February 24. A new generation of gamers will be introduced to the id classic that helped define competitive gaming as serious business. Unlike your average arena shooter, the Quake games are famous for being especially fast and frenzied. The pace of game play is enveloping, almost hypnotic, and it’s what drew loyal players of the old school into the world of Quake years ago. My roommate happens to be one of them.

Still proud of the stocked computer he won fragging the life out of competitors in a ’04 PC CLUB tournament, ‘XBN chino’ has been anticipating Live for some time. Recently, he took some time to share his initial impressions with me.

Snail: How is it different from Quake III? Are the maps and game modes mostly the same?

chino: Obviously, the main difference is the browser. They ported over a lot of the old competitive maps. The gameplay, the feel of it is very loyal to Quake III, but the physics of it are faster. Weapons do different damage; in particular, The Lightning Gun is very weak—this changes strategy. Modes are all the same—I think the focus is on attracting players back to the game.

Snail: Live is financed by in-game advertising. Noticed any yet? Is it distracting?

chino: When I first started, it really threw me off. How annoying. I’m not used to being marketed to as I play. Recently though, I only recall even noticing it on Campgrounds (q3dm6)—they were advertising an HBO boxing match. In my opinion, it doesn’t belong there. They should advertise on the site, not in game.

Snail: How does the browser format effect community?

chino: It brings in a new community. The game hasn’t changed so much, but the format is what’s innovative. They are successfully getting people interested in playing again.

Plus, installation was really easy. It seems to support any browser, and there’s a full- screen mode, which is nice. Even so, your stats are still tracked over time and it looks like there will be achievements. Everything is customizable through the console, so you can tweak it just as much as Quake III, it’s pretty cool. (Access the console with ctrl, alt, tilde and type /com_allowConsole 1 to simply activate with tilde.)

Snail: Are you seeing lots of new players?

chino: Yes, but that’s okay. New people make playing fun, you know? It’s better than loading up Quake III and finding only two people playing at all. Plus, they have a difficulty matchmaker—you play a diagnostic bot when you first start—which supposedly helps place you with appropriate competitors. I’m not so sold on it—seems like a sneaky way to train new people in the mechanics of Quake to me. Of course, that’s not a bad thing.

Snail: For you, what sets Quake apart from other shooters? What drove you to become competitive in the first place?

chino: You know, when I first started, Quake was very competitive, and I liked that. More than that, I think the feel, the physics of the game—it’s fast, you don’t have time to reload, you keep moving, you learn to strafe jump, you can fly through maps. It’s unique.

Snail: Do you think Quake Live will reinvigorate the Quake community? Are you running into old friends online?

chino: It has the potential to do that. I’ve met up with people I haven’t seen in years, and all of the sudden they’re playing Quake Live on short breaks from WOW and Battlefield 2. If some of the old, top names came back, ZeRo4, Makaveli—others would follow. Still, you look on IRC and there are already teams scrimmaging, ladders being brought up, so the scene is there. It is there, and it’s really growing again. This is great for me, because nothing compares to Quake.

Snail: Favorite Mode?

chino: All time? Team Death Match. But for Quake Live, it’s got to be Clan Arena. You don’t have to worry about timing armor and weapons. It’s just jump around and shoot. It’s fun.

Snail: Any thoughts on the new id game, Rage?

chino: From what I’ve seen and read, I think they’re going in the wrong direction. It looks like a Halo game. But I don’t have a solid opinion. I’ll wait for the demo.