Tatu’s Quake Page

Quake This game should stay in the public's eye for years to come
id Software

Satan, your game has arrived. It spits up blood and pisses vinegar. It sprouts horns from its head like the proud minion of evil that it is. It shoots lightning bolts, for cripes' sake.

It's a game of pure evil. And even purer entertainment. It's also the best action game on the planet.
paraIt's Quake, the biggest and baddest game of the year, the latest from id Software. Cutting through the hyperbole, the final version proves that those who dismissed Quake after playing the shareware version (and you wouldn't be alone) were wrong. Very wrong. Dead wrong.

paraThat may be an overstatement, because it's hard to say if you'll be happy with the final version. We (myself included) were all quick to judge the shareware version, quick to point out that the levels were too small, that they were near-monochrome in their color selection and that the environment lacked the interactivity of Duke Nukem 3D.

Let the Duke fans shoot toilets to their hearts' content. The environments of Quake are intense, not cartoony. Though you could make a perfectly valid argument that beige is not the most endearing color (you will find levels which actually feature the color blue – and they're breathtaking), the overall design of the levels is incredible; later levels seem to be a bit less showy than those in the shareware release. That version suffered from a bit of the "well, we can do all of these cool things in 3D, so let's do them" school of thought. The

later levels reveal more confidence and cleverness in their designs, with simpler puzzles (very simple – press button A to open B). These levels also appear to be more heavily populated by nastier creatures – many of which are placed in sniper-like locations, meaning the player has to look around a lot (while getting bombed to hell).

The CD-audio soundtrack is perfect. Created by the poster-boy for family values (well, Manson family values, at least), Trent Reznor of nine inch nails, it varies from full-on

industrial style aural assaults to subtle orchestral pieces. Of

course, those same subtle bits usually have some backward-masked vocals on them, thereby turning up the creep quotient. Despite id's insistence that most players prefer to play without music (I always liked Doom's music),

no one's likely to turn this soundtrack off. Too bad it's not keyed in to the action – it apparently just cycles through random tracks (which is good if you prefer the strains of Beethoven or Beefheart).

The sound effects, also created by Reznor, are equally superb. There are the requisite

shotgun and explosion sounds, but it's the weird ones, like the nifty nailgun sound when it hits the wall, or the screams and moans, which really set this apart. Best of all is the thoroughly repulsive sound the zombies make – it's a disgusting "thwak" sound, heard when they lob pieces of their own flesh at you. Very cool.

Also cool is multiplayer play. Quake was designed from the ground up as a client/server network game. Its main claim to fame – and something which may provide a

glimpse into the future of online gaming – is the ability for players to jump in and out of games at will. The next step will be linking server to server, allowing you to jump from one map with one group of people to another. That's on the way.

Joining a Quake Deathmatch server on the Internet is mind-numbingly simple (and mind-boggingly exciting – though speed is currently a problem with 16 players at a time). If you have Dial-Up Networking enabled under Windows 95, launch "Q95.BAT," go into

"Multiplayer" and select "TCP/IP." Select "Join Game," noting that you can customize your own machine under "Setup." Under "Connect to" enter the IP address 199.171.27.87 (this is GT Interactive's Quake server). Better yet, go to Yahoo and search for "Quake server" and you'll find places listing up-to-date Quake servers, running 24 hours a day (and you'll usually find 16 people to kill. They vary wildly in speed, with (at this writing) 204.96.49.110 providing the best performance. Your

mileage may vary.

The only thing which keeps Quake from achieving total godhood (or would that be devilhood?) is that it takes no chances. The design of the game doesn't tinker at all with the standard formula set by Wolfenstein 3D. Shoot things. Collect weapons. Find keys. Open doors with keys. The weapons aren't spectacular, and multiplayer would be a lot better with a few Duke Nukem 3D-style defensive weapons, like pipe bombs and trip wires. Multiplayer play too often degenerates into "who can find

the rocket launcher first," rather than showing off player skill or strategy.

There were many of us who were dismissing the alpha and shareware versions as an enormous disappointment. If you were expecting something which immediately grabbed you the same way Doom did back

in '91, you were bound to be disappointed. But after spending hour upon hour in both solo and multiplayer mode, it's become clear that Quake is, in fact, a spectacular piece of work.

Will it have the same impact Doom had? Nope: its impact will be greater,

influencing every future online and multiplayer game. With lord knows how many Quake servers spawning across the globe, all linked in a web of death and mayhem, this game should stay in the public's eye for years to come.

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