Quake

"A classic. It's not perfect but what game is?"

Ah yes, Quake; a classic game that while it didn't quite start it all, it's a game that takes many players back. Quake was among the first PC games I played when my family got a PC. It's a game that I will always have a certain level of nostalgia for.

Whether or not you'll enjoy Quake will depend on what you're looking for.

Quake is a shooter, nothing more, nothing less. If you're looking for a game with a deep storyline that makes you think, Quake isn't going to deliver one. If you're looking for a game that you can jump in and start shooting monsters without worrying about plot or consequences then Quake is more up that alley.

Quake offers four difficulty levels (with Nightmare being a bit harder to find then the others). Your experience in terms of difficulty will vary depending on your skill level and what difficulty level you play at.

Enemy wise, the enemies are challenging. They can sometimes get annoying, especially in groups.

There isn't a whole lot of variety of enemies though. The episodes of the full game has enemies the first episode does not but there still isn't a lot of variety.

Some of the enemies are far more annoying then others. One pain in the butt enemy is these slime things called Spawns that explode when they die. Naturally, they charge you, move fast and do a decent level of damage when they touch you. On some later levels, it seems like one is around every corner!

The number of enemies per level depends on what difficulty level you play on. On Hard, I admit that there were times I'd be saying ‘oh come on' when I saw what felt like yet another Shambler spawn right after I seemed to have seen the last of them for that level.

To be blunt, there's a reason the game tends to have quite a few quad damage power-ups (there seems to be more in the 4th chapter) as well as plenty of health and ammo. Your weapons are less then effective as a whole, the game sends all sorts of enemies after you (especially on higher difficulty levels) and some of them are able to inflict massive damage on you. As you progress in the game, it just feels as though something is missing weapons wise. I'd rather have better weapons then more Quad damage power-ups.

One amusing thing is that enemies will sometimes fight with one another. This can help to weaken then and if nothing else, is fun to watch.

I do have to give them credit; the game is almost non stop action right from that first shot to when you beat the game.

One nice thing is that you can save and load at any time, a feature that is welcome when each new area of a map threatens to bring a sudden end to your quest. One could see either as negative or positive; it all depends on what you're looking for. If you could only save at the beginning of a level however, the game probably would have been far more annoying.

Graphics wise, the graphics are dated and low-res by today's standards. For a game that came out in 1996 however, they were impressive to put mildly. Yes, they're plain. However, they fit the mood of the game well. Unfortunately, (again this can depend on the difficulty level and your skill level) you could well find yourself fighting for your survival enough that you just won't have the time to stop and appreciate them.

Level wise, the levels are well designed. However, I honestly found the first episode to be the most memorable. Something about it has a classic feel to it. Don't get me wrong, the other episodes are still good and some of the levels in them have that feel. Maybe it just comes from playing the demo over and over back in the day (indeed, playing it far more then the full game). Back then however, the full game wasn't really about the single player; more on that soon.

Part of the challenge/fun in the levels comes from searching for secrets in and trying different ways to get through them or to get to various items. However, in the later episodes, the difficulty level increases enough that it becomes more about survival and wanting to get out of a level rather then wanting to explore the full level even after you've eliminated every enemy.

Single player however is not really what Quake was about. Multiplayer was where the real fun was. Back in the day, lag was issue for Internet play until Quakeworld came out. Once that was out, Quake was a blast to play with friends. Indeed, it may have been one of the first if not –the- first game to feature (or at least popularize) Internet play. Doom had LAN play but I don't think it had Internet play (though I may be wrong). Even then, the Internet was less popular back then. Quake came out as the Internet was taking off, which I'm sure helped out a lot.

Think of all the games today that you can play online. Quake's Deathmatch was simple but it ushered in a new era. It showed that larger online games were not just possible but fun. No longer would you play with just your circle of friends. You could play with people from all around the world!

One might even argue that this helped to make the Internet more popular. Games were getting bigger and more complicated. People wanted online play and to be able to download demos which were getting much larger. Indeed, faster connections became almost required.

Unfortunately, after all this time, I'm not sure you'll be able to find people to play against or with should you wish to play co-op (which was also fun).

While I am being perhaps a bit dramatic, I can't deny that Quake helped to launch the popularity of online play.

Quake is far from perfect. However, as they tend to say about classic games, it may have its issues but Quake helped to usher in a new era of 3D games much in the same way Wolfenstein and Doom ushered in the era of shooters. It might not have quite the classic feel of Doom or Wolfenstein but it's still a fun game.

Quake is available on its own on Steam for $9.99. Is it worth it? If you've never played it and want to experience it or If you have experienced it and no longer have the disk for one reason or another and want to play it again out of a sense of nostalgia, then it might be worth it.

Overall, it's an older/classic game now. Back in the day, Quake was something special and Deathmatch was a lot of fun. It has its flaws but so do all games. If you've never played it, I think it's worth a play.

I'll give it an 8/10.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/04/09

Game Release: Quake (US, 05/31/96)