"THE definative multiplayer FPS for its time"

Now I've always been a fan of FPS's but when Q3 was released the FPS market was centered around the single player experience and multiplayer online play took a backseat. Now Q3 took the bull by the horns and made it a pure multiplayer game. Here are my thoughts.

GRAPHICS: 10/10

With a decent PC quake 3 still looks awesome today. The textures are all very fun to look at and the character models are crisp and clear. With so much high speed flashy action you'd probably think there would be a case of dropping framerate with a game so old. Think again. Constant 60 FPS providing you have a PC to handle the graphical load. But that's common sense.

SOUND: 9/10

''5 frags left'' is one of the spoken phrases you'll hear as you play. The voices are all clear as crystal and fit the mood of the game and the given character. Weapon sounds are also top notch with the crushing explosion of the shotgun to the rat-a-tat-tat sound of the machine gun. The reason I gave the sound a 9 out of 10 is because of the music. Not that it's necessarily bad, it's just so cliche'. Industrial metal and some electronica is something you'd expect in a game like this but for some reason it just doesn't feel right. Personally I just turn the music off.

STORY: 3/10

Ahhh the bane of almost every early FPS, a storyline. Quake 3 has somewhat of a storyline but nothing adds up. You're a combatant in the Arena. You're supposed to defeat each character in a ton of different arenas before you come face-to-face with the final arena warrior. Very boring stuff. Luckily the gameplay MORE than makes up for the lackluster story.

GAMEPLAY: 11/10

Ahhh here we go. This is where Quake 3 shines! If you've played any single player FPS in the past you're in for the ride of your life. Take everything you ever knew and turbocharge it. You're thrust into a variety of arenas with other combatants with the exact same abilities of you and you have to shoot each other up till only one stands. May sound boring but I can assure you its a pulse pounding ride. With your choice of various weapons you find within each arena such as a rocket launcher, railgun for you snipers out there, grenade launchers, plasma rifles, and a gauntlet with a spinning circular saw on it which is electrically charged. Now in single player you progress through the game by winning each contest in each arena. Only first place lets you proceed to the next battle. as you complete each arena you move forward in that tier until you face off with one character in a one on one tournament battle. If you survive you move to the next tier until you meet up with the final boss. Now if single player gets boring for you then prepare to get your butt handed to you when you go online. There are some seasoned pros out there that will tear you apart. But that's the best part of Quake 3. No matter how long you play you always get better.

REPLAY: 10/10
Once you install this game you wont put it down for a looooooong time. And its one of those games you get an inkling to play every so often.

TO BUY OR RENT?
Umm I don't think you can rent PC games but even if you could I'd still tell you to buy it. One great classic game worthy of any collection.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/02, Updated 12/11/02