Quake III Gold combines Quake III Arena and Team Arena into one box. This game is only for people with itchy trigger fingers, and a lust for blood. If you want a plot, please look elsewhere.
Installation:
Installing the game was pretty straight forward. Plop in the CDs, and install into your favorite place. Applying the OS X patch proved a bit more difficult, as you have to install it in a different directory then your original installation, and then move the pak0.pk3 file from your original installation to the OS X updated one. If you don't do it that way, it seems to create errors. Hopefully, this will be fixed in a later patch.
Usage:
The very first thing you will notice when firing up Quake III for the first time is how good the graphics are. From the intro cut scene, to the player portraits, to the weapons, walls, floor, sky, and everything else is beautifully rendered. Unfortunately, this means the game requires a pretty hefty machine to play properly. The minimum may be a 266 MHz G3, but anything under 400 MHz will be nearly impossible to handle.
Another aspect of the game that is well done, yet consumes some pretty good processing power, is the sounds. Sound is an intricate part to this game, as you need to listen for your opponents, so you can have the upper hand. A good set of speakers is a must if you really want to get into this game. Without them, you will put yourself at a huge disadvantage.
However, good graphics and sounds a great game does not make. Normally, to be a best seller, you need those two aspects, plus great gameplay, and a decent storyline. While this does have a simple to use, easy to learn gameplay and interface, the plot leaves something to be desired.
In fact, you could say there is no plot at all. The main objective is to run around, and kill whatever moves. There doesn't seem to be any reason why you are killing everything in sight, other than it's there. The single player mode consists of going through tiers of difficulty, trying to "frag" more players that your opponents. Not much thought goes into this process.
Luckily, the developers included two things to keep our interest for a while. First, every game these days seems to need a multiplayer aspect to survive. This game has built up quite a following, and can be played against many a foe. From LAN, to TCP, and even through GameRanger, you should never be at a loss for opponents to frag.
The other inclusion (which is what makes this the GOLD version), is the Team Arena part of the game. Here, the object is usually a little different than kill everything you see. You can try to do such things as capture the enemy's flag, or destroy the other team's symbolic skull. The game play is nearly identical as normal Arena mode, with just a few different items thrown in, to accompany the team aspect.
But beyond that, we have to recognize that Quake III was the first major game on the scene to have an OS X native patch. Many big name games have followed, but this one showed developers how easy it could be done. For that, we must thank the good people at the Omni group, and id Software.
Problems:
Everything (besides the quirky install) seemed to go great in OS X and OS 9. No bugs or crashes to report.
Conclusion:
As I mentioned before, this game is not for the faint of heart. Everything dies (including yourself) multiple times, in a world where death only keeps score. No plot whatsoever makes this the perfect game when you don't want to think.
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Pros: | Cons: |
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Superb Graphics
Dimensional and Character based sounds
Good for getting the aggression out
Controls somewhat easy to learn
Excellent Multiplayer community
First major game to be OS X native
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Absolutely no plot
A lot of blood and guts
Steep system requirements
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Rating: 7 out of ten Mac Faces.
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