Quake Live Review - Quake 3 in a Browser, Free

Quake Live is in essence the 10 year old first person shooter Quake 3: Arena, intended largely for multiplayer, made to be played in a browser and free save for the odd bit of advertising in loading screens, etc. As someone who has been with the Quake series since the first game, this sounded great. However, the 10 years since Quake 3: Arena have seen a lot of changes in what is expected from a game and it simply feels that Quake 3: Arena is too old to keep up.

First, to start with the good aspects of quake live. The game itself ran smoothly enough, the installation all worked fine and the advertisements intended to keep it running were noticeable but not intrusive. The server browser system worked well, customisation options were all pretty good and there were a number of servers that were somewhat busy. Loading times were all pretty quick and the skill matching system is a good idea. However, the negatives presented by the game cancel almost all of these positives out.

The basic problem with Quake Live can be summed up simply with the following statement: Quake 3: Arena was a pretty good game, 10 years ago. Unfortunately even then other games such as Half Life and Unreal Tournament, both released before it, were already casting a shadow over it with their open environments and more diverse or varied gameplay. There are two main problems with Quake 3: Arena and in turn Quake Live which ultimately render it a relatively poor game. The first of these problems is that there is nothing whatsoever that is particularly innovative or original about Quake Live, the weapons are all derivative, the gameplay is the same old death match, team death match and capture-the-flag that has been played to death. The second of these is that the skill roof is incredibly high, over the top high. If you have never played Quake before, expect to lose. Expect to lose a lot, and by lose I mean get absolutely and repeatedly flogged before you get a chance to change weapons. Some of these players have been playing the quake series non-stop for longer than they have spent being educated, so your chance at catching up within three months of playing are next to nil.

Now I am sure those of you who like the game and are reading this are thinking that I am just complaining because I sucked at the game, which is partly true. However, the game puts skill ahead of fun, which is the reason people want to play these games in the first place, especially true in the case a browser based game. This coupled with the relatively large downloads in the vicinity of 200 MB, too large at least to allow you to play the game at work, renders the whole exercise relatively futile. Why make a game that attempts to cater to those who have stuck with Quake 3: Arena when it is clear that such a game will not appeal to any new players due to the incredibly high skill roof? Furthermore, why make it a browser game, which seems deliberately meant to encourage a lighter type of gaming. It seems an exercise deliberately meant to irritate people. These problems with the game have ultimately lead to the game requiring more funding to break even, with a paid membership system being put in place which allows people to host their own servers but does not really address the problem with the game itself.

Overall, the game just is not as good as it once was and the particular browser based method of delivery only truly serves to confuse people as to just what they are getting into, given the high skill roof and players who have stuck with the series as though it was a religion.