Nintendo 64

Quake

Quake 64 är kanske inte så bra som vi hade hoppats, men det går inte att kalla spelet dåligt. Midway borde nog ha väntat med att släppa spelet och justerat främst de grafiska bristerna. Efter att ha spelat Goldeneye 007 och Turok: Dinosaur Hunter är det svårt att inte jämföra de tre spelen. Och Quake 64 nafsar bara de två spelen i hälarna, det kommer aldrig att bli en likvärdig konkurrent. På Saturn gjorde sig Quake bra eftersom det inte fanns några riktigt bra alternativ. Men på Nintendo 64 krävs det faktiskt lite mer för att placera sig bland de allra bästa.

Despite its flaws, Nintendo 64 owners looking for the Quake experience can't go wrong with this game -- if for single-player mode alone. However, seasoned Quakers looking for the ultimate multiplayer game may want to rent before they buy.

Still, N64 owners are lucky that they don't have to mess around with any extra hardware to get close-to-3Dfx-quality acceleration in Quake. The Nintendo's processor is a descendant of Silicon Graphics, the company that developed the GL technology enabling incredible texturing in 3D games. Hence, Quake's masonry environments and gangly monsters seem right at home in N64 territory. This ready-packed near-GL-quality plus the quick and easy deathmatch setup are really the only advantages over the original game. If Quake is a game experience you don't want to miss, and if a Nintendo is all you have, then Quake 64 is your ticket.

In a nutshell, it's Doom 64 all over again. Objectively speaking, it's not a -bad- game, and it stands a fairer fighting chance than Doom does against more modern shooters. The catch is that, when compared to any more advanced first-person shooter, Quake 64 seems so depressingly -bland-. There's nothing in there that makes it stand out, even if it has it's good moments. If the coders behind Quake 64 had taken the time to improve and modify this game before bringing it to the N64, it might have had a brighter career. As it stands, only complete Quake-junkies need apply. Anyone else can no doubt find a far better and more rewarding game to spend their pennies on.

When you die, you have to restart the entire level! Curses! And who says there are no load times in cartridges? It's takes about ten seconds to "build" each stage! There's a split-screen mode to accommodate two players, but its jerky frame-rate and dark environments render it practically unplayable. Like most first-person shooters, this game hasn't aged particularly well, but if you're up for a challenge and can stomach the graphics, Quake will serve up your demons medium rare.