Published by
Developed by
Released

Platforms
MobyRank MobyScore
Macintosh
...
3.5
Linux
...
3.7
Dreamcast
87
3.5

Description

The third game in the Quake series is a departure from the previous games, focusing exclusively on multiplayer arena fighting with no story-driven singleplayer part - directly competing with Epic Games that did the same with the contemporary Unreal Tournament.

The offline part takes the player through a number of one-on-one and team-based challenges against AI-controlled opponents, slowly ranking upwards in difficulty, as the character of the player's choosing. Compared to the previous titles, the colours and general design of the game are much brighter and it shakes off the dominant shades of brown and grey the previous titles in the series were known for. The player's arsenal consists of new and familiar, but redesigned weapons, including a gauntlet (melee attacks) and a machine gun as the spawn weapons, a shotgun, plasma gun, lightning gun, rocket launcher, railgun and BFG. Each weapon has specific advantages, ranging from the amount of damage to reloading times and the ability to hit-scan opponents.

The different arenas are also filled with health bubbles, complete sets of armour and armour shards, the well-known Quad Damage power-up, ammunition, and specials such as Mega Health, Haste, Invisibility, a powerful Battlesuit, and more. As with the other Quake games, it is known for its freedom in movement. Advanced players using techniques such as rocket jumping, strafing and circle jumping to quickly get around areas. The game offers more speed than Quake 2, but it is not as fast as the original Quake. Not everything was kept - the double jumping from the previous titles was removed for instance, but replaced with new tricks.

The singleplayer part only serves as a diversion for the online multiplayer options, with modes such as duel, team deathmatch (TDM), capture the flag (CTF) and more. As with Quake II, the vanilla version of the game was eventually heavily tweaked by the players' community with all-new tournament features (including voting, referees, banning, netcode updates), as it was used in professional Pro Gaming tournaments for almost ten years.

Alternate Titles

  • "雷神之锤III:竞技场" -- Chinese title (simplified)
  • "Quake 3" -- Informal title
  • "Q3A" -- Abbreviated title
  • "Q3" -- Abbreviated name

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
Quake 3 Arena Dreamcast $4.38  
Quake III: Arena Windows $4.19  
ebay.com
Quake III: Arena    
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User Reviews

Awesome deathmatch redeems this meatless meal Windows Maw (827)
The most balanced online FPS game to date. Windows Steve . (129)
Fried blood Windows Ashley Pomeroy (227)
Frankly, disappointing Macintosh Lawrence Matthews (120)
A worthy successor to the original Quake fragfest Windows Silverblade (1430)
Still Neat Windows Kartanym Bronze Star Contributing Member (9909)
Fragfest galore Windows MadCat (55)
A great multiplayer game, but if you're not a multiplayer fan stay away. Windows Tomer Gabel Bronze Star Contributing Member (4476)
One hell-raising experience Dreamcast Lee Redfern (20)
THE MOST MINDLESS GAME EVER CREATED!!! Windows Dragoon (93)

The Press Says

GameGenie Windows 2000 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars 100
Svenska PC Gamer Windows Jan, 2000 95 out of 100 95
GameSpot Dreamcast Oct 24, 2000 9.4 out of 10 94
IGN Macintosh Jun 10, 2002 9.3 out of 10 93
Eurogamer.net (UK) Windows Dec 16, 1999 9 out of 10 90
Gaming Target Dreamcast Nov 16, 2000 9 out of 10 90
Game Critics Dreamcast Jan 04, 2001 9 out of 10 90
JeuxVideoPC.com Windows Jun 19, 2005 17 out of 20 85
Power Unlimited Dreamcast Jan, 2001 8.5 out of 10 85
JeuxMac.com Macintosh Jul, 2004 4 out of 5 80

Forums

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Trivia

As Half-Life, the game shipped with a very controversial multiplayer cd-key check. (The key was printed on the case of the cd-rom)

This system reduced piracy, but also introduced several other interesting issues: several people who had bought the game were unable to play it online because their cd-key had already been "stolen" by people who used key generator programs to find valid multiplayer keys. There are also numerous reports of Quake3 boxes being opened at the store by dishonest people wanting to get a valid cd-key.


This entry was contributed by Corn Popper (66198), Adam Baratz (1362) and DarkTalon (137)
 

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