87
MobyRank
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
3.9
MobyScore
5 point score based on user ratings.

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      
ebay.com
Quake III: Arena    
amazon.com
Quake III: Arena    
Not an American user?

User Reviews

The most balanced online FPS game to date. Steve . (74) 3.8 Stars3.8 Stars3.8 Stars3.8 Stars3.8 Stars
Awesome deathmatch redeems this meatless meal Maw (828) 4.2 Stars4.2 Stars4.2 Stars4.2 Stars4.2 Stars
Fried blood Ashley Pomeroy (227) 2.4 Stars2.4 Stars2.4 Stars2.4 Stars2.4 Stars
A worthy successor to the original Quake fragfest Silverblade (1428) 4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars
Still Neat Kartanym Bronze Star Contributing Member (9944) unrated
Fragfest galore MadCat (56) unrated
A great multiplayer game, but if you're not a multiplayer fan stay away. Tomer Gabel Bronze Star Contributing Member (4480) 4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars4.6 Stars
THE MOST MINDLESS GAME EVER CREATED!!! Dragoon (94) unrated
A network-party favorite! JubalHarshaw (287) 4.4 Stars4.4 Stars4.4 Stars4.4 Stars4.4 Stars
One more praise of greatest game ever ThE oNe (188) 4.8 Stars4.8 Stars4.8 Stars4.8 Stars4.8 Stars

The Press Says

GameGenie 2000 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars 100
Jeuxvideo.com Dec 15, 1999 19 out of 20 95
Game Over Online Dec 15, 1999 94 out of 100 94
Gamekult Sep 11, 2000 9 out of 10 90
Computer and Video Games (CVG) Aug 15, 2001 9 out of 10 90
Eurogamer Dec 16, 1999 9 out of 10 90
Power Unlimited Feb, 2000 9 out of 10 90
PC Gameplay (Benelux) Jan, 2000 86 out of 100 86
GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands) Dec 24, 1999 83 out of 100 83
Game Revolution Dec 29, 1999 C+ 58

Forums

There are currently no topics for this game.


Trivia

On January 12, 2000, Quake III: Arena was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS (confirmed on March 31, 2000). For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.


This entry was contributed by Corn Popper (66128), Adam Baratz (1364) and DarkTalon (137)
 

Errors and omissions on this page may be reported to the MobyGames approvers.

MobyGames™ Copyright © 1999-2009, MobyGames.
All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.
moby sites | about us | advertise | disclaimer | privacy statement | become an approver | RSS