This just in: Crack Is 50% Less Addictive Than Quake 3 Arena!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great graphics, Excellent sound, Excellent control (w/ mouse & keyboard), Internet capability.

Cons: Only 4 players in multiplayer.

The Bottom Line: 
Quake III Arena is great fun alone, but even more fun with Multiplayer. To minimize internet lag, get the Broadband adapter and register with SegaNet.

Author's Review
When you buy Quake 3 Arena for the Sega Dreamcast, you better buy a pack of Depends and a Snickers bar too, because you’re going to be here a while. Quake III Arena is one of the most addictive games I have ever played in my life. I’ll rank it up there with the classic addictions like Tetris, Ms. Pac Man, and OutRun. After playing this game for a few hours, I was actually counting up my vacation days so I could use them to play this game. It is that good!


Let’s start with the background first. The plot of Q3A is simple. Centuries ago, the mysterious Arena Masters known as the Vadrigar, constructed the Arena Eternal so that they could watch warriors of all shapes, sizes, and colors engage in armed mortal combat. You are one of the warriors they have selected to fight in this blood sport for their amusement. To be successful, you must not only survive, but win each stage by killing or "fragging" (short for fragmentation, and you will be seeing fragments of bodies throughout the game) as many of your opponents as humanly possible. The Vadrigar love the sport so much that you don’t even have to worry about getting "fragged!" If you die during the course of the tournament, the Arena Masters will restore you to life and immediately thrust you back into battle!


First of all, Quake 3 Arena is extremely heavy in the options department. You can customize your sound, player, and controls, exactly to your likes. The player options will allow you to customize your player’s name and appearance ("skin"), weapon effects (you can change the laser trail color of the railgun. How cool is that!), handicap (reduce your effectiveness to make it easier for the newbies), and your crosshair appearance. The controls are easily changeable; you can choose your movement, looking, weapons, sensitivity, and other miscellaneous options from one of four preset configurations, or customize one of the presets. Very impressive.


The game itself has several modes of play: Single Player, Multiplayer, and Internet Play. The Single Player mode pits you against computer-controlled opponents through a tier system, putting you on a quest to become the "ultimate fragmaster." This mode is fun because you get to see how good the AI is, as each computer-controlled opponent has unique fragging techniques.


The Multiplayer is extremely fun as well due to the different Multiplayer modes: Free for All, Team Deathmatch, Tournament, and Capture the Flag. Free for All is just as it sounds; four players in an arena frag each other until one of the warriors reaches the fraglimit (the predetermined winning amount of kills.) Simple and fun. In Team Deathmatch mode, two opposing teams work together to control the arena and score the most frags. The Tournament mode takes you through a one-on-one tourney with four players. The players who are not currently in the tournament are allowed to watch. This mode is OK, but since there are only two warriors in the arena at a time, the action slows down considerably. The old elementary school game is reinvented in Q3A’s Capture the Flag mode. The object is still to slip into the opposing team’s home base and capture their flag, but in this game you must do it while dodging heavy artillery fire. Who ever scores the most wins the game.


But by far, the most fun in Quake 3 Arena is the Internet play. Nothing compares to strategizing against another human mind in a contest of wits. The Internet play allows you to play all the Multiplayer modes (Free for All, Tournament, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag) against other human opponents through your ISP. In the online site you can see what servers are available, what maps are being played on that server, which players are currently playing, and how fast your connection is to that server (great for avoiding the dreaded lag monster.) Reach out and frag someone!


To sum up, Quake 3 Arena is a must-buy for all Sega Dreamcast owners. It’s fun factor, highly customizable options, and internet play guarantee the owner several hours of fun. It’s not as good as the PC version (how many PC-to-console conversions are?) but it’s enough to keep you entertained and fragging until Half-Life and Unreal Tournament are released. If these two first-person shooters are half as good as Quake 3 Arena, I think I’m going to need a few more vacation days…