After the initial disappointment of waiting times
and plug-in problems I was extremely impressed by the Quake 3 online
engine, which is a testament to the designers and coders at Id
software. The lush visuals are matched by the frantic pace of the game
online which is further enhanced by the fantastic environments and the
variety of weapons. For a first attempt Id have certainly stepped up
to the mark.
Once you have successfully entered the game and
downloaded the plug-in for your browser you are presented with Crash,
your first online opponent who tests your skill abilities in order to
match you with similar opponents in the game proper.
Not being particularly proficient at the game I
found myself being matched with the lowest skill level of opponents
who still managed to frag me successfully within seconds of entering a
match. (yes, I completely suck at the game) However, this does not
take away from the addictiveness of the game which I remember from
last playing Quake on my Xbox. If you feel the engine does not do a
good job of matching your skill level you also have the choice of
entering matches on a higher level. (which is pointless for me)
The game offers several game modes including capture
the flag, clan arena, team death match and free for all. All these
game modes should be familiar to Quake users and other fps users
alike, and I did not experience any lag within any of the game modes I
played, even with a lowly 5Mb average broadband speed.
After trying the game out on the Mac I was
disappointed to find that there is no inherent support for Safari as
yet. I also tried Mac Firefox with no success even though the site
itself says that the game works in Firefox, which of course it does on
the PC. So I guess Mac users are going to have to wait, unless some of
you know different.
Anyway here's a little taster video for anyone who
has not played the game online...
