Quake

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 1996
• Genre: Shooter
• Style: First-Person Shooter
• Similar Games: Doom (Atari Jaguar), Duke Nukem 3D (game.com), Doom (IBM PC Compatible), Duke Nukem 3D (IBM PC Compatible), Doom (Sega Genesis 32X), Doom (Sega Saturn), Duke Nukem 3D (Sega Saturn), Doom (PlayStation), Doom (3DO), Doom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), Doom II (IBM PC Compatible), Thief Gold (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

After Doom revolutionized first-person shooters, Quake raised the bar and set standards featuring improved visuals in a 3D environment, excellent controls, numerous monsters and a vast online experience. Much darker in theme, the four dimensions contain cathedrals, tombs of the undead, base installations and nightmarish realms, and each dimension is broken into various levels with an end-boss. When a dimension's rune is collected, the player returns to a central hub from which other levels are chosen.

With the 3D environments, a number of dark and detailed textures are used to create an evil-looking atmosphere. The level architecture is quite astonishing, featuring pillars, lava rivers, cracks in walls, ceiling-support beams and other gothic details. Nine Inch Nails' ambient soundtrack adds to the experience with subtle but disturbing noises.

Controls are precise, with an emphasis on strafing around monsters, and movement is in full 360 degrees allowing one to view all aspects of the level. Monsters are innovative and smart, including zombies that tear off their own limbs and throw them as weapons, undead marines, hellhounds, piranha-like fish, evasive and fast-moving Fiends, sword-bearing knights, and the menacing Shambler. Likewise, the armaments are excellent, ranging from an axe and grenade and rocket launchers to the double-barreled shotgun and Nailgun.

Power-ups, such as three different armors, an invulnerable Pentagram of Protection, the devastating Quad Damage and Ring of Shadows, are strewn about the levels creating a level playing field when fighting certain monsters. These items are also useful when involved in a deathmatch. Quake is one of the first games to make use of Internet gaming; 16 combatants can face off on a server or via LAN. Aside from a few lag issues, the engine is stable and runs well on a full server.

Roots & Influences

Quake was a revolution in the first-person shooter genre. Based on the company's own Doom and Doom II, id Software set out to make a game where the player would feel in the world. By programming the options to jump and look up and down, they did just that. It took the action side of Doom and evolved it into a full 3D world. Instead of sprite based (and pixilated) monsters, they went with polygonal enemies and creatures. It also helped to revolutionize online gaming. It was the first game to really catch with the mainstream multi-player market. After Quake, almost every game released (in the first-person shooter and real time strategy genres) has a multi-player feature of some sorts.

Production Credits

quake	quake 2
quake 3	quake 4