=6. Goldeneye(21 votes)
GoldenEye closely mirrors the plot of the 17th James Bond movie, starting with the daring bungee jump sequence and ending with a showdown between 007 and Alec Trevelyan atop a huge antenna. In between, you'll shoot scads of soldiers, plant explosives, escape from a train seconds before it explodes, and execute other decidedly Bond-like maneuvers. The entire game takes place from a Doom-like perspective, except that holding down the R button allows you to aim anywhere on the screen, and with the sniper rifle, zoom in for a nice, clean head shot.
The graphics in GoldenEye are incredible. From installations deep under the snow to lush Cuban jungles, each environment looks really good, with a decent amount of detail. There is a slight bit of fogging at the edge of your view, but hey, St. Petersburg is a foggy place. The sniper rifle alleviates some of the fog, enabling you to zoom up and peep the action long before the guards are alerted to your presence. Also, the characters in the game look really good. When you run into Boris, he actually looks like Alan Cumming. The only character who doesn't transfer favorably into the 3-D world is Natalya, who looks a little too square.
The music in GoldenEye is absolutely perfect, and adds a lot of ambience to the game. For instance, one of the later levels starts in an elevator, complete with laid-back elevator music. When you exit the elevator, the level's real soundtrack kicks in. A minor point, sure, but it demonstrates the detail of the game. The only thing that could make GoldenEye's sound better is the inclusion of speech.
GoldenEye is the type of game N64 owners have been waiting for since they finished Mario 64. It has outstanding graphics and sound, and contains a certain depth in its gameplay that really entices you to finish it on all three difficulty levels. If more N64 games use this as a model, as opposed to Cruis'n USA or KI Gold, then perhaps the system really does have a shot at toppling the PlayStation's reign as the dominant game platform.
=6. Quake series(21 votes)(Quake 11, Quake 2 2, Quake World 1, Quake III Arena 6)
Id made its mark early on in the PC 3D shooter scene with games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and the Grand Poobah of them all: Quake. Quake is arguably the most well-received shooter series ever, provided PC gamers with hours upon hours of mindless, addictive action while keeping their hands busy in the process. So, with the release of Quake III: Arena, gamers were given another opportunity to jump into one of the best shooter universes of all time.
The Look of Death
The first thing you'll notice after you dive into the depths of the Arena is that the latest installment in the Quake series has been given a complete visual facelift. Gone are the days of the square, sparse, blocky levels that looked like little more than metallic Lego mazes. Now you'll be wowed with curved surfaces (that make the classic architectural feature the arch possible for the first time in a Quake game ... which the series was just screaming for), spectacular strobing light effects, smoke trails, vision-impairing fog, and atmosphere setting shadows. For the most part, the levels are still very drab, dark, and gray, with little color besides the aforementioned light bursts except in the color-coded capture the flag levels. But while Quake III may not be the most colorful shooter out there, no other game presently available beats Quake III when it comes to wall textures. The wall textures are simply amazing -- crisp, clean, and super detailed -- especially if you're running the game on a 32-bit card. Yes, you really can tell a big difference between 16-bit and 32-bit graphics in this game, and I have to admit I was rather jealous looking over at Vincent's TNT2-based system while I was playing against him on my Voodoo3 rig. Of course, you won't get a chance to enjoy them much while you're running around faster than a pat of butter in an eel skin wallet, but if you slow down you'll see that absolutely nothing comes close to the detail seen in Quake III.
Of course, all of this graphical detail requires a fast machine to run smoothly. Simply put, Quake III: Arena is a resource hog, and you're inevitably going to experience slowdown when there are a lot of challengers fighting in the same area. There's just so much to animate at once that there's no way to avoid dropped frames at some points during the game. Thank goodness you can easily adjust the graphic acuity of the game in the options menu to suit your system. Regardless of the minimum requirements of a P200 MMX, I wouldn't recommend Quake III: Arena to anyone with less than a 300MHz machine with 128MB of RAM.
As far as level design goes, there's really nothing that awe-inspiring to be found in Arena. Overall, the levels are more cramped and filled with more corridors than those of previous installments. While this makes for faster and more spectacular frags, there were only a handful of levels that were really interesting, like Vertical Vengeance (Q3Tournament4), which has a central jump room and three surrounding tiers of catwalks. The only real innovation are the numerous outer space jump levels that really add some spice to gameplay since falling to your death is always a possibility as you fly from platform to platform.
A Face Only a Mother Would Love
Another graphical coup in Quake III: Arena can be found by looking at the character models. Like the surface textures, the character models are all very clean, well detailed, and each display there own unique personalities. In all, there are 89 different character skins to choose from (wrapped around a total of 32 different models), ranging from the classic Doom hero to more esoteric looking characters like Orbb (a walking mechanical eye) and Klesk (a spike-endowed alien). The sheer number of skins is leaps and bounds over any other shooter out there, and you're sure to find at least one that appeals to you. And even if none of the included skins meet with your high standards, with the plethora of new skins rolling in via the Web everyday, you'll be able to customize your look with a quick download.
An Arsenal to Die For ... Well, Not Really
Since Quake III is a shooter, it would seem natural that most of the improvements and enhancements in the next installment of the series would be in the weapons. Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and the game designers were content in sticking with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy and decided not to add any truly new weapons to the series, opting instead just to tweak known guns from the Quake universe. The real distressing point here, though, is that all of the weapons in Quake are rather bland and predictable, especially when compared to other shooters like Unreal Tournament and Half-Life. And, while everything feels well balanced, this boils down to nothing more than the fact that all of the weapons do about the same amount of damage (with the exception of the mercilessly under-powered machine gun). As I said before, there's not really anything new and exciting, but here's the run down:
Gauntlet: Your last resort weapon. An electrically charged saw blade that only hurts your opponents at extremely close range. The only time you'll use the gauntlet is when you're completely out of ammo.
Machine Gun: Basically a rapid-fire pea shooter. You'll start each game with the machine gun, but it's about as effective as a shotgun full of feathers. Only good until you can find another weapon or for taking out foes who have already been heavily damaged.
Shotgun: A slow loading but powerful gun that packs a hefty punch at close range. Just as in real life, your damage radius will spread out the further away your pellets travel, and the effect is almost instantaneous. However, the shotgun is much less effective at long ranges. It is one of the best and most damaging weapons to use when you're standing right next to someone, though.
Plasma Gun: The plasma gun is all about combining rapid fire with medium damage. While the gun sucks energy quickly, it can be a deadly in the right hands.
Grenade Launcher: Like the name implies, the grenade launcher is used to heave time-delayed explosives at your opponents. While the grenades can cause a lot of damage, you have to either hit your foes directly or time your shots perfectly so they explode when someone is within range.
Rocket Launcher: It takes a while to get used to, but the rocket launcher is the weapon of choice for most of the Quake III players around the office. Since the rockets are rather slow, you have to lead your targets accordingly. You can wreak a lot of havoc with the rocket launcher, and because of its wide blast radius, you can frag opponents without having to hit them directly. Expect the gibs to fly when the rocket launcher is resting in the hands of a master.
Lightning Gun: You'll know when you've pulled the trigger because your ears will resonate with the unmistakable crack of thunder. The lightning gun shoots a steady stream of electricity at the unfortunate soul in your crosshairs. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to aim because your entire field of view is alight with electrical charges. A descent medium powered weapon, but it's not nearly as good as the lighting gun from the original Quake.
Rail Gun: The sniper weapon of choice. The rail gun propels a depleted uranium slug at super-sonic speeds. It causes a great deal of damage, even taking down opponents with one shot, but requires almost pinpoint accuracy.
BFG-10K: The BFG is back, but it's a lot different than the BFG of days past. Instead of a slow moving behemoth, the BFG is in essence a souped-up plasma gun, combining rapid fire with the power of a rocket launcher.
As in previous Quake titles, in addition to these nine implements of destruction, there are a number of specials and power-ups that you can pick up as you run around the crowded hallways in each level. There's the normal assortment of armor, health boosters, speed increases, and the almighty quad-damage, but you'll also find some new enhancements (well, at least new outside of special user-created MODs) like invisibility and flight which will give you a definite advantage over the competition. Overall, these new power-ups add an exciting new twist to the game and will give you a chance to try out some new tactics, like picking off your unsuspecting opponents from high with the rail gun.
Gib Me Liberally, Or Gib Me Death
Okay, okay. So the weapons didn't get much of an overhaul. But the real focus of the Quake series has always been on gameplay. While the basic mechanics of the series have stayed the same (run, jump, and shoot everything that moves), the feel of the game has been given a definite overhaul. This is where Quake III turns on the afterburners and flies into the thermosphere. Quake has always been about fast action, quick reflexes, and big kills, but Quake III by far feels like the best of the bunch. It's faster and much more insane than Quake or Quake II ever was. Quake has never been about tactical thinking or strategic planning. It's utter chaos, and none of the other Quake titles have captured that feeling as well as Quake III: Arena has. No other game has ever given my wrist such a workout or made my palm sweat so profusely from constant movement (and I bet you all wanted to know that). One of the things that I really like about Quake III is that you actually feel the impact of the weapon when you get hit. You'll jerk slightly when getting hit by a machine gun, and a rocket will throw you back and disorient you until you can get your bearings again. It seems like a simple concept, but not many other shooters take this into account.
As with every good shooter now, there's a single player as well as a multiplayer component to Quake III. The single play experience is shallow at best, and really only a warm up for the multiplayer game. You face off against a number of computer-controlled bots in the various arenas in the game, and can pick a varying difficulty level depending on how gib-endowed you're feeling at the moment. Let me warn you, though, the difficulty levels rise quickly, and while the "Hurt Me Plenty" level is certainly playable, the "Nightmare" level is impossible to beat, at least by anyone I know. The computer can shoot off a rocket from across a great expanse and somehow know exactly where you're going to be at the point of impact. Regardless, though, the single player missions give you a chance to hone your skills and learn the levels before going online and taking on some human opponents.
But as I'm sure you're all aware of by now, Quake III: Arena focuses on the multiplay experience. While there's not much more to multiplay in Quake III than a few variants on the classic Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, Quake III achieves the perfect mix of action, movement, and feeling. Over a good LAN, Quake III runs nearly perfectly, with only a few pauses in gameplay -- like the moment right before you die. As with the single player game, you'll have to tweak how your system runs the game, but once you do it's pretty much a flawless experience. I found a very similar pattern over high-speed connection like DSL or cable, and had little problems with lag. Everything was smooth and, overall, the deathmatch experience couldn't be beat. Of course, using a modem is a different story altogether. If you're going to go online with a modem, you're going to have to turn the game effects way down to achieve an acceptable framerate. However, as long as you can deal with lower levels of detail, you should be good to go.
Besides some performance problems, the only other complaint I have about the multiplay experience is that Quake III gives you absolutely no information about the maps before you enter them. It would be nice to see the recommended number of players before you jumped into a skirmish only to find out the map you chose is far too big for four players.
If I Only Had a Brain
If you are going to be playing a lot of the single player game (and I suggest you do just that for the practice alone), you're going to have to go up against the AI bots. I can truly say that the AI in Quake III is some of the best I've seen in any shooter. And with scalable difficulty levels, you can tailor the bots to your play skill. While on the easiest level, the bots are little more than running fodder, at the higher levels they'll actually head for specific power-ups, better weapons, and use advanced tactics like the rocket jump to outmaneuver you if you're on their tail. They'll even taunt you during a match (with the requisite speech bubble appearing over their heads), and respond to you if you give them a good tongue lashing. All of this is very cool, and really gives you the feeling of taking on real-life opponents before you even step online.
Pain, Pain Go Away, Frag Again Some Other Day
If there's one thing that can be said about Quake III: Arena is that it's incredibly addictive, no matter how shallow and simple the gameplay may be, and no matter how canned the arsenal is. Of course, Quake has never tried to disguise itself as a thinking man's game. It accomplishes exactly what id set out to do when creating the thirds installment. There's no other shooter that comes close to the look and feel of Quake III.
![Chris [BEANS]](/styles/overclockers/avatars/6.png){kind=avatar}
Sticky for sure.