It's finally here

It's no secret that Firingsquad is comprised of first person shooter fans. Our entire staff has played everything from Wolfenstein 3D to Doom 1&2 to Rise of the Triad to Quake 1&2, and on up through the more recent shooters like Shogo, Half-Life, Unreal, and SiN. Through countless hours of bleary eyed gameplay, we've witnessed firsthand how FPS has evolved both technologically and from a design standpoint. One thing that has become clear in recent times is that "id software" is no longer the only name synonymous with the term "first person shooter." Many other companies like Dynamix, Raven, Ritual, Epic, and Valve have stepped up with high quality shooters of their own. With every successful FPS release, id's place as the king of FPS becomes shakier and shakier. Some say they've lost it already, and for a long time, even id fans couldn't agree on which id game was the best.

A big statue

Slash fires into the corridor

Quake 1 vs. Quake 2

When Quake 2 was first released, most people just assumed that all the Quake 1 players would move over to it and Q1 would fade off into the sunset. Things didn't go as planned. It became apparent that there were specific issues that Q1 players refused to accept. Loud footsteps were added into Quake 2 - combined with the presence of the powerful railgun, serious 1on1 games slowed to a crawl as players attempted to skulk about and snipe at one another. Scores in the 20s, 30s, and 40s were commonplace in Quake 1 matches; these numbers were cut down into the single digits for 1on1 Q2 matches. Reduced movement speeds contributed to the overall slowdown, as did the new rockets. Q2 rockets were so slow that you could often beat them to the ground while falling. Topping it all off, the lightning gun, a favorite of Q1 players, was removed entirely.

Once you added it all up, anyone could see that Quake 1 would not go quietly into the night. Debates raged back and forth, and although Quake 1's popularity did eventually wane, the community (particularly the Quakeworld team DM, and the Team Fortress people) never fully abandoned the game. Id software's camp of fans was definitely split between Quake 1 snobs and Quake 2's proponents. It was up to Quake 3 to somehow unite the two camps.

Those things can squish you

That's the Regen on the left

Quake 3

Id was well aware of the split in their fan base and worked to make Quake 3 an appealing compromise that both Q1 and Q2 players would enjoy. From the start, it was designed to be the ultimate refinement in multiplayer deathmatching, nothing less, nothing more. Many decry the game for having "nothing innovative," aside from the graphics engine, but that's a label that id doesn't really shy away from. The Quake series has always focused heavily on deathmatch, and Q3 was no exception. Id has always left it up to modmakers to create variations. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on your point of view.