Well, here it is. Ever since clickBOOM announced that they would be releasing this game there has been a tremendous amount of excitement in the Amiga community. Playing Quake on your Amiga would have been a distant dream just a year ago, however, now that dream is a reality. However, the questions begs - is it as good as all of the hype has made it out to be? |
There is a story behind Quake, something about some guy and slipgates and him being stuck somewhere, however, i'm not going to bore you with details of it here, suffice to say that this is standard kill anything that moves type of game. The games aim? Well, you have to fight your way through the game and collect 4 runes that are needed to beat the big guy who caused all this hassle. Probably the biggest difference between Quake and its predecessor Doom is that Quake is played in a real 3D world, basically this means that you can look, aim, move and even fly at any angle you like. An example of this type of engine can be found in Alien Breed 3D 2, although Quakes engine is much more complex. This really adds a lot to the game and really makes you feel like your there behind the gun . A very nice feature that the game has is the mouse control, as well as the basic movement and firing controls via it you can also hold the right mouse button down and look around you in 360° by moving the mouse, great when you being shot at and you don't know where from.
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Like I said before, your aim in the game is to collect 4 runes, these are spread between 4 different zones, each one getting progressively harder then the last. Each zone contains about six or so levels, the first few getting you into the game, teaching you the different aspects of it, however, after this things really start to get hard. Even on the easiest level (There are also Medium, Hard & Nightmare if you ever complete it at easy) it is one hell of a hard game and you'll be using the save option which thankfully allows you to save the game at any point quite regularly, if your anything like me then this will probably be after every other room you enter, this is mainly because you can never feel safe in Quake. Even if you have the hardest weapons loads of armour and health you can be sure that around the next corner there is gonna be a Shambler (These things define the word hard, they fire lightning bolts that can kill you with one shot if your not careful) that will fry you in no time.
As with Doom, Quake is very much a shoot everything in site, there has been very little added to tax your brain, ok there are a few puzzles in the game, but these are generally press a button and then work out what door it has opened or what bridge it has lowered, nothing that really makes you think. Maybe this is because the programmers thought it might detract from the frantic nature of the game, maybe puzzles really arn't the sort of thing this type of game benefits from anyway...
What clickBOOM have done to Quake is not just a port they have also added a fair
few Amiga only features that make things easier for you. One of these is the
introduction of an Amiga standard menu to the game, from here you can configure
the game start new games etc. They have also added there own custom sound
routines, and also for those with a soundcard AHI support is also available.
Other additions include support for graphics cards (Picassio & CyberGFX).
While Quake is great in one player mode it really comes into its own when the mulitplayer option is used. Quake offers support for modem, serial, IPX and TCP/IP connections. Via these Quake offers support for up to 16 players at once. The most common multiplayer game is the deathmatch, in this the players run around special deathmatch levels blasting eachother as many times as possible. Weapons and health/armour pick-ups are spread randomly around the level, if/when you find a lightning gun, you have in your hands the most powerful gun in the game, just watch as everyone cacks themselves and runs off at the first site of it.
For many of you reading this the most interesting of the multiplayer options will be the TCP/IP support, the one that allows you to play your mate on the other side of the world. There are a vast amount of servers around the world which you can join, many are normally full to the brim with other likeminded people out to frag as many people as they can. Sadly, at the moment, this particular feature is somewhat limited, this is due to the latency factor that is introduced by the Internet, unless all players have a very quick connection to the server then game will can lag quite badly, causing the game to stop and start. I myself, have experienced lag free play quite a number of times however this is only because I have found a server which I have a fast link to, others may not be so lucky. However, all is not lost as there is a program called QuakeWorld which puts pay to many of the Internet lag problems which is currently being ported by clickBOOM and should be with us very soon.
As well as the simple deathmatches there are also variants of it such as team
deathmatches, in this the players on the server are broken up into two teams
with the aim being to wipe out the other team, this can be very frantic and
sometimes can go drastically wrong as you find yourself firing a rocket at one
of your team. Capture the Flag is another popular type of game, this is exactly
what the name suggests, you have to capture the opponents flag.
Something else that Quake has to offer is its expandability. The game comes with a programming language called QuakeC, via this you can change the game in a drastic manner, going as far to allow you to virtually create new games. This is something that has caught on in the PC world and many add-ons and even completely new games have been written.
Many of the add-ons have been made freely available on the Internet, from new weapons to completly new games, they are all available. Many of these add-ons can improve the game to the player who can't experience the multi-player aspect a massive amount, computer controlled bots are available to add to your games, these vary from simple capture to flag bots to ones which have there own complex artificial intelligence, these are also great for fine tuning your skills before you take on real human players. The best are the total conversions though, some of these have even made in into the commercial market, they are that different. The most popular of these is probably Malice. Other conversions include Quake Rally, AirQuake and Painkeep. All offer a great difference to the Quake game and will keep you playing for a long time to come.
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Well, the game may be here buts it doesn't stop there. ClickBOOM have quite a fair bit planned for the future. First off there is an 060 enhanced version of the engine on the way, this apparantly offers a few extra fps to the game, it should be with us very soon. Also clickBOOM have Quakeworld & QuakeSpy planned for release, again, both should be with us quite soon. All of these will be available as free upgrades to registered users. As for futher in the future, well, who knows, maybe one day we'll see an official PPC Quake from clickBOOM..... |
The one question mark that Quake has is its speed. Is the Amiga really powerful enough to cope with a game of this type, well, the answer is yes and no. On the machine that I reviewed the game on, an 060/AGA the game is perfectly playable on a 80% 320x200 screen, people with 060 and a GFX card will get a small speed increase over this so will probably be able to manage a 100% screensize. 040 users are not left out in the cold though as I have heard reports of 040 users playing the game at decent speeds without any problems. However, 020 & 030 users who expect to play this at a decent speed really should think again as your machine just isn't powerful enough.
clickBOOM have done the Amiga community a massive favour in making Quake available for us, in my opinion it doesn't matter how old it may be, it really is a great game and for that reason alone it deserves to do well. The game is great for both one player and multiplayer games and with the massive range of add-ons available you'll never got bored. A landmark release for the Amiga and certainly not a game you should miss out on if you have the required hardware.
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| Machine: | AGA/GFX Card, FPU Required | |
| Workbench: | 3.0+ | |
| RAM: | 8 Mb | |
| Hard-disk Install | 60Mb Required | |
| Disks: | 1 CD | |
| Graphics:- | Can look a bit dull at times, however the textures are nice, some great water effects. | 92% |
| Sound:- | Sounds fantasic, really atmospheric. Also support CDDA. | 93% |
| Playability:- | What it lacks in speed it makes up for in sheer playability, the multiplayer aspect is the icing on the cake. . | 95% |
| Lastability:- | Once you have completed the single player game you have the add-ons and mulit-player games to keep you going for ages. | 95% |
| OVERALL:- | A game that certainly lives up to the hype, simply brilliant, | 94% |
Where to get the Demo?
A non-playable demo of Quake is available. Get it from the clickBOOM webpage at:http://www.clickboom.com
Where to get Quake From?
Quake is available from a wide number of Amiga outlets, it is also available direct from PXL Computers, there website can be found at:-:http://www.pxlcomputers.com.
