Review: Quake Live

I don't normally 'do' reviews. Sure I've summarised my feelings on a number of games on completion, though these were hardly in-depth analyses of the games. I've often been tempted but the truth is there are far better and knowledgeable people out here in the world wide waste of time that are considerably more qualified and adept than I. So forgive the shambolic and rambling nature of what is to follow, but having been waiting for the past 2 days, got so far as downloading the plug-in which required having to restart my browser and therefore dropping back to the end of the queue, then proceeding to join the queue several more times only to have to give up before getting in I was starting to think the whole thing was some elaborate hoax. I've now been queuing for nearly two hours this morning and am still only 2,434^th in the queue. I'm so annoyed that I've decided to stick around so I can pull it apart. I know it's still technically in Beta, but they said I could play and so far I've not. Quake Live, I am here to destroy you.

In case you are unaware, Quake Live is a first person shooter developed by id Software which you play competitively through your internet browser. The goal for id was to bring an enhanced version of Quake III Arena to a wider audience and in order for it to be free to users the project would be supported from in game advertising. Based on the queues to get in so far it has certainly attracted an audience and id can start to push numbers under marketing types noses and open the bidding.

Some orange juice and the end credits to Walk Hard on TV later and it's 2 hours 47 minutes since I joined the queue and the character selection screen has appeared. As well as choosing your character you can familiarise yourself with or edit the controls, customise your crosshair and change a few colours. Nothing too involved or daunting. As one of the ideas behind this endeavour is to make it accessible to to the widest spectrum possible, thus far it's promising. Even my dear mother-in-law could follow this. Meanwhile the main body of the game starts downloading in the background so at this point it's all pretty seamless.

One major concern for online gaming virgins, or even veterans who just suck, will be the prospect of giving this a try only to to find themselves repeatedly fragged out of existence before so much as getting a shot off. I've certainly stopped playing games before due to the constant deaths brought about by those who have dedicated themselves to honing their skills. All credit to them for their dedication, and I don't wish to detract from their ability. It's just not much fun for those of us who have other commitments and are simply looking for a bit of entertainment. This is where the game's Placement Match comes in. Before you head in to the big frag fest you have to play what is effectively a tutorial. This is ten minutes of learning the basics and battling an AI opponent, at the end of which the game evaluates you. The beauty of this is that it means when you do enter the real gaming arena you'll be playing against opponents of similar ability, which should make for a far better balanced and enjoyable game.

In entering my assessment a lovely young lady named Crash took me into a side room and explained about the weapons, health, armour, jump pads, and took me on a brief tour of the arena. She then proceeded to blow me to smithereens. Ten minutes later and we were tied at 14-14. Next frag the winner. A bit of cat and mouse, a few stray rockets, a quick run to a health globe and as I turned the corner I saw her heading for the red armour. If I could just hit her before she picked it up. Yes! Take that, bitch! Boo-yar, who's the man? I rule!

I'm sure id have just been very clever with the tutorial as they wouldn't want people bowing out at this early stage, so keeping the match tight allows the inept such as myself to still feel we've accomplished something and willing to go on.

The game itself runs incredibly smoothly and once the competition was under way it was easy to forget that this was running in a browser. The visuals are tremendous given the platform. Obviously they don't compare to the likes of Crysis or even Half Life 2, but they do surpass the original Quake III Arena's visuals, which lets not forget took a top notch high end PC to do it justice on release, and yet here it is running in Firefox. This was just a 1 on 1 tutorial though. What would it be like in the big arenas?

Continuing you are returned to the main site where you have the option of taking your skills online or practising further. The lower part of the page shows your statistics and will be continuously updated as you play. No doubt a great source of embarrassment for the likes of me with an accuracy rating of 20% in the tutorial. There's not going to be many numbers to be proud of in there.

I should stress that on completing the tutorial the last thing to do is decide that it's lunchtime and head off to make an egg sandwich, pour a fresh glass of orange juice, and sit down to watch the news while you eat, as when you return your inactivity will have had you logged out.

It's 13:42 and I'm 28,430^th.

14:32 and I'm back in.

Unsure of whether I was truly ready to take on human opponents just yet I went into practice. Anyone new to this type of thing would be well advised to do the same. Here I could choose the game type from Clan Arena; Capture The Flag; Team Deathmatch; Free For All; and Duel. Selecting Clan Arena gave the choice of 35 arenas, the time limit, the round limit, the bot skills and the total number of players. Listed like that it can seem a bit daunting, but the interface is easy to follow and in seconds I was choosing my side and rushing around at breakneck speeds. Requiring eight rounds to be won for victory, things didn't start well. The Blue team were 3-0 up and I was starting to remember why back in the day I went with Unreal Tournament's more controlled and tactical antics instead of Quake III Arena's frenetic action. All too soon I was mashing the space bar and left mouse button and while I'm sure there is an art to doing this, it all felt a bit random. Any deaths attributed to me felt more down to luck than skill. Maybe I'm doing myself a disservice. Only way to be sure I suppose is to go up against humans.

The site offered a Capture The Flag game as a 'Best Pick' so I braced for impact and headed in. Allowing the game to decide which team to put me on I had a look around the level. We're in space with each team having a multi-tiered platform at either end and a central plane between us. To the sides are some more platforms, some jump pads, and some glowing discs. Wondering what the discs do I decide to investigate further, but there's no time, the countdown, 3...2...1 it's over and there's already a red skeleton in front of me flying into the air off a jump pad and heading for the blue flag. I instinctively jump and start firing my shotgun, but he's turned and is heading off the platform. I give chase and we both launch across the sky. During flight I've collected a Railgun and anticipating his landing point, I fire. The skeleton hits the ground and the blue flag is freed. Elated, I launch into the air and head towards the red flag, adrenalin fuelled and hungry for blood, until a rocket blast blows me off and I fall into the void of space. So it continued for the next ten minutes. The red team won 6-1 and I sat third out of the four blue team members. I'm not the worst, and I'm hungry for more. Back at the main page there's a number of matched games for me to join so I head in again.

Playing with humans certainly felt a more solid and rewarding experience, though I think I'll spend some more time practising as despite the slightly disconnected feeling, there's no doubt familiarity with the maps will stand me in good stead.

Quake Live is everything Quake III Arena was, and more. Working through a browser gives it a level of accessibility beyond the gaming crowd. I'm sure some purist will bemoan the fact that their beloved pastime will now be shared by all and sundry, though thanks to the matching system they are unlikely to ever meet.

While I was eager to give Quake Live a try, I didn't expect to particularly enjoy it. I was more interested to see how it would work and what concession would have had to be made. It is a truly incredible achievement and a considerably better gaming experience than many retail products. I should warn Vista users that at present Aero isn't compatible, though the game will turn it off for you on launch.

My only real criticism is of the current waiting times. For Quake Live to be viable it needs to attract advertisers and for that it will need to captivate and sustain significant numbers. It's accessibility once you're in will certainly help in that regard, though if the waiting times don't improve people may not be willing to wait. I'm sure once the beta ends and it's fully live it won't be an issue. For now I'm in, and I'm staying put.

Try it yourself at www.quakelive.com