Quake III: Arena

Normally I don't care much for these sorts of games, after all, I like playing games on my own and these games normally don't have a compelling single player experience that interest me. Fortunately, the single player campaign here is worthwhile due to it starting off simple but increasingly becomes more challenging as you get used to the game’s mechanics.

The real star of the show is the multiplayer of course, blowing up your friends with Quakes wide range of arsenals is immensely satisfying after all. However, that can only take you so far before the game becomes a tired niche, something that the single player helps to avoid being a thing as it lets you fight against the strong Ai with these weapons. Said Ai encourages you to explore the different ways they work, resulting in some creative matches against it as you rise up the ranks of the tournament. I also have to mention the cast of characters in said tournament as they represent 90s gaming culture in a nutshell, from the references to other id games to what the average gamers of the era would be like.

It's a ton of mindless fun that's still a blast to play to this day, check it out if you haven't already.

Input lag score: 10/10 no introduced input lag, game feels flawlessly smooth and works great on all computers made after 2010.

Gameplay: Fast paced arena goodness, different guns to test your different kinds of aim skill and hard to master "bunnyhop", "circle-strafing" and "rocket jumping" movement.

https://playmorepromode.com/

https://playmorepromode.com/

This and Unreal Tournament essentially kicked down the doors for online FPS gaming.

Though it does have a single player component, this is a game thats all about the multiplayer. High mobillity and featuring a huge skill ceiling, this is an fps experience that was the king of its time and that multiple other games tried to emmulate it. Its closest competitor has always been Unreal Tournament, but i always felt that Quake 3 was just a bit more satisfying and impactful,

There are not many weapons, but each one is fine tuned to perfection, excelling in certain situations but being outclassed in others. Its a really fine balanced that encourages to player to switch weapons constantly and keep moving to get to the respawn points. Its a really frenic experience, that is a complete contrast to more modern multiplayer fps like counter strike and call of duty.

This speed and intensity comes at a cost though, which is the steep learning curve of the game. Because the game has a high skilling, those playing for years will have a huge advantage of knowing the maps, but also knowing the more intrinsic feeling of the weapons. It takes quite a lot of time to get to a moderatly decent level, and this is the sort of game that isnt all that fun when you are down 0/10. On the other hand, its one of the most satisfying shooters out there when you are performing well. Visually it has aged a bit, and modern contemporaries like Unreal Tournament 2016 might be a good alternative. Gameplaywise though it still plays like a dream.