Quake (Second Review)

Title		Quake (Second Review)
Game Type	3D Action
Players		1
Compatibility	020 plus
Submission	Vincenzo Morra

Review
IS IT TRUE?

Everybody was talking about it; ID stated clearly that Amiga was not a
viable platform for a proper conversion until some hackers proved them
wrong. ClickBOOM has polished the code and now it is available for all of
us. What am I talking about? Quake of course.
When I first heard about the possibility to have Quake on Amiga I was a bit
sceptical. Quake is a great game, but it needs a powerful processor to
perform all the calculation of the 3D environment. When ClickBOOM confirmed
that they had acquired the rights to convert it for Amiga I felt a deep
sense of satisfaction. ClickBOOM is a team of professional people who really
care about customer satisfaction, and this was shown by their previous
title, Capital Punishment, which was a well polished and playable game
developed from the gamer point of view. But the news about Quake was so
great that I felt the Amiga market for games was about to be born again; we
were about to show to the whole world that Amiga is a capable platform for
running PC games. We already proved ID wrong with the little patch which
gave us the chance to run Doom on Amiga, but Quake was all another story.

THE GAME

The first thing to take in consideration is that Quake is a 3D game.
Americans call it a "corridor game" because you have to run up and down in
different locations (which look like corridors) blasting monsters and
triggering switches. The great thing about this game is the 3D environment.
Pay attention because it is not a pseudo 3D (like Doom and Alien Breed) but
a real 3D environment with real 3D locations. You will not spend all the
time running up and down in a corridor shooting your enemies, but moving in
3D space with balconies and dungeons. You can go up to those balconies or
down to those dungeons; you can look around feeling free to move your head
in any possible way, like in real life. It is completely impossible to
express the feelings you will experience playing ID's creation. It is a
different game experience. If you enjoyed Gloom and Breathless you will love
Quake. You will completely forget you are playing a game because you will
be in the game, you will feel you really are in those scary locations with
all the monsters around you.
It is a bit like a Virtual Reality experience without the helmet.

Quake comes on a CD which contains the player and the data file.
The differences with the original PC version are practically nil. Same game,
same graphic and same options.
You need to install a few bits and pieces on your Hard Drive (an installer
will do the job for you) in order to play Quake, but bear in mind that
you need at least 60 MB of free space. And if you want to add all the data
files currently available it is better to dedicate a whole partition to
this game, that's what I've done.

At the beginning of the game you will find yourself in a room where you
have to decide between two different routes; one is easy, one is hard.
The difference is basically you'll find more monsters and less add-on with
the latter. You will then move to another room where you will find the four
entrances to the four different episodes of Quake.
The purpose of the games is just to reach the final level where you have to
destroy the boss of your enemies: a terrible monster with huge tentacles and
big, scary teeth. Each episode is divided in five sub-episodes where you
don't have to do anything other than find the exit.
During your quest you will meet horrible, scary looking monsters.
Starting with the Grunt, a big guy with a big gun, who can be destroyed with
a few shots, up to the Knights, Zombies, Voles and the terrible Shamblers.
Those are the hardest ones and even your most powerful weapon will just make
them laugh. Each monster is different and reacts differently, according to the
weapon you are using. The Zombies, for example, will never die if you shoot
them with your shotgun or nailgun; the only way is to use your grenades to
blow them into small pieces. Most of the monsters hide themselves until you
become visible and then will attack you. So, you have been warned, be
careful before you turn the corner. In each level there are few secret
locations and if you find them, you will be compensated with a new weapon,
health pills or extra ammunition. Great!! You can carry up to eight different
weapons starting from the harmless Axe up to the Nail gun, Grenade launcher
and Lightning gun. The amount of ammunition is not very high so be prepared
to use your weapons carefully. Choose the right one for the right moment and
save the powerful one for the strongest monsters. Sometimes you will need to
activate some switches, or find the right key in order to open certain
doors. Not forgetting all the magic add-on which will give you more shooting
power or protection from the enemy's weapons.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

One of the good things about Quake are the graphics. The locations are well
designed and they really give you a feeling of fear. Everything seems damn
real. The music and the sound effects are a great contribution to what I
can certainly define as the biggest game ever.
Unfortunately, a big game with great graphics requires a great computer in
order to guarantee a minimum of playability. Though the game runs on an Amiga
with 68020 and FPU, a 68060 with possibly a graphics card is really
necessary if you want to enjoy it. If your processor is not as powerful as
it should be, you can play around with the different options (reducing the
size of the main window or changing the resolution of the pixel) in order to
get a good frame rate. You will end up playing in a window not bigger than a
stamp, but for some people it might be enough to get few hours of fun.
But that is not all. One of the great things about Quake is QuakeC which will
give you the chance to program new levels or add-ons for Quake. And if you are
not capable of doing so (or you are too lazy to leave your joystick alone) you
can still purchase those available at the moment: Mission Pack 1 and 2,
Malice or Shrak, to mention just a few of them. They will guarantee you hours
and hours of fun, believe me. Some people may complain about the fact that
Quake requires a very powerful computer in order to be played. Well, just
think that the PC users had to upgrade from the power of our 68060 processor
in order to have a playable version of Quake.
If your computer is powerful enough do not hesitate for a minute. Go out and
buy a copy of Quake. You will do yourself a favour. And don't forget, Quake
PPC is just around the corner, and it will be a very pleasant surprise.

Alphabetical list.