Quake III: Team Arena Demo

Quake III: Arena is probably is one of the most recognizable shooters ever released, and certainly one of the most popular. The fast-paced nature of the action and the countless thrilling moments experienced on servers from all over the world marked an entire generation of gamers, while also inspiring a multitude of other games to follow the same formula.

Quake III: Team Arena is not exactly a full release, nor is it a separate title from the original game. In fact it is actually an expansion pack meant to provide the fans with additional content and many other gameplay improvements. Hence, plenty of new maps and a couple of brand new mechanics have been added to the mix, although the content included in the package does not really justify a separate release.

The maps are what you might be most interested in, because they are liable to stick to your memory for years to come, if they are good enough. Unfortunately, none of the new additions manages to do that, mostly because they lack imagination, even if they are not exactly bad. In fact, they are quite balanced and detailed, but there’s just so much user-created content out there that you might not want to throw money on the official packs anyway.

The CTF mode has received some improvements as well, although it still uses the classic formula. It does feel more fluid and the new mechanics help a lot, such as the fact that each team has a leader and he can give out orders to every player. The rest plays out in pretty much the same manner, with both teams trying to steal each other’s flags and planting them in their respective bases.

Another interesting addition is the fact that players are now allowed to create their own logos and thus customize their in-game appearance, which is certainly fun and interesting. A bunch of new weapons have also been added, although they are not as fun or as as useful as the one from the original release are, even if they do look a tad better, thanks to the visual improvements.

Although Quake III: Team Arena comes with some pretty interesting and well-made additions, the quantity is not enough to be worth the switch from the regular version. In fact, the amount of mods and maps provided by the game’s community is more than plenty not to need any kind of official packs, which should’ve occurred to id Software as well.