jefklakscodex/content/games/switch/quake.md

date	title	tags	score	howlongtobeat_id	howlongtobeat_hrs	game_name	game_genre	game_release_year	game_developer
2023-09-21	Quake (2021 Remaster)	retro shooters FPS	4	7452	5.3	Quake	FPS	2021	id Software

After playing Outlaws, I felt the need to go back one more year to id Software's 1996 seminal shooter title, Quake. But what is there left to say about one of the very first fully 3D polygon-rendered shooters that further propelled the shooter, multiplayer, and modding community to the heights they are now? Everyone has heard of Quake, and without it, we wouldn't have Half-Life, the birth of story in FPS, or the Team Fortress mod, the birth of char- and team-based multiplayer mayhem. I could go on by restating how important this game is to the history of video gaming, but instead, I'd rather give you my opinion of how it plays today in 2023.

I never really played Quake past the first two levels back in 1996: I was more of a Duke 3D guy that "wasn't afraid of no Quake"---an actual pun made by Duke. If I had played it back in the day, I don't think I would have been very impressed. I didn't care for the multiplayer mode and liked the 2.5D Build Engine's typical level design, color choice, and character traits of their protagonists (in Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, and Shadow Warrior) much more. And I still do. Quake's typical brown gooey mess called thematic texture work can look quite appalling, especially in software rendering mode---the mode most people played it in, as Voodoo cards that powered hardware rendering through Glide were (and again are) very expensive.

After playing through the shareware episode on my Win98 machine in good ol' pixelated 640x480 mode and getting annoyed with the iffy prehistoric mouselook implementation---which, granted, started by Quake, but thankfully did get better overtime---I decided to give the 2021 remaster by Nightdive Studios a try on the Nintendo Switch. I know, I know, you're not supposed to play these kinds of games with a stick, but (1) I don't have a modern PC that runs it and (2) its gyro aiming combined with manual control is, after a few hours of exercise, surprisingly good. In fact, the whole technical conversion to Nightdive's proprietary Kex engine is surprisingly good!

Back in 1996, I didn't understand that the core gameplay loop of Quake is considerably different compared to the Build engine games (or to DOOM). In Quake, it's all about small but very tight vertical level design, speed, and the technicality of shooting mechanics. This takes some getting used to, and even stupid people like me who suck at FPS games and play them on easy scraped by after a few episodes of falling flat and retrying. I initially wasn't that impressed with the game: the monotonous Gothic brownness, the limited variation of enemies, and especially the weird disconnectedness from level to level did little to me.

But then I started really getting into it. Once that gameplay loop grabs you, it's hard to let go, which says something of a 27 year old game that was developed with a small team on a very tight deadline. Most of these technical masterpieces excelled at just that: the engine was most of the work. These games are mostly remembered for its engine. But in case of Quake, the simple but addicting gameplay combined with the (mostly) tight level design kept me key hunting in the various single player campaigns.

Speaking of which, the Quake remaster comes with every possible mission pack ever released, and then some: it even has a whole new one called Dimensions of the Past, which to me was one of the highlights of the entire game! Can you imagine that? A slew of new levels designed for a 27 year old game that's even better than the original ones? Even though no new enemies or weapon types are introduced, the set pieces in Dimensions of the Past's satisfyingly longer levels are simply superb.

Nine Inch Nail's famous influence on Quake's sound design deserves yet another mention, as in the original episodes, there's no typical soundtrack with songs, but dark atmospheric throbs that help discouraging any fool daring to disturb the zombies in the poisonous canals surrounding the gloomy castle. During a hectic shootout, contrary to the modern heavy metal in more modern boomer shooters, it's barely noticeable, yet when things quiet down, it has a "whoah---what happened here?" effect.

Of course, the iconic HUAH! jump sound and the TSCHK when picking up ammo boxes or the TI-DI-DI medkits all scream QUAKE. I kept hearing some of these noises during my sleep. That was a lovely night. Add the BOOM-SJK-BOOM-SJK-BOOM-SJK rhythm of the double-barreled shotgun and we're good to go. I do wonder why why this isn't called the super shotgun. At least it's just as satisfying to gib those annoying grenade throwing ogres at close range.

The guns are perhaps one of the lesser impressive aspects of Quake compared to DOOM or Duke Nukem 3D. There's less variation and not much originality: the starting shotgun feels very weak for being a shotgun, a nailgun looks cool but is just a machine gun, the iconic BFG to help with crowd control is missing, and most guns are obsolete as soon as you get your hands on the rocket launcher---especially in multiplayer. The biggest disadvantage of the latter is the huge splash damage range rendering it difficult to position a well-placed shot in the tight corners of many levels.

The levels, with their brand new 3D verticality compared to id's previous shooter DOOM, fluctuate quite a bit in excellence. It seems that each original episode was designed by another id member, and time pressure apparently prevented seamless integration and a unified philosophy. Objectively speaking, Quake is a strange amalgamation of levels thrown together coated with brown sauce. Still, somehow, it works. Most of the time. In essence, it's still DOOM: simple but effective shooting combined with keyhunting.

Unfortunately, I have the feeling that some of the level design mechanics that work in DOOM (such as the sometimes borderline sadistic enemy placement above you) do not work as well in Quake, although I can't quite put my finger on it. I do love the bite siziness of the traditional levels, as I mostly only have time to play games in shorter bursts, making the absent map not really missed. In addition, There's no need to remember where you were in a next gameplay session.

It should be clear by now that Quake still more than deserves to be explored in 2023, although depending on your tolerance of old school shooter mechanics, your mileage will vary. Unless you decide to play the 2021 remaster: in that case, the €10 spent will be more than worth it. Besides various technical enhancements such as dynamic lightning and widescreen support, a plethora of accessibility options, ease of use regarding controls, and even modding support on consoles (providing you log in using a Bethesda account---no thank you), it also comes packed with both old and new content. To me, Dimensions of the Machine alone is worth the purchase.

My Switch profile claims I spent "10 hours or more" playing through the base game and about half of the provided expansions. I think I'm ready to move on to DUSK now. Let the Halloween boomer shooter period begin!