Welcome (back) to the Jungle: Fragging and getting fragged in the Quake Live Beta

Before World of Warcraft ate up the lives of gamers, id Software’s first-person shooter Quake swallowed countless hours of free time in homes, offices, dorms and…well, anywhere there was a PC.

And, man, the fun ran deep. Nail guns, rocket jumps, being turned into slabs of bloody goo because of poor hand-eye coordination, the references to Nine Inch Nails and Lovecraft. Oh yes, it must be Quake. For you youngsters who didn’t grow up during the big FPS boom of the 1990s, Quake was perhaps the king of the mountain when it came to blowing up your online friends, thanks to a wicked multiplayer mode.

Quake was a massive hit when it came out in 1996, and it spawned a slew of fast-action FPS sequels which kept the spirit of in-your-face combat alive for more than a decade. Yes, there was a storyline, but really…it was all about multiplayer. Go mention Quake to any buddy, friend or co-worker who is in their mid-30s and you’ll likely hear stories about staying up all night in Quake deathmatches.

And that brings us to Quake Live, or rather the Quake Live Beta which opened its doors to the public today. Basically, Quake Live Beta is just an improved version of Quake Arena (which came out in 1999, ditching the plot for multiplayer fun) but Web-based. No software necessary. I heard about Quake Live last year, and I admit I had my doubts if Quake could be resurrected as a free (yes, free) Web-based fragfest.

Nostalgic for the old days, I decided to give it a shot. Signing up and downloading took a couple minutes, with about another five minutes or so for my machine to shake hands with the Quake Live servers. After that, I could jump right in to combat (read: get my rump handed to me) or practice against bots.

After a little while of playing, here’s what I came away with:

·         Age has played havoc with my reaction time

·         I’m absolutely not getting any work done in the office in the near future.

·         The practice mode is ridiculously customizable.

·         It’s not the prettiest game around, but the lower-grade graphics likely ensures that you won’t need a powerhouse PC to play this.

·         It’s easy to jump in and play.

·         A fair amount of online matches waiting for you, complete with icons to show you how many people are playing, what the match is (capture the flag, free for all, etc.), how challenging it will be, and more. I’m guessing that as the beta opens up there will be a lot more potential matches.

·         Controls can be wonky and lag can bite you in the butt, especially in full-screen mode.

·         It’s a beta, so everything is a work in progress. Still, QLB runs pretty well as an in-browser game.

·         Finally, yeah….this is Quake in all its manic glory. Quake veterans will be cackling with glee as they relive memories of blasting opponents with nails, lightning, rockets, and grenades.

FWIW, I ran Quake Live Beta on a machine with 3.60 GHz Intel Pentium 4, Windows Vista, 4 GB RAM, ATI FireGL  V3100 and IE7 as my browser.

The real test will come when more players descend on Quake Live. If the servers can handle the workload, Quake Live is going to be my next big Internet distraction, next to Facebook and MST3K episodes on YouTube.

But for free, this can’t be beat. Go check it out and see what you think. And if you run into a guy running around like a clumsy ox, say hi before you blow me up.