Quake

How many times must Quake bow out for Half Life?
The year is 1996. The world of PC gaming, especially in the 1990's, changed face every second. Trying to keep up with the hardware, indeed making use of the hardware became as important as a games design, as the advent of the Pentium processor and MMX, as well as Windows 95 and DirectX gaming made for possibilities only dreamed of in 1994. With Doom being an exception to that rule. Doom was quite simply years ahead of its time. Doom created a line. So the world and his dog wanted Doom 2. It came shortly after the first Doom, one year after, and it was more of the same. But Id wanted more. We all wanted more.

In 1996, before 3D cards were availible and useable, while the majority of hardcore PC gamers, the people who made the industry what it is today, still refused to play games under Windows 95, Id released Quake. It was revolutionary in many ways. But it had some downfalls. Lets talk about them now and get it over with. It took forever to get released. It was the most hyped game in history. It had the insanely daunting task of surpassing it's predecessor. It was dark. It was confusing, bewildering. The plot stank (if you found it). Even in 320x200 it ran like a three-legged dog on anything less than a Pentium 166, which was a top-end PC in 1996, costing the thick end of £1000. "My PC runs Doom 2 at 40 fps, but I get 11 in Quake!" people cried. But thats where it ends. Take the engine... it was 100% 3D. Polygonal models, levels. It was 3D! The restrictions of Doom were lifted and the map designs were glorious. The enemies, with one or two exceptions, were horrifying. The pace of the game was untouchable. The sound made you grit your teeth. It was a game, through and through. Balls out action. This was in 1996, when people were talking about what was gonna be better, Duke 3D or Quake. Dont make me laugh. For time afterwards, the build engine was still used and some good games were made (Blood, for example ... and Redneck Rampage). But Quake was shocking. A line was drawn. Remember the first time you saw Doom? And you went back home to your Sega Genesis and played Sonic 2 - thinking, what the fuck is this?

Well, here is why Quake is unarguably more deserving of the crown for the greatest FPS ever. I had played Quake for 6 months, single player and deathmatch over LAN (albeit with the keyboard only still), when I came across a recorded demo on a PC Zone cover-CD of a 4-way FFA deathmatch on DM4. It was from the point of view of a player called "Q-tip". It was the first time I saw someone who could skillfully use a mouse + keyboard set up to deadly effect. He battered these 3 poor keyboard players around for 20 minutes, rocket jumping to Quad, putting people up with rockets at their feet + shooting them out of the sky with his lg. I never looked back. It was like seeing Doom in 1993 all over again. Then I watched Romero at Q-con, with Sujoy Roy and Warhammer. Then I understood.

Without Quake, everything would be different. Half Life came years later, used the Quake engine, had 3D graphics cards to make it look pretty and was a totally different kind of game. People had chance to adjust, because of Quake. Peoples expectations were raised, because of Quake. Peoples eyes were open... Would Half Life have happened, if there had been no Quake in 1996? No. But Quake did happen. And so did Quake 3. I rest my case.