Quake 3 YEAH!

Quake 3 Arena! Need i say more, if you have played the PC version and enjoyed it. You MUST GET IT FOR DREAMCAST! It's mad fun, and now let me explain to you why:

The controls have been completely redone for the console version. The game menus are all more "console friendly," and the camera now does some wicked 3rd person cuts in the pause menus while in-game. Everything is customizable, and the game will offer out-of-the-box support for the standard controller using both MDK2 and GoldenEye style controls, the MadCatz Panther XL, and Mouse-and-Keyboard, as well as the ability to assign the buttons as you please and save your configurations to the VMU. We tooled around with the standard controller as well as the M&KB, and so far, it all looks good to us. Just as it was with the PC version, you can adjust everything, from mouse sensitivity to inverting your look controls, and even as a beginner with the controller, we were able to come in second in a field of human players to a mouse user who has been playing the game for months, so the learning curve doesn't look to be that steep. Something all you controller freaks will appreciate, no doubt.

We also discovered that PC users will be able to play Dreamcast users for sure. Sega will be releasing the new Dreamcast levels and the compatibility code as part of a free add-on pack that PC users will be able to download from SegaNet a month or so after the Dreamcast release. Why the wait, you ask? Producer Scott Hawkins explained that they want to make sure that DC users have plenty of time to come to grips with gameplay before they "unleash the dogs of war" on console users who may not be quite ready for the PC crowd.

By that time, Sega also hopes to have it set up where PC users can set up their own Dreamcast servers, as well, so if anyone out there has a fats connection and wants to host some tournaments, you'd better start making plans!

As we mentioned before, the front end is completely different, and this includes single-player game set-up. In yet another cool Dreamcast twist, our version of Quake III Arena will offer a more open set-up, with an emphasis on unlocking. From what we saw, as you progress through each of the game's areas in the various difficulties, different maps open up, and you can check out what's coming next far before you get there. Even better is the fact that Sega plans a little something special for those who beat the Tournament. Thought they wouldn't reveal what you get for completing the game, Sega revealed to IGNDC that each difficulty holds its own rewarding pot of gold at the end of the fraggin' rainbow, and that these would be "very, very cool." Sounds good to us.

But what sound rang sweeter in our ears than any other while at Sega HQ? Say it with me, kiddies: "4-player split screen!!!" Aww, yeah. What had previous been thought as a 2-player only affair offline is now a 4-man free-for-all on the Dreamcast, and while they had to scale back some of the details (the weapons and items are sort of cell-shaded in split screen, as opposed to drawn in detail), the game runs at a very solid frame rate, despite heavy activity. Sega got in all of Q3A's modes, including CTF, and thought some seem a bit gratuitous with only four players, we're not no one's gonna complain for a lack of options here.

Enough? Now go get it!! Yeah its great folks!