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June 21st, 2016 
Carl Williams 
Okay, where were you 20 years ago? Were you a PC gamer or were you a console gamer? Either way, you probably heard about Quake by id Software when it was released. It was a game changer for all of the right reasons. While Doom, id Software’s previous series, was iconic and popular, Quake took it all to a new level. Full on 3rd dimension. The gameplay was fast, furious and visceral- much like Doom before, just cranked up to 12. Today, we salute you, Quake.
Quake was a forward leap
Quake was a tour de force of graphical power when it was released. Polygon based games were not all that common at the time. Certainly none that moved like this one. Within the 30, or so, levels were creatures that wanted your blood, creatures that put most of Doom’s denizens to shame. You didn’t shoot enemies that were either looking left/right or facing you/away here. No, these creatures were polygonal and they were deadly. Want proof?
The first time you fight the Shambler, it was awe inspiring.
Dated now but upgradable
The graphics of Quake may be dated today but 20 years ago, they were amazing. This game helped push PC gaming to new levels and probably single handedly created the secondary 3D video card market. A market that is still going strong today.
Thanks to the forward thinking of id Software, who released the source code for this classic, there are tons of independently developed ports. Thanks to fans, Quake has hit more consoles than id Software probably cares to even think of developing for. From the Sega Dreamcast to the Nintendo DS. That is not even mentioning the mod subset that brought us cool stuff like Quake Kart. Fans have even ported the Portal Gun to the game for goodness sake. Someone else made a version of Tetris in Quake.
Page from our preview issue available on Magcloud.com
Thank you id Software, John Carmack and John Romero. The memories are priceless.
Want to grab a copy of Quake then hit eBay or Amazon
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I commented on the N4G article already, but I still think the level design in this game is often really cool! I love the puzzle/trap designs of American McGee’s stuff (third episode) and the straight-forward action-packed style of Tim Willits (1st episode). It has such a cool gothic, Lovecraftian theme, only really matched today in feel (in any way) by Bloodborne, I suppose, but I feel the first Quake is something special and unlikely to be recaptured in a new game. It just had an odd mixture of things. Sound effects were really good too (NIN).
That is a lot of great information about Quake that I was not aware of, such as American McGee’s involvement. Thanks for that comment.
I love Quake too, it is just one of those “right place/right time” releases that still is amazing today.
WooO! New Quake episode by the New Order devs!
http://www.dualshockers.com/2016/06/24/wolfenstein-the-new-order-devs-release-new-quake-episode-to-celebrate-20-years-of-quake/
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