Quake III Arena


Welcome to another week of Five of the Best, a series where we celebrate the overlooked parts of video games, like hands! And potions! And dinosaurs! And shops! They're the kinds of things etched unwittingly into memory, like an essential ingredient of a favourite dish you could never put a finger on. And I want to spark discussion, so please share memories as they flash into your mind. Today, another five. The topic...

Health pick-ups! Oh how very specific - but I need to be. I'm not talking about health systems but the things you pick up to heal yourself. Used to be all games did it this way, but then Halo came along with its recharging health and all of a sudden everyone wanted the same. Now that feels like the norm.

But there are old-fashioned health systems out there (and they'll probably take offence at being called old-fashioned, so I'm sorry, I don't mean it in a bad way!). I still see Overwatch health packs when I close my eyes at night, and potions, which I've written a whole Five of the Best on, are a dime a dozen in RPGs. They're still out there, still crucial to how we get through games.

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Quake Champions

Hooray! Quake Champions is freeing itself of a messy - and random - loot box system in favour of a clearer Fortnite-style battle pass.

The current system will be ripped out and replaced in a December update, which doesn't appear to have a release date yet, although the battle pass apparently begins 20th December, so presumably the two events will coincide.

Instead of earning loot boxes and associated paraphernalia, you'll earn XP for daily and weekly rewards, and this will propel you along a familiar two-tiered line of unlockable rewards - a stingy free line and a generous paid line.

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Quake Champions

Quake Champions' latest update signals a new rotation of weekly Arcade Modes, plus "a ton of Champion and weapon balance changes". The changes include nerfing every damage dealing ability and dropping the Max AP and Overmax AP of Heavy Champions from 150 to 125, and 225 to 200 respectively.

Conversely, Light Champions get a little boost as their Max AP has increased from 50 to 75, and their Overmax AP from 125 to 150.

As well as reducing the amount of damage, all cooldowns now last 45 seconds and you'll also find that triggering active abilities will now disable shooting for 500ms. Explosion radiuses have all been set to 3m, and explosion minimum splash damage "unified to 10".

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Quake Champions

Yesterday evening I shot a railgun bolt through three players at once in Quake Champions instagib and I can't begin to tell you how satisfying it was - especially when Quake's iconic announcer said how impressive I was for doing it.

Through Quake Champions, you see, the frenetic multiplayer delights of Quake have gloriously returned, albeit slightly buried in cosmetic loot boxes and character hero powers, which maybe will make more sense to me over time.

Anyway. I've been playing Quake Champions during the free access period over E3, and I've been having a lot of fun. It's with a happy heart, then, I tell you the free access period has been extended! It'll now run until 25th June.

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