By 1996 it was pretty much a given that id Software were the kings of the first person shooter. Not only had they pioneered the genre with Wolfenstein 3D, they followed it with a little game called DOOM, the standard to which all FPS games were held for years. However, as good as both those games were (and are) neither one can hold a candle to the game that remains id's masterpiece after all these years: Quake.
At first glance Quake appears to just be a Doom clone with prettier graphics, but looks can be deceiving. In reality, Quake took everything we loved about Doom and refined it to perfection. The levels are excellently designed and fun to navigate. The world is oppressively dark and Lovecraftian, much moreso than in Doom. The movement mechanics just feel right. But most importantly, the enemies are absolutely WONDERFUL. Few games before or since have offered enemies that require such a constant shift in gameplay style. Each creature requires its own strategy to beat, and when you get several of these different monsters in a room at the same time, the game reaches something like FPS sublimity. Take the ogre, for example. This beast has a chainsaw arm, so the natural inclination upon first meeting him is to fight from a distance...until you find out he also has a grenade launcher. Battling him now becomes a juggling act of dodging his grenades while you spray him with bullets while trying to keep a safe distance from his chainsaw. That is until you start meeting them on narrow catwalks where dodging becomes impossible, which forces you to take a whole new strategy. Now imagine combining that experience with five or six other equally challenging monstrosities. Quake really knows how to keep you on your toes.
As far as level design goes, the lack of variety (and non-brown colors) has been a major turn-off for a lot people. I don't really see why. Each level is very short, and the entire game should only take a few hours to beat, so the fact that it all takes place in unspeakably blasphemous castles and eldritch caverns didn't really bother me. The game is just too brief to ever wear out its welcome.
Another thing that made Quake legendary is, of course, its multiplayer mode. This is the game that more or less started it all, kids. It wasn't the first FPS that allowed players to do their massacring online, but it was undoubtedly the most successful. Ever hear some idiot try to dismiss a game as being a "twitch shooter," as though the fact that it's fast paced somehow makes it bad? Well, Quake is the main reason that term even exists. The new (at the time) control schemes allowed it to be fast-paced in a way that Doom never was, and it defined an era of gameplay style that dominated the genre for nearly a decade. Oh, and it was really, really fun.
The main question on a lot of people's minds when reviewing an older game is obviously, "Has it stood the test of time?" With Quake, I think the answer to that question depends on what kind of gamer you are. Sadly, many gamers tend to focus on technology over the fun factor, and those people will probably be let down by Quake. It isn't Modern Warfare 2. It doesn't have shiny graphics or cool special effects, and it doesn't hold your hand and tell you exactly what to do at every turn (though it will drop the occasional hint). But if you're the type of gamer who still loves to play games like Goldeneye and values gameplay above all else, Quake is definitely worth visiting for the first time, even 14+ years later. It's that good.
R.E.P
Quake gameplay:
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