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Christmas 97 lineup was a good one for Sega. They covered all genres very
well with solid titles. Two titles in particular were quite a feat, Duke
Nukem 3D and Quake. Quake in particular was a coup considering that the
Saturn is the only system you can get this definitive 3D corridor shooter
on as of this writing. Considering Sega's current market position, that's
quite an accomplishment.
As with Duke Nukem, Sega put the conversion of this PC hit in the capable, and somewhat twisted hands of Lobotomy Software. Most of you remember Lobotomy for their great Powerslave title on the PlayStation and Saturn. They seem to be able to squeeze just as much, if not more, power from this great system as almost anyone can. I still maintain that Sega should be in negotiations to buy these guys, they're some of the most talented people in the industry.
Anyhow, this is Quake. For those of you who've been living under a rock for the past few years, here's the story for what it's worth. Quake is an entity that has invaded this complex, a complex that seems essential to the launching of the Slipgate Device. You, as the only surviving human in said complex, must utilize every means of destroying Quake and its minions.
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Yes, you're right, it sounds like Doom. And as in Doom, the story really doesn't matter all that much anyway. Enter the world of Quake, choose easy or normal difficulty, enter one of four episodes and shoot everything in site. There you have it, the premise, and everything you need to know to play Quake, pretty much. It's Doom with a fully 3D graphics engine.
The control in Quake is almost exactly the same as that in Duke Nukem 3D, save the inventory management. One button shoots, one button jumps, and the L and R buttons facilitate strafing. Again, as in Duke Nukem, the Nights Analogue controller is fully compatible and highly recommended.
On the PC, Quake marked the first time the corridor-shooting genre went fully 3D, using polygons for both the play areas and the enemies. It is due to this fact that a console port was considered hard to pull off. Especially on the Saturn, considering the general feelings about its 3D capabilities. Well, Lobotomy has done a fine job, not only is everything rendered in polygons, but more lighting effects than the stock PC version are present. Overall, the game doesn't look quite as nice as Duke on the Saturn, but when you consider how much more impressive the Quake engine is, it's easy to see why.
Having pointed out the technical aspects of it, Quake really isn't a visually appealing game to begin with. Everything's very… brown. The atmosphere of the game calls for this, but still, it would have been nice to see more colour used. The lighting effects are still well done though, and the game rarely suffers from any slowdown.
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The sound is excellent. The clanking of grenades as ogres throw them, the wailing of zombies and the excellent explosions all set the mood wonderfully. Trent Reznor's soundtrack is present, too, which is very dark and brooding.
However, while this is a great conversion, there are two things that lead me to recommend Duke over Quake on the Saturn. First of all, Duke has the multiplayer option in tact, whereas Quake doesn't. Considering Quake has never really been considered a great one-player game anyway, this really hurts. The other problem is the fact that Quake 2 has already been released on the PC, whereas Duke's sequel is still a ways off.
Barring those two facts, there's no way to deny that Quake is another quality product from Lobotomy, who seems to be batting 1000. If you don't own a computer, there's simply no other way to play Quake. If you just want a quality title for your Saturn, Sega and Lobotomy have just made your choice a little easier. Kudos.
-- Greg Sewart