Having never had access to online gaming on a regular basis, I was personally very excited over Sega’s announcement that Quake III: Arena was coming to Dreamcast with online deathmatches intact.  Not only was one of the biggest FPS games of all time coming to my beloved console, it was going to have online play support, which was something I wanted consoles to have for years. Now that it is finally here, I fully understand what I’ve been missing out on all these years as a console exclusive gamer.

Quake III: Arena focuses on intense multiplayer deathmatches that are played at a blistering pace. Two to four players are thrown into a level where the law of the jungle is “kill or be killed.” If you’re used to playing GoldenEye or Perfect Dark, this will be quite a transition.  Everything in Quake III moves at twice the speed of those games.  If you’re a camper who likes to snipe opponents from afar, you better be ready to move camp a lot more often, since you’re more likely to be discovered and taken out in this game.  If you’re an in-your-face player who never gives the opponent time to think, you had better brush up your reflexes and have a six-pack of Jolt handy because, as I said before, everything moves faster in Quake III: Arena.  Not only that, but there’s more than one way to play.  Quake III: Arena has the normal deathmatch, which pits up to four players in a free-for-all; Capture the Flag, which is just what it sounds like; Team Deathmatch, where teams square off in a race for the highest number of kills and, finally, a Tournament mode.  All of these games are playable with 1-4 players via split screen, or with other players online.

Like any decent game, Quake III: Arena has a single player mode where bots take the place of your friends, but why bother with that when you have thousands of people waiting for you online?  As someone else once said, it’s the manly way to play Quake III.  And let me tell you, it works pretty damn good. You can use your own ISP or sign up for SegaNet if you like.  I’d recommend SegaNet though since there seems to be less likelihood of lag.  Besides, you get a free 50 hour trial just for buying Quake III, so why not?  I must warn some of you though.  Try to find out if there is a local dial-up number for SegaNet in your area.  If there isn’t, that’s when you should use a different ISP and the people who do that are the ones that have the most problems with lag.  However, if you have a local dial-up number for SegaNet, you can start getting pumped because that’s the best way to play online right now.

Once you have that figured out, it's pretty easy to get online.  With PCs, there’s a good 10 minutes of setup before you actually get playing, but with SegaNet, its so easy to get on that it usually only takes one minute or less.  That’s pretty incredible.  The best part is that once you’re on and actually playing, 95% of the time it works as if you weren’t online at all.  It's ultra-smooth and works amazingly well.  You’re also not limited to just playing against Dreamcast owners either.  Two months after Quake III: Arena’s release, PC players will have a patch available to them so that they can play Dreamcast players.

Now, since the PC version was such a great looking game, we would expect no less of the Dreamcast version.  Thankfully, Quake III: Arena was redone from the ground up for the Dreamcast.  Everything in this game looks great.  The character models look fantastic and are full of detail.  In fact, the whole game is pretty detailed when it comes to graphics.  It’s very evident that Quake III: Arena uses the Dreamcast’s power to bring players a very sharp looking game.  No blurred visuals like the N64, no chunky looking characters like the PSX.  Nope, this is a PC port done right and then some.  The levels have even kept their level of detail and, in some cases, have a few new touches added.  This game should be used as an example of how to correctly port a game from PC to console.

Adding to the experience is a great soundtrack accompanied by ear-splitting sound effects.  If you’ve got a stereo hooked up to your Dreamcast, it’d be a crime not to use it with Quake III: Arena.  Bullets whiz by and smash into the walls while the lightning gun thunders so loud you’d think it was storming outside.  It also helps you succeed in the game if you have surround sound.  If you can hear that rocket roaring its way from behind you, you’ll have a better idea where to run than you would using the standard mono setup.  That said, the soundtrack consists of heavy metal music that, thankfully, lacks lyrics.  It works pretty well and manages to fit the mood of the game perfectly.  Personally, I don’t think any other kind of music would have worked nearly as well.

Now with all that said, I bet I can tell what you’re thinking.  You’re wondering if you really need a mouse and keyboard, or if the controller is good enough, right?  First things first, the controller rules.  We played GoldenEye, Turok, and Perfect Dark with controllers, so why not Quake III: Arena?  The default setup works great.  You’ve got everything you really need right there.  You can customize it your own way if you like, but its already setup like the N64 games already mentioned, so why bother?  The only catch is that it will take you about a half hour to get the aiming down with the analog stick.  It will seem hard at first, I know, but you’ll eventually get it down and start having a great time.  Now then, if you’re going online, you will probably want a keyboard.  Talking smack while playing is definitely half the fun.  Not everybody does it, but those people are missing out.  I’ve already met a handful of really cool players online and it all started because of our smart mouths.  I highly recommend owning a keyboard for this game.  As for the mouse, there are some players who just can’t function without one, so for you PC junkies out there, go get it.  But for those of you who are used to a controller, you can trust me when I say you don’t need the mouse.  Other people will try to tell you otherwise, but they’re closed-minded and don’t realize just how well the controller has been laid out for this game. 

So with all that info packed into your brain now, it should be obvious that this game is a must own for any Dreamcast owner who likes first-person-shooters.  If you’ve never played a FPS before, give this one a try.  It’s the best of its kind right now and a fun way to interact with your fellow DC owners online.  Just make sure you practice up some before going right online.  Get yourself to Tier 3 in the single player mode before hitting the Internet and you should be able to hold your own out there.  Trust me, the players you’ll meet online are way better than any of the computer-controlled players save for the last boss.  And should you happen to be online, look out for “Honky”.  That’s me, and I’ll be more than happy to send a couple rockets your way.