Im old enough to remember whenQuakewasthefirst-person shooter, grabbing the spotlight fromDoomthanks to its more advanced visuals.
3D models were a huge deal back then.
Naturally, I was excited to see how one of my most fondly remembered shooters holds up in 2021.
Split screen comparison of the ‘All Off’ and ‘All On’ options in ‘Quake.’.
Turns out, it doesnt.
At least not at first.
The early sections of the originalQuakeare more-or-less textbook examples of a Dull Brown Shooter.
It felt silly to ignore it.
So I loaded up the first expansion,The Scourge of Armagon, and something changed.
The environments were more varied and complex; new enemies were introduced; the puzzles werent obnoxious.
Having to liberally use the Quicksave feature because I kept dying was more of a frustration than anything.
It really came down to a better level design.
Dimension of the Machinelooks fantastic.
Even the hub area stands out over the original games environments with some spectacular level geometry and lighting details.
I was legitimately stunned the first time I started it up.
In fact, thats a kind of metaphor for how Ive felt playingQuakeon the Switch.
