QUAKE 3

ID and mod makers consistently put pentagrams and upside down crosses in the game. And while I think the quake series is the best of all time for computer games this has been a major turn off for me. It's an unnecessary addition to great fun and frankly I would prefer not to see it. So I decided to post a question on the premier Quake forum. I was having a conversation over at forums.planetquake.com about the "5-pointed star" (I say it that way only because the person I was talking to referred to is as that) in Q3A and RA3 and I got a suggestion to change those textures and put them back in the pk3. I took those textures out of the pk3 with winzip and changed the color settings so they would all show as just black boxes. I put them back in the pk3 and loaded up Q3A this morning and guess what! Yep no more penta…err…"5 pointed stars"! Please feel free to E-mail me if you would like more infor on how I did this. valqor@yahoo.com! My Ratings: [4/5]
   —Rhasan Wafer, age 24

In order to achieve smoother gameplay, I, like most players who want an extra edge in this game, turn the graphics details down extremely low. This means that when I play, there is no blood shown, and the pentagrams/flesh/etc aren't recognizable as such. Most objects are reduced to crude, blocky shapes - this takes away the dazzling graphics of the game, but gives me more speed when I play. I don't play because I like to kill things or anything; I play because I find the competition with other players fun. And again, the way I play shows no real offensive imagery. Still not recommended for younger kids, but there's really nothing offensive when the right options are used. My Ratings: [3/5]
   —Anonymous, age 19

This was the first real FPS game I had ever played. I started with the demo, which was limited in it's weapons, levels, etc. I admit I didn't enjoy it very much, due to the fact that I had never gotten use to the gameplay of an FPS. But I soon got used to it, and when the full version came out, I grabbed it. To this day it is one of my favorite games. I am not affected by the violence, particulary for several reasons… Quake 3 is violent, no doubt about it. But it's not realistic violence. In comparison to such games as Half-Life and Unreal, this game's violence is almost cartoonish. You run around and shoot rockets at monsters and *splat* that burst into a shower of blood. Of course I would give this game to anyone in their early teens, since the distictions between real violence and fantasy violence may not have been made yet. There is another aspect of this game that attracted me, that is the multiplayer mode. Anyone complaining about bad connections is not the fault of the game, but of the connection. I played this game at school on a T1, and now at home I don't even attempt to play it multiplayer on a 56k. The multiplayer option was a great social tool… it helped me make friends when I first started college and showed others that my faith was strong enough to stand up to a little videogame violence. There was also the issue of the Satanic imagery. I agree, this is bad, but it fits the theme of the game. I would rather not have it there, as many other levels in the game are "non-Satanic". But these were merely background images, and were not the central point of the game. I admired them for their technical aspects, and the effort that went into creating them, but nothing more. In short, this game is extremely enjoyable, but not recommended for younger teens. My Ratings: [2/5]
   —Stanley Lin, age 19

Comments from Young People…

I personally do not like this game. …First off we have the graphics which like in most ID games scream satan worship. Must every Wall be covered in Flesh and Satanic Symbols? It succeeds in making the enviornment more evil but not more fun. I personally find seeing upside down crosses and demonic statues a turn off. As for the weapons they are unimaginative and rather bland. The Graphic Quality of the engine is displayed throughout the game is nothing short of beautiful showing off the capabilities of the Quake 3 Engine although I'd wish that they would get rid of the evil symbols. The Music ranges from some sort of gothic nightmare, to high energy techno and dance music. The Ambient Sounds add to this Balantly Satanic monstrosity. While they are good in quality, They are still satanic. For Gameplay This is a POOR choice for modem users as the bots are terrible and from where I am I had a hard time finding servers that were good enough. I also disagree with the balance in weapons. The Lighting Gun just doesn't seem to be very good and the grenade launcher is an utterly useless weapon tending to hurt the user more than the enemies… My Ratings: [1/2]
   —Anon., age 17

Personally, I know this game has violence, but it is a GREAT game. It blows every game off the chart with Fun Factor, Easy Handling, and MUCH more! This game might even be the game of the year! If any Christian Gaming Company developed a game like this with a little less violence it would be just as good! Give it a shot! My Ratings: [4/5]
   —John, age 14

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this Christian Spotlight review are those of the reviewer (both ratings and recommendations), and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Films for Christ or the Christian Answers Network.