Quake III Arena

Quake III Arena is probably the greatest multiplayer game ever made. Though, for modern systems, Quake Live is probably the best way to play it. The only real difference (aside from Quake Live's hundreds of maps and training course) is that Quake III Arena has a sort of "singleplayer campaign" where you verse bots on multiplayer maps. This campaign is fun for the same reason as the multiplayer, and therefore I'd recommend—albeit with one notable exception. The campaign on Nightmare mode took me about 10.8 hours, but most of this is on the final boss fight, Xaero. Xaero is easily the hardest boss fight I've ever faced in a video game, and it's not even close. It's barely a matter of skill—the fight is just straight-up unfair. Xaero effectively instant-kills you with the Railgun if he sees you for a split moment. You have to kill Xaero in spite of his overpowered hit-scan abilities 10 times before he can do the same. The difficulty spike is absurdly steep. Though I was able to beat Xaero on Nightmare, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're willing to endure the rage. Either way, I could never give Quake III a negative review. This game is the PEAK of multiplayer.

This is genuinely the only multiplayer game that doesn't make me mad while I play. I never even get the urge to strangle my opponents. Despite coming out in 1999, it's still incredibly fun to play, and the visuals have aged surprisingly well they don’t look jarring at all. The core gameplay is exactly what an arena shooter should be. Every weapon in your arsenal has a specific, highly tactical purpose. The movement is really smooth; you can double your speed by strafe jumping, and rocket jumping is a staple Quake mechanic that needs no introduction. The combat loop is perfectly balanced: you can use the Plasma Gun for slight wall-climbing tricks or long range harassment, pick off low-health targets with the Machine Gun, or shred them up close with the Shotgun. The Railgun is your long-range damage dealer a guaranteed two-tap on unarmored targets while the Rocket Launcher is really great for map control and prefiring corners. Then there’s the Lightning Gun, which melts enemies at mid-range but demands rock-solid tracking aim. There’s no real story mode or a campaign unfortunately, but the basic lore is some bored gods called the Vadrigar abducting the greatest warriors from across the universe to fight for their entertainment in the Arena. That's all the context you need. Honestly, I have no idea how id Software managed to create such an immortal masterpiece back in the day. I mean, the games they made were masterpieces anyway, but you know what I mean. It’s a timeless classic that aged real well. Do yourself a favor and give it a try.

The birth of multiplayer gaming. ABSOLUTE masterpiece and OVERFLOWING testosterone.