Quake Live, unlike the original Quake 3, requires you to register an account before playing. This is roughly analog to using a CD key for online play in Quake 3, but given that there are no CD keys in Quake Live, they do it this way. Upon registering your account, you set your player name, which can never be changed. So choose a good one! You must also fill out all the standard registration forms as well, such as e-mail, password, age, and other such things. Once you have finished, you are almost ready to play.

Quake Live requires a download. In this case, it's a plug-in for your browser of choice. I use Firefox, and the plug-in downloaded quickly and ran beautifully. I have yet to experience any crashes whatsoever. During the main game's download process, you are allowed to play a practice match against Crash, which will determine your skill for the game's ranking system. The practice match difficulty is decided by a few challenges that are put in front of you: jumping, rocket jumping, rocket leaping, and strafe running. If you make it to the end, you will fight the hardest Crash, but also be in the highest skill tier upon completion.

The skill system is nice, and helps to prevent players from getting steamrolled by higher skill players, but there are a few problems with the system. Players can not join games that are 3 tiers above or below their current rank, which limits play with friends from time to time. For example, if your friend is 6 tiers below you, even if you want to play with him, you can't. You would go too low and he would go too high. A nice fix for this would be the ability to join any game through your friends list, regardless of skill level, but that is a ways off, if it is even coming.


The server system is excellent. There are the occasional complaints of networking problems, but I have personally never experienced any of them. The three most populated, non-full servers that fit your filter requirements are displayed along the top row. These servers are your leap in and play servers, as they are optimized for skill, size, and location. However, sometimes you may want to go off the beaten path, and you can do that too. The one problem is that you can not host servers, but that is planned for a future paid update. Voting while in-game is also based on the map bsp name and not the actual map name, which is likely to confuse all but the most dedicated players.

Your profile is a major part of your time spent in Quake Live, and helps to keep track of anything you might want to know about your character. Things such as time spent playing, your kill/death ratio, your accuracy with each weapon and the time spent wielding each, and other such interesting tidbits are available there. You also ahve achievements, which offer nothing more than bragging rights. I would like to say that if you have won the Dark Angel or World Tour awards, you officially scare me with how good you are

Those wishing to play Quake Live socially will find that it has a robust friends system in place. You can invite friends to the beta through the invite system, or simply point them to sign up. Your player name is your account name, so all they must do to add you is add your player name. The friends list and chat is displayed on the right frame no matter whether you are in-game or simply chilling on the site. The chats you have going will also stay active between menu and game. Friends sending messages you will display in-game, but you must press escape to type back to them, which is a minor inconveniance. Finally, if a Q symbol is next to the player's name, you can instantly join their game (if you fit within the skill levels).

Technically, Quake Live is still in beta, but in reality, it's almost indistinguishable from the game it is ported from. If this is the beta, we have some exciting things in store. Gameplay is almost an exact port of Quake 3, with some interesting additions from the expansions. Clan Arena makes an appearance, as do the standard deathmatch, duel, and capture the flag modes you would expect. Arenas are slightly better tuned than their Quake 3 originals, as are the weapons, and the game feels faster and more polished overall. Perhaps the biggest improvement is the streamlined interface. We have got to say that this new interface is absolutely stunning, and easily the best change to Quake 3 that they could have done.

Quake Live is perhaps the pinnacle of what a free to play game can aspire to be. It provides a clean interface, excellent gameplay, and the ability to play anywhere with a browser and internet. It provides simple fragging fun while on the go, and in that respect, it easily beats out its competition. If only Unreal Tournament was released as a browser game. You can play Quake Live through the official site.