Rocket Arena
Encyclopedia
Rocket Arena is a free modification
("mod") for the multiplayer first-person shooter
games Quake, Quake II
, Quake III Arena
and Quake 4
. There are also ports for Half-Life (called Lambda Arena) and Unreal Tournament
. Rocket Arena was created by David "crt" Wright of GameSpy and first released for Quake in 1997, less than a year after Quakes debut. It became a successful and influential user-created game modification.
, in that players battle against each other for survival. The major differences are that the players all start with identical resources — weapons, ammunition, health, and armor — and that all resources are removed from the map, thus preventing players from improving their condition. These two conditions focus the gameplay towards fighting and away from more traditional deathmatch
techniques that involve resource domination.
Each Rocket Arena game contains one or more rounds. Each round begins by spawning players randomly throughout the map, or arena. Once a player is "fragged
" (destroyed), he or she is removed from play, and allowed to spectate. When one team has no more players in the arena, the other team wins the round and the next round begins. The team that wins the most rounds, wins the game. Games are played continuously.
. In particular, in deathmatch, slain players are reincarnated in a relatively weak condition, and often face opponents that have gathered better resources. This can lead to conditions where a few players can dominate a game, hoarding all of the game's resources and repeatedly kill their perpetually disadvantaged opponents without ever dying themselves. Such domination isn't always a good reflection of the dominant player's fighting skills, but instead it frequently reflects their map prowess and resource gathering skills.
Rocket Arena aims to level the playing field by giving reincarnated players full health, weapons, and armour. No further pickups are available, so each player's condition monotonically decreases through the game, until they are killed and reborn.
Clan Arena proved so popular that it is now a standard game mode in the latest Quake release, Quake Live
.
award for excellence and received a score of 89%. Dave Woods described it as "even faster and reliant on reflexes and quick thinking [than Quake 3]. Top stuff indeed." The publication also scored Rocket Arena: UT (for Unreal Tournament
) 4 out of 5, praising its fast and furious gameplay and the quality of the maps. It did not however, rate the UT version as highly as Rocket Arena 3.
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
("mod") for the multiplayer first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
games Quake, Quake II
Quake II
Quake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...
, Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
and Quake 4
Quake 4
Quake 4 is the fourth title in the series of Quake first-person shooter computer games. The game was developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. Raven Software has collaborated with id Software, the creators and historical developers of preceding Quake games...
. There are also ports for Half-Life (called Lambda Arena) and Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament is a futuristic first-person shooter video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. It was published in 1999 by GT Interactive. Retrospectively, the game has also been referred to as UT99 or UT Classic to differentiate it from its numbered sequels...
. Rocket Arena was created by David "crt" Wright of GameSpy and first released for Quake in 1997, less than a year after Quakes debut. It became a successful and influential user-created game modification.
Gameplay
Rocket Arena is very similar to standard deathmatchDeathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
, in that players battle against each other for survival. The major differences are that the players all start with identical resources — weapons, ammunition, health, and armor — and that all resources are removed from the map, thus preventing players from improving their condition. These two conditions focus the gameplay towards fighting and away from more traditional deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
techniques that involve resource domination.
Each Rocket Arena game contains one or more rounds. Each round begins by spawning players randomly throughout the map, or arena. Once a player is "fragged
Frag (video gaming)
Frag is a computer and video game term originating from the word fragging, a term indicating to kill an unpopular superior officer with a fragmentation grenade. A frag is roughly equivalent to "kill", with the typical main difference that the player being "fragged" can instantly respawn in most...
" (destroyed), he or she is removed from play, and allowed to spectate. When one team has no more players in the arena, the other team wins the round and the next round begins. The team that wins the most rounds, wins the game. Games are played continuously.
Standard Rocket Arena mode
Every player creates a team or joins a team depending on the set number of players allowed per team. A queue is formed and the first two teams play a game (which may include several rounds). The winning team stays at the top of the queue and fights the next team, while the losing team is placed at the end of the queue.Clan Arena mode
Every player joins either the Red team or the Blue team, and these two teams play games continuously. Every player gets to play every round, and since there are no other teams, there is no waiting in a queue to play. Clan Arena became popular because players start off with all their weapons and are not able to hurt themselves or their team.Red Rover mode
Every player joins either the Red team or the Blue team, and these two teams play one match continuously. In this mode, when a player is fragged, they immediately respawn as a member of the opposing team. This allows for continuous play, instead of having to wait for the next round. The game ends when one team no longer has any players. Once a player frags another, he/she receives a point, and when they die they lose a point. Which ever player at the end of the round has the most points, that player wins that particular match.Practice mode
There are no teams. Every player enters the world as invincible with infinite ammunition. As the name implies, it is for practicing. Often used to learn the intricacies of the maps.Popularity
Rocket Arena aims to correct some of the weaknesses many perceive with conventional deathmatchDeathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
. In particular, in deathmatch, slain players are reincarnated in a relatively weak condition, and often face opponents that have gathered better resources. This can lead to conditions where a few players can dominate a game, hoarding all of the game's resources and repeatedly kill their perpetually disadvantaged opponents without ever dying themselves. Such domination isn't always a good reflection of the dominant player's fighting skills, but instead it frequently reflects their map prowess and resource gathering skills.
Rocket Arena aims to level the playing field by giving reincarnated players full health, weapons, and armour. No further pickups are available, so each player's condition monotonically decreases through the game, until they are killed and reborn.
Clan Arena proved so popular that it is now a standard game mode in the latest Quake release, Quake Live
Quake Live
Quake Live is a first-person shooter video game by id Software designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X or Linux that is downloaded and launched via a web browser plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena .Quake Live is free to download and play...
.
Critical reaction
Rocket Arena 3, the version of the mod for Quake 3 was given the PC ZonePC Zone
PC Zone was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. PC Zone was founded in 1993.The magazine was published...
award for excellence and received a score of 89%. Dave Woods described it as "even faster and reliant on reflexes and quick thinking [than Quake 3]. Top stuff indeed." The publication also scored Rocket Arena: UT (for Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament is a futuristic first-person shooter video game co-developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. It was published in 1999 by GT Interactive. Retrospectively, the game has also been referred to as UT99 or UT Classic to differentiate it from its numbered sequels...
) 4 out of 5, praising its fast and furious gameplay and the quality of the maps. It did not however, rate the UT version as highly as Rocket Arena 3.
External links
- Official site, however only a holding page (22nd June, 2010)
- Rocket Arena for the Quake series