DESCRIPTION

Ominous beings known as the Vadrigar have created the Arena Eternal, a place where clans gather to annihilate their rivals. In the beginning, warriors would decimate each other with little emphasis on teamwork; now warriors must band together for survival.

Quake III: Team Arena is id Software's first expansion disc for Quake III Arena. Building upon the groundwork established by its predecessor, Team Arena incorporates four team-based modes with new power-ups, weapons, character models, menu graphics and maps.

Among the included modes are Capture the Flag, One Flag CTF, Overlord and Harvester. The idea behind Capture the Flag is to storm the opposition's base, grab their flag, and return it to your base. While this sounds like a relatively simple mission, there are numerous warriors preventing you from obtaining the flag; additionally, the opposition will try and steal your team's flag. One Flag CTF, on the other hand, features a central, white-colored flag. In order to score points, you must reach the central position before the other team, take the flag, and return it to the home base.

Rather than focusing on multi-colored flags, teams in Overlord possess a skull-shaped obelisk. The obelisk must be destroyed to receive points, and as you shoot the massive skull, points are drained. Carrying on the tradition of skulls, Harvester features a skull generator located at the central portion of any given map. When players are killed, a skull representative of their team appears in the generator. Winning involves collecting skulls of the rival team and unloading them at the enemy base. Players can also eliminate the skulls of their teammates by running into them.

In addition to the various modes, id Software has included an assortment of characters and clans including various humans, undead monsters, Strogg forces, and so forth. As in Quake III Arena, each character features personalized bot-AI programming. Medals are awarded for assisting in a flag capture, defending the base, and capturing the flag or rival skulls.

Weapons include a revamped Nailgun that splashes enemies with numerous nails, a Prox Launcher that unleashes destructive mines and leaches onto various players and architectural structures and the Chaingun. Additionally, items now include ammunition regenerators, a double damage attribute, defense boosters and a scout that increases movement and attack; there are also kamikaze icons that act as doomsday weapons and invulnerability items that can be used whenever desired.

Quake III: Team Arena also comes with the 1.27 patch and numerous textures for would-be level makers. It should be noted that the full-version of Quake III Arena must be installed on the hard drive in order for users to run the expansion pack. ~ Matthew House, All Game Guide