Back in the day when this came out I preferred the Unreal franchise over Quake. To this day I maintain that the weapons and visuals and levels are more interesting in this game. But having had a chance to play Quake Live and go back to this I see now (after years of TF2, which is based in Quake) that Quake was generally superior for gameplay, as most people will agree.

This game is amazing and everyone should try it. It can be very challenging, but don't run away. Play through the hardship and you will be very satisfied once you're getting things done. Every good hit, every good kill gives you the rush of a TF2 airshot. Not to mention the airshots...

This game is just shy of what I might call a 'simulation' of medieval warfare, but it's as close as you can come and it still be fun and a game. While it has a robust, sandboxy, make-your-own adventure single player RPG side, I played enough of it in the previous game, and here it's mostly the same thing. No, what you want this for is the multiplayer. Fighting with swords, axes, spears, bows, and from horseback is thrilling as hell. I play from first person all of the time, which is much harder and puts you at a disadvantage against third person players (most people), but it's much more immersive. The game is quite challenging, particularly if you're used to shooters, and so, rewarding when you're able to win fights against people. The seemingly slow pace and simple mechanics of melee fighting are deceiving because tiny differences in timing, and people skillfully working to make their next move unclear make it easy to miss your block or leave yourself open for a counter attack. GET IT