I did not play Quake 1 at the time (mainly because I was not quite born yet), but I've played bits of in the past decade and this year I've played and modded it a ton, thanks in part to the remaster. I think it's all of those ways to some extent.
The base game has quite a few bugs and arbitrary limitations which could have been fixed at the time. For example:
- While the player movement feels generally amazing even to this day, it doesn't handle ramps that well: the player slowly slides down when on even the slightest of inclines, and jumping while standing on any angled surface has unpredictable consequences.
- The NPCs are really dumb (they basically move randomly until they see an enemy), which is not a huge problem in itself, but they also get stuck on level geometry and each other really easily unless the level is carefully designed so that enemies are never packed too closely together. I was working on a custom level where I wanted a pack of dogs to attack from a sewer pipe, but I had to abandon the idea as the dogs require as much vertical space as the player in order to move, which does not match their visuals.
There are also some game design issues which are maybe more clear in hindsight. For instance, many of the enemies don't choreograph their attacks very well, which combined with instant hitscan attacks makes some fights feel unfair.
But the biggest issue I have with the game is that while basic gameplay is great, in my opinion there isn't just enough variety to keep the game constantly interesting for 4 chapters (and ten thousand custom maps). There are surprisingly few weapon and enemy types, and many of the weapons are just direct upgrades. The issue is compounded by the fact level scripting and interactivity is surprisingly limited in the base game without mods. This results in most standard Quake maps having basically exactly the same gameplay, just in different (and oftentimes beautifully designed) environments. Maybe I'm just spoilt by Half-Life and its sequels and imitators.
But despite all this I think it is excellent for a game from 1996. With more time in the oven it could have been even better, but what we have now is still an enjoyable game, especially with literally decades of open source development and modding.
Yeah, the "find the yellow key" style gameplay was par for the course at the time, but does feel one dimensional. Half Life changed that, but also System Shock (Classic) was a lessor known game of that era that was hugely different on this point. If you like games of this era I'd suggest checking it out. It uses a different control scheme vs most FPS's, one that ultimately the industry did not chose to follow, and that bothers some people, but I think it fits the gameplay and the rest of the game is so compelling it's pretty forgivable even if you dislike it.
Yes but it caused a revolution in gaming which other studios were able to work off of and refine, eg Half Life. But at the time, there was truly nothing like it, with its full 3D, which is harder to develop for but clearly was the future of gaming.
You have to look at what was available at the time, basicly doom clones and the build engine.
The base game has quite a few bugs and arbitrary limitations which could have been fixed at the time. For example:
- While the player movement feels generally amazing even to this day, it doesn't handle ramps that well: the player slowly slides down when on even the slightest of inclines, and jumping while standing on any angled surface has unpredictable consequences.
- The NPCs are really dumb (they basically move randomly until they see an enemy), which is not a huge problem in itself, but they also get stuck on level geometry and each other really easily unless the level is carefully designed so that enemies are never packed too closely together. I was working on a custom level where I wanted a pack of dogs to attack from a sewer pipe, but I had to abandon the idea as the dogs require as much vertical space as the player in order to move, which does not match their visuals.
There are also some game design issues which are maybe more clear in hindsight. For instance, many of the enemies don't choreograph their attacks very well, which combined with instant hitscan attacks makes some fights feel unfair.
But the biggest issue I have with the game is that while basic gameplay is great, in my opinion there isn't just enough variety to keep the game constantly interesting for 4 chapters (and ten thousand custom maps). There are surprisingly few weapon and enemy types, and many of the weapons are just direct upgrades. The issue is compounded by the fact level scripting and interactivity is surprisingly limited in the base game without mods. This results in most standard Quake maps having basically exactly the same gameplay, just in different (and oftentimes beautifully designed) environments. Maybe I'm just spoilt by Half-Life and its sequels and imitators.
But despite all this I think it is excellent for a game from 1996. With more time in the oven it could have been even better, but what we have now is still an enjoyable game, especially with literally decades of open source development and modding.