Quake III: Team Arena

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"Never before have the forces aligned. United by name and by cause, The Fallen, Pagans, Crusaders, Intruders, and Stroggs must channel their power into an allied operation where teamwork is the only method of mass destruction. Four distinct games test each troop's synthesis and strength to exacting degrees. Cooperation is the only course of action, and war, the only alternative. Soldiers once alone in their struggle, now face the Arena as one."

- id Software

Quake III: Team Arena, often abbreviated TA or Q3:TA, is the expansion pack for Quake III Arena. Team Arena was developed by id Software and published by Activision on December 18, 2000.

Description
Team Arena focused on team multiplayer, as its name implies; it introduced new weapons, bots, maps and powerups, including the infamous Kamikaze and Invulnerability Shield.

The game has a Single Player mode as well - it does not have a Tier system and is more arcade-like. Players are free to play the maps in any order they prefer, and in any mode they like. After a map is finished, statistics (completion time, frags, accuracy, etc.) and any earned Medals are saved and displayed on the map selection screen. The statistics can be updated when the map is played again, especially if the player has improved his performance.

Players can choose which clan they belong to, as well as which clan will they be confronting as the enemy team.

Single Player also features a tournament mode, whose gameplay is like the original Quake III Arena: a 1-on-1 combat against a bot. Two new bots have been added specifically for this game mode - Pi and Fritzkrieg.

Both AI bots and player now have access to voice commands which are recorded reactions to use in teamplay.

Clans
Main article: Team Arena Clans

With the exception of the Tournament mode characters, all other bots are members of the 5 clans that fight for dominance over the Arena. Each clan has its own strengths and weaknesses and it is up to the players to adjust their strategy accordingly.

Game Types

 * Capture the Flag
 * One Flag CTF
 * Overload
 * Harvester

Maps
Main Article: Team Arena Maps

The expansion pack features 20 new maps belonging to several categories. There is a good variety, ranging from very small to absolutely huge maps, designed for very large teams and prolonged gameplay.

Environment

 * Team Flag
 * White Flag
 * Skull Obelisk
 * Skull Generator
 * Skull Receptacle


 * Vortex Portal
 * Viewing Panel

Bots (Tournament mode)

 * Pi
 * Fritzkrieg
 * Janet
 * James

Weapons

 * Chain Gun
 * Nailgun
 * Proximity Launcher

Powerups

 * Kamikaze: kills the player and damages or pushes everyone in the blast radius, when used or 3 seconds after the player dies, if their body is not gibbed. The kamikaze does instant damage to the player and everybody else, except for the users of the Invulnerability item, or the Battle Suit powerup. A deep gong sound heralds the respawning of this item and its use will shake the entire map.
 * Invulnerability Shield: A pink shield which protects the player for a short amount of time and deflects projectiles back to whoever fired them. But this power-up also completely immobilizes and freezes the player even mid-air. The Prox Launcher can penetrate the shields and will "juice" and gibs the player after the mine has been penetrated to shields for a short time.

Team Powerups
Runes always spawn within the team's home base. Once picked up, they last until the player dies and are not available for pickup by another player. Once the original holder is dead, the powerup will reappear and it can be picked up again - by the same player (after they respawn) or by another one. At teams bigger than four, power-up possession can be rather chaotic because of spawn rules of team power-ups. In Quake Live, Runes are kept in Arena CTF mode but their purpose and stats are altered to balance the gameplay.

Power-ups brought faster combat dependent on response times at the claustrophobic spaces and defensive gameplay at vast open areas. This also brought some randomness which player can not control in crowded team matches without pulling back teammates to observe the battle and report back. As a result, Team Arena can witness slow moving or fast-paced matches and rewards moving as a team with coordination.


 * Scout: Double speed for quick run-ins and 25% increased fire rate; you can also rocket jump and plasma climb without taking splash damage. Used for possessing important power-ups hastily by snatching them, also hit and run techniques for distracting.
 * Doubler: Double damage for players who want to help Scouts running for the enemy flag, or defend own base flag. Also known as Damage in Quake Live. Any damage burst weapon becomes devastating when bearing this. This overpowered Rune can be the sole reason why Railgun got a damage falloff by distance as a tweak in Team Arena.
 * Guard: Health and Armor Boost up 200 with health regen, similar to a constant Regeneration effect. Mainly used for defenders to keep attackers busy, but can be useful for attacking to run for enemy flag by withstanding their shots as well.
 * Ammo-Regen: Regenerates ammo back to starter ammunition every 1½ seconds while increasing fire rate by 25%. Mainly used by Defenders who are planning to use single-shot heavy hitters. Also known as Armor Regen in Quake Live.

Compilations
Team Arena is included in the compilation Quake III: Gold.

Reception
The expansion received mixed to positive review as metacritic and gamerankings rated 69/100 and 73.98% respectively. The game was criticized for failing to be original, compared to the main game.

Downloads

 * Demo - Try a few maps from the expansion pack! http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/quake3-teamarena/index.php?game_section=demo (dead link)