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Rune Quake Review  by Dr.Gibbs March 16, 2003

It's been done in just about every first person shooter to ever hit the shelves, but never quite like this. That's right, I'm talking about runes - and this mod has no shortage of them at all. Boasting nearly 50 runes, 7 alternate weapons, and even a grappling hook, Rune Quake will give you plenty to do.

Successfully executing a mod featuring that many new toys may seem to be an enormous task... and, in fact, it was. Rune Quake has been around for a number of years, and was originally known as the famous Artifact-RJS Quake. It has gradually grown larger as more development has taken place, and it took many countless hours of effort to bring the mod to the point it's at today. After playing it, you'll see that all this effort was well-spent.

What makes Rune Quake so much fun is the fact that it's not meant to be taken seriously. A match in this mod is anything but a fair test of skill. Rather, it's the pure luck of the draw that allows you to grab a frag. The number of ways you have of defending yourself and attacking your opponents is so numerous that you'll never see the same game twice - and there are plenty of hilarious runes that will keep you laughing so hard you won't even care if you're losing.

Sound

The sound in this mod is really well-done. There are very few new sound effects, so it's not the creativity that makes the audio so good - it's the execution. Just about every rune has sound effects attached to it, and they all match perfectly. A lot of the sounds you'll hear are pretty dang funny, too - once you've played this mod for awhile, "blum-blum" becomes a pretty familiar clip. Something that sounds so innocent and silly being attached to something so incredibly deadly just makes things that much more entertaining.

Graphics

The graphics are pretty good as well. Most of the rune effects are sprites and models taken from Quake 1, so the mod certainly fits the atmosphere. New effects, such as ice traps and fire, are well-implemented and match the environment. The effects for each rune are all unique, and they quickly become familiar - it isn't long at all before you can easily identify certain effects with the runes they come from.

The HUD isn't changed, except for the addition of a small area that optionally shows you the name of the rune you're carrying. With the simple press of a key, you can read a description of what your current rune does. Short instructions flash on the screen when you pick up certain runes, so even if you have no idea what you're doing, you can still find your way around pretty easily.

Gameplay

All sounds and graphics aside, gameplay is where this mod has it all together. When you start up a match, a huge collection of randomly generated artifacts land all over the map. As the game goes on, more and more runes fall from the sky. The rules are simple: you can pick up one rune at a time and drop it whenever you like. Some runes need to be used manually with a keystroke, and others take permanent effect as soon as you pick them up.

The sheer variety of the artifacts will keep you busy for hours. There are, of course, the obligatory basics: a strength rune that increases your firepower, a defensive rune that helps your armor, a rune that regenerates your ammo, and more. From there, things just get weirder and weirder. Take the Berserk Rune, for example: this little baby will make you dish out 6x your normal damage. The catch? When you're hit by someone else, you'll receive 3x the damage. Some runes let you teleport around to different places, and others allow you to spawn Quake monsters like Zombies and Shamblers that fight on your side. Then there are runes like the Shub Hat - an artifact that plants a life-sized Shub-Niggurath on top of your head. Really, there's nothing better than seeing a giant Shubby floating around a map and knowing your opponent is buried somewhere inside.

Some runes, like the Rune of Weirdness, will have you falling off your chair in hysterics. While you have the rune, tiny bubbles fly off of you and float around. If someone should happen to run into one of them, they will start to sparkle like a firework and all kinds of crazy things will start to happen to them. Some of the effects make them slow down, others make them bounce off walls with repeated crunches until they finally die from "falling" to death. And there's just something about that "blum-blum" sound the game makes when you run into a Death Spot and explode that you just can't stop laughing at.

The game treats the grappling hook well, because it acts as a rune rather than being something players are always equipped with. It lands in a random place on the map, and only one person can pick it up at a time. You can hold it in addition to a rune, but once you die, you lose it.

The alternate weapons are definitely overshadowed by the runes, but they still play an important part in the game. They don't need to be picked up - you select them by simply pressing a weapon's number twice. They use more ammo, but they also do more damage. Most of them, such as the Flamethrower (alternate to the Double-Barreled Shotgun), use fire. If you hit someone with fire, they will actually burst into flames... until they find water, or until the fire finally dies down, the flames will slowly eat the life right out of them.

Final Words

While online play is a lot of fun, this mod is an absolute must for LAN's. Seriously, if you ever have a LAN, make sure you load up Quake 1 and give this mod a try. The replay value of Rune Quake is just phenomenal... even after years and years of playing, it just never gets old. No two matches are ever the same, and so many of the runes will keep you laughing that you'll never experience a dull moment.

In the days when some mods are reaching 200 or 300 megs in size, it's nice to see something that weighs in at 500k. Quite frankly, this is one of the best Quake C mods ever written. While it has some quirks, it's an absolute must-have for any Classic Quake lover. Even if you've never tried Quake 1 multiplayer, I suggest you download this mod - you'll probably change your mind pretty quickly.

Give it one try, and you'll never want to stop.

Rune Quake is available at http://www.runequake.com.

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