Quake (series)

The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.

Overview
Following the success of id Software's Wolfenstein 3D game, Quake is regarded by many as the game that started it all as far as 3D games are concerned. It introduced Internet play, which until it came along, was a concept completely unheard of and gave the gaming world its favourite weapon, the rocket launcher. It has time and again, been considered the greatest video game of all time by many. It is a series that has seen millions in sales throughout the world and even today, remains a favourite among online multiplayer gamers.

Pretty much every first-person shooter in the market today has, in some way or other, been inspired by Quake and the series itself. For example, in 1997, a group of Microsoft millionaires, led by Gabe Newell, licensed Quake technology and created Half Life, one of the major competitors to this franchise. In the late 1990s another fledgling company, Epic Games, started business with inspiration from Quake. They went on to create Unreal, another competitor to the Quake franchise.

The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors. This is mostly because Quake II was originally intended to be a separate franchise ("Quake II" was a tentative title), a plan that was thwarted when most of the other names id Software had tried to use were already taken.

Quake involves a marine traveling through alternate dimensions to prevent an invasion of inter-dimensional monsters, a storyline somewhat similar to that of id's previous game Doom.

Quake II involves an assault on an alien planet, Stroggos, in retaliation for Strogg attacks on Earth. Most of the subsequent entries in the Quake franchise follow this storyline.

Quake III has minimal plot, but centers around the "Arena Eternal", a gladiatorial setting created by an alien race known as the Vadrigar and populated by combatants plucked from various points in time and space. Among these combatants are some characters either drawn from or based on those in Doom (Doomguy, Crash, Phobos), Quake (Ranger, Wrack) and Quake II (Bitterman, Tank Jr., Grunt, Major).

Quake IV picks up where Quake II left off — finishing the war between the humans and Strogg. The spin-off Enemy Territory: Quake Wars acts as a prequel to Quake II, when the Strogg first invade Earth.

Setting
The Strogg are an alien race who serve as the primary antagonists in Quake II and Quake 4. They are a playable faction in Quake III: Team Arena and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The Strogg are a warlike cybernetic race, infamous for the systematic replacement of their ranks with prisoners of war and the modification of their bodies with mechanical weaponry and prosthetics. They maintain a massive global military-industrial complex with mines, ore refineries, light production plants and heavy industrial manufacturing facilities throughout Stroggos. Their heavy reliance on industry has created a toxic environment that has killed much of the native plant and animal life on Stroggos, and the remaining animals are subject to horrible mutation.

Main series

 * Quake (1996)
 * Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge of Armagon (1997)
 * Quake Mission Pack 2: Dissolution of Eternity (1997)
 * Quake II (1997)
 * Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning (1998)
 * Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero (1998)
 * Quake III Arena (1999)
 * Quake III: Team Arena (2000)
 * Quake Live (2010)
 * Quake 4 (2005)

Spinoffs

 * Quake Mobile (2005)
 * ''Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007)
 * Quake Arena DS (TBA)

Unofficial Ports
All unofficial ports require original game files to work.
 * Quake Mobile (Symbian)
 * Quake II Mobile (Symbian)
 * Quake III Arena Mobile (Symbian)
 * Quake DS
 * Quake II DS
 * Quake II HTML5

Upcoming games
John Carmack stated, at QuakeCon 2007, that the Id Tech 5 engine would be used for a new Quake game. He also stated that Quake (III) Arena would get a sequel at some point.