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    Building on the success the Quake 4 1.2 Point Release had on the community, the Quake 4 1.3 Point Release will please hardcore Quakers while at the same time bring new players to the community. Quake 4 has progressed tremendously since it was first released in October of 2005. With the release of the 1.2 Point Release, true dual-core support was added along with a much smoother feel to the game being implemented. The 1.2 Point Release was credited in boosting the game's popularity by including many community requested features such as brightskins. The Quake 4 1.3 Point Release, which can better be described as a free add-on pack, delivers even more than its predecessor by including new unique game content along with gameplay changes and performance enhancements which will open Quake 4 to a whole new player base.

    To design the game's new content, id Software contracted Ritual Entertainment, a company whose history with QUAKE goes all the way back to the first Quake 1 mission pack. Ritual is responsible for both new gametype and many of the new maps. The patch is much more than anyone could ask for in a free game update. During our visit to id Software's headquarters in early July, PlanetQuake4.net had the opportunity to play a test build of the 1.3 Point Release.

    Instead of including an adaptation of a previously known game type such as CTF, Quake 4 1.3 includes an original gametype named Deadzone. The Deadzone gametype isn't a mod such as Quake III Arena's mission pack "Team Arena" was, but rather an additional gametype built into Quake4's executable. Ten maps include this gametype as an option, three of which are adaptations of already included CTF and DM maps. Level designers will have no problems adapting their maps to include the features needed to play a Deadzone game.

    To get a true sense of what it is like to play the new Deadzone gametype, a group of id Software employees were gathered to play with us on a local server. Deadzone is a team-based gametype that requires players to pickup a rune and then proceed to the center of the map where the Deadzone areas are located. The entire strategy of the game lies in staying alive in the Deadzone as long as possible. For every second you stand inside the Deadzone, you will receive one point. The Deadzone areas are clearly marked with the outline of floating Deadzone rune icons which are defaulted to white, but change color depending on which team is in control. If it happens that a member from each team enters the Deadzone with a rune at the same time, the outline around the Deadzone turns red indicating a dispute. The dispute is settled by you or a teammate killing the opponent, therefore taking control of the Deadzone. The Deadzone maps by default contain about 6 Deadzone runes which last 45 seconds. Just as other team-based gametypes, Deadzone has different strategies players can enact to win the match.

    In addition to the Deadzone gametype, Quake 4 1.3 adds the server side option named "Buy Mode". "Buy Mode", which can be enabled inside any Quake 4 map, removes weapons, ammo, and armor from the map. You spawn into the map with a pre-set amount of points (1000 by default) with which you can buy weapons, ammo, armor, and health. By default, the letter "b" is bound to make the Buy Menu appear. Once you choose to open the Buy Menu, an entire list of items you are able to buy appears. Items, which you cannot afford, are faded out. If you choose a weapon for example, ammo must also be purchased along with that weapon. This "Buy Mode", just as Deadzone, has its own special strategy. Players must decide if it is a better strategy to buy armor instead of more powerful weapons or to accumulate a higher amount of points to buy more a powerful weapons instead. Many associate the buying of items with Counter-Strike, but this Quake 4 gametype is nothing like it. You can be in the heat of a battle and have saved up enough points for that rocket launcher or railgun you desperately need. That's right, all items can be bought any time during the course of the game, just as long as you can afford them. Even after dying, your weapon will still be there.

   Along with the new Deadzone gametype and Buy Mode option to entice new players to Quake 4, bug fixes, physics enhancements, and performance tweaks, new maps, and a new weapon are present in the new patch. 

    Returning to the QUAKE series with the 1.3 Point Release is the fan favorite substance of lava. Up to this point, lava has mysteriously been absent from the game. Another piece of new content being added in 1.3 is a gun called the "Napalm Launcher". The gun is able to launch busts of fire at your opponent that remain active even after they hit the floor. If your opponent happens to walk over the flame drenched area, damage will be taken. This weapon appears in many of the newly included maps, but can also be purchased during any Buy Mode game.

    One of the most requested updates to the game by the community has been a change to Quake 4's default physics. The 1.3 Point Release delivers, enhancing Quake 4's feel by increasing a player's breakaway rate, giving the game a faster paced feel. This change in Quake 4's physics allows you to gain speed much faster. The faster player acceleration is achieved by a change to the pm_accelerate setting inside the game's code. This change in the breakaway speed can be felt when strafe jumping inside maps.

    Quake4 did not ship with the extremely scalable graphics options found in Quake 3 such as vertex lighting. Some found Quake 4 too taxing on their computer to enjoy a multiplayer game. Even though Quake 4's multiplayer component was a huge advancement from that of Doom III, the Doom III engine leaves behind those who never bothered upgrading their hardware. The 1.3 Point Release adds the performance enhancement of Ambient Lighting found in many popular Quake4 modifications such as Q4Max, X-Battle, and RocketArena4. The r_forceambient command, which has been added in this update, enables a single light inside a Quake4 map to illuminate the entire map. While using ambient lighting will force you to sacrifice more detailed lighting and richer color in maps, it will provide a huge performance boost. Our tests concluded that players will see an increase of around 30 Frames Per Second along with a much smoother gameplay experience. While the game's graphics will look inferior using this command, it does provide a serious performance boost which will draw many players that previous thought Quake 4 was too powerful for their systems. The r_forceambient command will be scaleable from 0.1 to 1.0

    The 1.3 Point Release offers a solid number of gameplay changes and new additions to Quake4 that will give those tired with traditional gametypes something new. While the increased player acceleration rate takes some time getting used it, I believe the community will accept the faster gameplay warmly. While one game patch is never going to include all the changes requested, this update surely does add a significant amount to Quake 4 and should be downloaded by everyone. If you haven't purchased Quake 4 to this point because you didn't believe it would run properly on your system, but you had the urge to play the latest in the QUAKE series, this would be the time.

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