Quake 2 is free. quick and simple to download -
http://q2s.tastyspleen.net/
You can customize anything and everything.. if you are patient enough to learn how.
What makes Quake2 so amazing to me besides the option to customize anything and everything from skins/models/maps/textures/weapons/sounds/everything. is the grapple/hook option.
I am a CTF player.. i've tried CTF on quakelive, COD, unreal, Tribes, probably some other games too.. but only in quake2 do i have a grappling hook or laser hook to swing around like spiderman or tarzan across the level.
Imagine shooting your grappling hook to a ceiling/ledge/or wall and then getting pulled through the air letting go before you hit the wall.
As you fly through the air you swoop down to grab the enemy flag bounce/jump off the ground and fire your hook/grapple to another wall/ceiling to escape from the enemy back to your base and capture the flag.
it adds so much speed to the game. simply walking/running to grab the flag and walk/run it back to your base just seems boring when you know you could be bouncing off the walls floors ceilings.
they make jump pads and speed ramps etc to give you these feelings of excitement in some of these games.... why? because its exciting to fly through the air and get shot or not get shot or shoot someone while in motion...Tribes you have a jet pack and can pick up speed and ramp off of inclines lots of big outside maps so i understand... they love their speed too.
in Quake2 or even quake3/live the maps are all more structured and contained... Capture the flag should be about speed chasing and escaping. out maneuvering the enemy. not just simply camping the flag or the hallway that leads to/from the flag .. so boring. if any of your quake3/live guys took the time to download Quake2pro.. took a minute to learn the controls.. and join the active Quake2 Communities.. such as ACMECTF.com railwarz.com or lmctf.com
railwarz and LMCTF both have very active Facebook groups as well. you can get all the help/support you need from members of the community at almost anytime at least within 1 day.
acmectf.com has an active forum and community mainly for L-Fire CTF
Quake live I don't care for the physics.. Aiming seems pretty awkward to me from quake2. I cant customize everything such as models skins map textures etc.. quake live feels like unreal tournament to me theres no hook/grapple so i cant get into it.. i might as well play counterstrike or deathmatch on quake2 or call of duty.
the community aspect is what keeps me on quake2 also.. I love the Quake2 CTF communities.. ACME all weapons L-Fire CTF... LMCTF all weapons with offhand grapple...and Railwarz CTF instagib railz fast reload on railgun and offhand laser hook. the fastest mod u will ever play.
all quake2 CTF styles LMCTF L-Fire CTF Railwarz CTF Xpert CTF.. have different hook/grapple physics... I've played more railwarz than anything so I am most accustomed to the physics of that style CTF. Im not the best and yes it does take skill/knowledge of how to quickly propel yourself across the maps to be an effective player. certain maps people can cap a flag in 7-10 seconds.. given no one is there and they are doing a speed run.. some of the really fast guys will hit 7.something seconds everytime... i might hit 9.something on the same map..
its like running the 40 yard dash.. one guy runs a 4.2 and the other guy runs a 5.2
that whole second means everything in speed.
now imagine playing CTF against the guy with a 7.5 captime n ur captime is 10.5 hes always going to make it to where he wants to be quicker.. if you practice and learn some techniques ask questions maybe u can improve your speed which will help make u a better player.
if you are not the quickest you can play defense and work on your aim. but you will need a little speed cause camping the flag is a lot tougher when people move so fast. So you will end up needing to chase them out of base n frag them before they get back to their base.
you can fake out your enemy with the use of the hook/grapple and the speed.. go halfway in one direction turn around n go the other way... this makes it more like a sport basketball football hockey soccer players can appreciate this, the average or typical player wont expect you to do anything out of normal and you end of capping the flag.
if the enemy has ur flag n they frag u.. if u are quick enough u can hook/grapple to their base n grab their flag before they can get there and play the chase/frag game until someone wins. in some other game with out the hook/grapple when this happens you can only be lucky enough to spawn close to their base to grab the flag.. or hope u have a teammate.. close..
i know plenty of people who play quakelive wish there was a hook/grapple but there isnt one.. or if there is you have to pay to use it and even still they dont or havent got it working right.. quakelive gotta pay to experience all they have to offer and thats still not close to what quake2 has to offer.
id rather play an older game where i can do what i want and enjoy the experience than play a newer game with better "graphics" quake2s graphics are just find for me esp when using quake2 pro and gl_celshading 4 which makes the players look cartoonish looking like on warsaw with the black outlines
walking/running across a map to do Capture the flag seems very boring once you have experienced the speed agility and flag running/chasing that the hook/grapple brings to a game.. CTF is just pointless with out it in my opinion..
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hey eM we have a railwarz tournament going on right now.. ends Jan 31st.. there is not set match night.. but the Railwarz server is busy 7 nights a week. starting around 7PM eastern and last pretty late on certain nights.. we get 4v4+ crowds every night
we just have a railwarz match when enough players from 2 teams are around and we head to railwarz match server. in game type goto acmematch2
i can stick you on a team if you are interested... but if not its always easy to join a game anynight just for fun.. sometimes we do pick up games on railwarz server or railwarz match server. and those can be pretty fun when we get the teams evenly matched..
i've got kids so it's hard for me to ever commit but i play when i can and can sometimes get 2 or 3 games in before I need to do something for the kids/wife sometimes they go to bed early and games last late so i get to enjoy those games.
I play on ACME Last resort server too when im not on railwarz their games usually last later into the night.. not sure if they are doing any tournaments this year or not..
you can always get any help u need from our railwarz facebook group. or railwarz.com forums lot of guys are helpful there...
lequen slayer and vamp all play on railwarz/L-fire servers quite a bit.. maybe some other LMers hard for me to tell sometimes whos who. hope to see you around more often. hit me up on facebook sometime
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