follow up post:
Yeah, Quake 1 had it going on too. No doubt about that. No other game was so likely to make you physically wince and say "ug" outloud when you got hit with that rocket. Gawd it hurt. It was definately faster, mostly because the scale was a little tighter I think.
As a very close 2nd, the railgun in quake 2 would make you feel it. When you get popped, you know it! In all likelyhood, your view is spinning backwards as your remaining giblets fly in other directions. I started with quake 1, but really got my skills honed playing quake 2, lithium mod online.
I love each in a different way, but quake 3 was probably the most refined of them. It picked up the graphics from quake 2 and ran away into 32bit land with them. It also got some of that quake 1 "feel" back to the movement physics.
I'm very much looking forward to the single player experience again with quake 4. It is supposed to be more of a "run and gun" experience like quake 2, but not the "pick your way carefully through the level" experience of doom 3. The graphics so far look awesome. It's also supposed to bring multiplayer back into the spotlight. Doom 3 pretty much left multiplayer out. FYI - you'll be able to carry a flashlight AND a gun for those of you worried.
One remark about the chaingun above. Yeah, it had the best chaingun ever. I don't care if you were carrying a rocket launcher or railgun, if a guy came into the room with that chaingun already run up to full speed, you were in fear. Everyone would run for cover until he ran out of ammo or let off the trigger long enough to let the gun spin down. It was a great balance of raw damage with that spinup time that kept the weapon both powerful and balanced. The sound fx and bullet-impact particle effects made it a great experience. I always thought the unreal minigun was so wimpy in comparison. I never had a fear of it, nor felt powerful when using it.
