Fantastic, Adults-Only ‘Quake III’ Shakes Up Violent Shootout Genre

I think I’m in love. Her name is Mynx, and she’s “part viper, part black widow and all woman.” She’s the kind of woman your mother never thought to warn you about, the sort who’s just as happy cutting you in half with a machine gun as she is irradiating you with a lethal slug of depleted uranium.

Mynx inhabits the violent, twisted world of “Quake III Arena,” a fantastic first-person frag fest guaranteed to make critics of violent video games clamber up on their soapboxes. So let’s get it out of the way early. This is a violent, violent PC game with a single goal: Kill as many opponents as possible.

“Quake III Arena” is not for little kids. It’s not for teenagers. It’s for adults who understand the difference between the real world and fantasy and who can differentiate right from wrong. Because the only way to get ahead in “Quake III Arena” is to do things that would be considered very, very wrong in daily life.

That said, “Quake III Arena” is perhaps the best of a crop of recent PC and console titles, including “Turok Rage Wars” and “Unreal Tournament,” dedicated to multi-player shootouts. The concept is not new. Since the early days of “Doom,” players have been able to hunt each other in creepy mazes.

But “Quake III Arena” refines the genre and takes it to new places. The game can be played alone against devilish computer opponents or against human opponents via a local area network or the Internet. Only the brave and the skilled should venture out among human opponents. Otherwise, games tend to be brief and to end unhappily.

In either mode, players begin in an arena stocked with weapons, armor and various power-ups. The new Quake III engine delivers beautiful, detailed mazes that zip furiously along even during the nastiest multi-player firefight. Players win a level when they have killed a predetermined number of opponents.

That’s tougher than it sounds. Even computer enemies fight with startling intelligence, running when they need to and standing their ground when they have the advantage. Sometimes just tracking down an opponent gets tricky. The mazes sprawl out over several levels, with lava pits and other obstacles making passage difficult.

Each opponent has his or her--or even its--own personality and fighting style. With 32 different computer gladiators, from the aforementioned Mynx to un-dead Marines and ruthless gargoyles, it can take a long time to be bored of single-player action. Multi-player mode offers more choices, including cooperative play and deceptively friendly sounding games such as “Capture the Flag.”

“Quake III Arena” requires a Pentium 233 with an 8-megabyte video card or a Pentium II 266 with a 4mb video card, as well as 64mb of RAM and at least 25mb of available hard-drive space. A 28.8-kilobit-per-second or faster modem or access to a local area network is required for multiplayer mode.

“Supercross 2000”

Motocross racing games have been popular for a couple of years, but until playing “Supercross 2000” for Nintendo 64, I never understood the allure. Now I think I get it. There’s a lot more to winning than just gunning the engine and snaking through the course.

It’s downright difficult.

In “Supercross 2000,” players may choose from a variety of game modes, from a quick race to freestyle. Although the racing is both enjoyable and technical, it’s the freestyle trickery that provides a great way to kill a few minutes after work.

In freestyle mode, players mount up and perform tricks as they jump off giant ramps of dirt. It’s the sort of thing most boys with a bike do in vacant lots--except this time the bike has plenty of raw power and the dirt piles are 10 and 12 feet tall.

The goal is to execute as many tricks as possible during a set amount of time. No handers. No footers. Rear fender grabs. All the tricks a kid could dream up, 17 in all. The best part: Wiping out doesn’t mean running home in tears.

I spent most of my time with the game in freestyle mode just because it was so much fun. But the bulk of “Supercross 2000” is, of course, racing. Players can jump into a quick race or sign up for a season in which they compete for points across a series of races. Either way is a challenge.

Winning demands understanding the tracks, the other riders and the physics of dirt bike racing. The realism is exceptional. Players can choose to race as any one of 24 riders, each with his own characteristics. The 16 tracks get rutted as a race progresses, meaning players get stuck or lose control if they hit a spot wrong.

The bikes themselves can be customized, but only in four areas: engine size, traction, gearing and shocks. Each affects the way the bike rides, and players have to get used to shifting their weight--via the thumb stick or joy pad--to get the most out of their bike during a race. For instance, when hitting a ramp during a race, players should lean forward and then pull back to clear obstacles beyond.

For racing fans used to punching the accelerator and going for broke, “Supercross 2000” takes some getting used to. The brake is just as important as the throttle, and the race does not always go to the swift.

Aaron Curtiss is in a Times management training program, in which he serves as assistant to the senior vice president of advertising. He has no financial dealings with the companies he covers. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.

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Essentials

Quake III Arena

* Platform: PC

* Publisher: Id/Activision

* ESRB rating*: Mature

* Price: $39.99

* Bottom line: Bloody thrills

Supercross 2000

* Platform: Nintendo 64

* Publisher: Electronic Arts

* ESRB rating*: Everyone

* Price: $59.99

* Bottom line: Fun in the dirt

*Entertainment Software Ratings Board

Next Week: “Interstate 82,” “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “Evolution--The World of Sacred Device”