A CD-ROM is required if you buy the full game in the stores. However, there is another way to get the full game. To purchase Quake online at their Web site, download the encrypted package and follow the installation procedure. You'll be prompted to call an 800 number at some point along the line and you'll be given a password to unlock your copy of the game after id has received your credit card details.

The shareware version of Quake will have sound effects-but no music-since the CD is required. Trent Reznor, the brawn behind "Nine Inch Nails" fame, provides an eerie backdrop to the game. The 11 songs are fascinating and appropriate to the Quake environment, and to put it best-it's like Industrial Music meets Tangerine Dream. Shareware players, don't be disappointed-if you put another music CD in your drive during gameplay, it will play it and change tracks with each new level you complete!

Your primary goal is to stay alive in this dark, gothic environment against the Quake's deadly army of Rottweilers, Grunts, Enforcers, Death Knights, Ogres, Shamblers, Fiends, and more.

The secondary goal is to make it to the slip gates at the end of each level until you return back to the start of the episode (after five to eight levels) and enter a new dimension. There are four episodes, or dimensions, and four skill levels to choose from (one really tough "Nightmare" skill, if you can find it-it's hidden). The shareware version contains only one episode, Dimension of the Doomed and the other three episodes are Realm of Black Magic, Netherworld, and The Elder World. I suggest you play these in consecutive order as the dimension get progressively more difficult.

Quake features a full six degrees of freedom (you can look up and down now-opposed to Doom), a revamped keyboard layout (although somewhat similar to Doom/Doom II) and 3D polygon-based, texture-mapped items. Enemies in Doom may look like they are in real 3D since you're looking at them from a first-person perspective-but they really are 2D. Each object, monster, and weapon in Quake are in true three dimensions.

1. Forward and to the right of the start is a ledge with flashing lights. Jump up on the ledge and shoot the red design on the wall (to your right). There will be a box of shells behind it.
   

2. Under the first bridge you come to a river. It goes into a cavern. Jump in and follow it along into the cavern. Go up the steps-there will be a 100 health item and a door to the end of the level, the game will register a secret. At the end of the cavern is a lift taking you back up to the start.
   

3. Past the first bridge is a door. Enter the door and kill the monsters. To the right of the entrance is a column and a ledge. Go to the corner between the two and shoot the globe texture high up on the column. A platform will rise and you will be on the ledge. Turn to your right and shoot the globe texture on the ledge. The wall behind the globe will open, leading to a quad damage item.
   

4. To the left of the door past the bridge is a hall. Follow it to the right and there is a button on the wall and when pressed, a platform will slide out from the wall. Halfway across the platform, turn to your left. There will be a red target slightly above your the level of your head. Shoot it and turn to your left. A door in a wall will open, revealing a double barreled shotgun.
   

5. Past the platform over the pool is a door. Go through the door and head forward and to the right. Go down the walkway and turn left. Follow down the walkway again and turn left again. There will be a button and a light in front of you.
   

   Jump onto the banister, then jump onto the light. Either step or jump onto the button and look at the wall in front of you. There will be a ledge and two blocks sticking out. Jump to the lowest block, then up to the next block and to the ledge. Inside is a 100 health item.
   

6. Go all the way down the walkway. There is a door. To the right and behind a column (where it's real dark), will be a biosuit. Take it. Be quick, as the biosuit doesn't give you much more time than you need. Jump into the slime and swim underneath the door. Follow the tunnel until it opens into a larger area and there will be a platform overhead.
   

7. Swim up to the opening in the platform. If you are running low on air, you can swim up to the platform from the tunnel, but you must step over the opening before the game registers the secret. There will be a platform with a yellow armor and some health on it. There is also a slipgate to the area over the door past the bridge (back around to secret #3).

There are many ways to play Quake online (with up to 15 others via modem, LAN, serial connection, or Internet) but most of us do not have access to a Network and modem play restricts you to opponents in your city (or the long-distance costs would be astronomical). If you want to play Quake over the Internet, you absolutely need a 28.8 or better modem. Generally speaking, the more people in the game, the slower and less smooth the game will be (but there are other relevant variables to consider such as bandwidth, latency, current load, etc.)

There are a few ways to set up Quake to play on the Net but the easiest would be to use the TCP/IP under Windows 95 and edit the Q95.BAT file (although playing in Windows 95 may slow frame rate down-read the Techinfo.txt file that comes with Quake on how to configure properly). Once up and running, you will need to find the IP address of a Quake server near you. You can find one by going to various Quake Server lists (see side bar). If you're so inclined, other methods will work such as the Beame & Whiteside DOS TCP/IP stack or Novell's ODI IPX stack under DOS, PDIPX with packet drivers under DOS, and the Microsoft IPX stack in a Win95 DOS box. Instructions on setting it up are also in the Techinfo.txt file.

Quake has two kinds of servers: Listen and Dedicated. A Listen server should run on the faster of the player's machine which acts as the server while running the game. The best scenario is if you have an extra PC that has some kick to it, it can act as a Dedicated server, i.e. handle all server duties and leaving the players' machines free of the added unnecessary work. Quake will allow up to eight players on a Listen server, and double that on a Dedicated server. Type Quake-listen to launch a Listen server, and Quake-dedicated 16 to launch a Dedicated server.