Andrew Cretella writes: "It may seem strange to criticize the game for its single-player considering Quake III built its entire legacy on multiplayer, but it was this version’s one and only chance to prevent itself from being redundant. Instead, redundant is exactly what Quake Arena Arcade is. All it has left to offer that its PC counterparts do not are the 12 Xbox360-exclusive levels, a mostly quantitative concern that does not make up for its qualitative deficiency. In fact, while Quake Live does not have those particular maps, even non-subscription players have access to over 50 arenas, so technically it wins quantitatively as well. Quake Arena Arcade is not a bad game; it’s just an extremely misguided release considering Quake Live is free and superior. It’s not like system requirements should be an issue anymore either."
PlayDevil has posted a review of the recently released "Quake Arena Arcade" for Xbox Live Arcade.
Here's more:
"Quake Live on PC only requires a browser, and is free to play, so why would I want to pay 1200 points to play on my Xbox 360?"
Jasper Kashap writes: "Over 10 years after its critically acclaimed debut, Quake Arena arrives on XBLA. id Software’s franchise was, and in many ways still is, genre defining and the third entry is often viewed as the pinnacle of the series and is still popular in many pro-gaming circuits.
It’s difficult to recommend Quake Arena unless you have a core group of friends ready to play. To some, Quake Arena is a priceless gem, but to most this poorly handled release will be an ill-preserved fossil. For those still on the fence, I’d recommend the browser based Quake Live."
M2G Writes:
Whilst an interesting look at what used to be the pinnacle of online gaming, Quake Arena Arcade just seems a little too old for an Xbox Live Arcade title to work properly and be as satisfying as the current generation of online shooters, it’s not that it’s a bad game, it’s just not suited to the console generation that has joypads rarher than a mouse control.
I tried the demo and I was completely disappointed with the lack of polish, content, or anything remastered at all. Not worth getting unlike the Doom and Duke3D ports. Heck knows why this came out so late in the XBLA's age.
I'm not entirely sure either. I think it was just an attempt to expose it to an audience that otherwise might not play it, and they probably thought people would buy it.