'Block Quake' delivers the Lego Quake experience we didn't know we needed
Modder Kebby_Quake has spat in the face of Shub-Niggurath, creating a mod for Quake that replaces weapons, enemies, and pickups with Lego facsimiles, bringing a childlike innocence and whimsy to the gruesome, Trent Reznor-scored FPS.
Kebby's work is impressive, and demonstrates the same impish sense of humor as the Lego Star Wars games. Humanoid enemies have been replaced with minifigs, while more complex foes like the Scrag have faithful block-based designs. I'm especially fond of what Kebby did with the game's weapons. They constructed the Super Shotgun with a double-stack of those one-peg, barrel-shaped Legos, while the Nailgun now fires out tiny Lego studs as its projectiles.
Perhaps most exciting of all, if you manage to directly hit an enemy with the Grenade or Rocket Launcher, their gibs are now tasteful red bricks, and their cute Lego head might just go flying off.
Kebby wisely avoids any direct Lego associations, exclusively referring to the plastic components of this new world as "blocks" with a wink and a nudge. I have to imagine they're safe, though, if egregious Lego competitor Mega Bloks could remain unchallenged legally for so long. This isn't Nintendo we're talking about here.
Kebby isn't done with Block Quake and has a list of ambitious (and hilarious) features they plan to implement in the future:
- Add some blocky themed sound effects for weapons, enemies and objects.
- Create new custom blocky themed HUD and GUI graphics.
- Possible mod support for online multiplayer modes like QuakeWorld CTF (maybe!)
- Finish the new gibbed-limbs and blocky blood models for the CustomC source code overhaul version.
- Once CustomC is complete, implement the new source code changes into the ProgsDump version.
- Censor the entire game and remove any mature themed content and replace it with age appropriate material.
- Finish the Blocky WAD textures by adding more brick pattern variety and color options.
- Create some Blocky themed maps in Trenchbroom and maybe have a Block Quake Map Jam! (eventually)
Finally, the child-appropriate Quake I was denied in 1996 at one year old. Block Quake is compatible with the multiple source ports of the game, as well as Nightdive's excellent remaster. Block Quake is available for download on Kebby_Quake's GitHub and itch.io pages, and here's some footage of the mod running in the remaster's horde mode.