I find it fits the bill for quake 3 and team arena fantastically great. I just wish they included some music for the levels. It is the same game play. They do a pretty good job at replicating the quake 3 atmosphere and theme. But yeah, it does have a different look and feel to it still. I sure do love it a hell of a lot (for you i guess it would take some getting used too). It's a top notch game, and for having bug fixes that quake 3 itself doesn't have. The future of quake 3 is an upgraded and still being developed ripoff. I find it great to whip out at lans parties.
It really sucks if someone doesn't have a copy of the game everyone's playing at the lan party. Why pirate? A free alternative that can be shared with and actually include everybody works. Reminds me of people wanting to play counterstrike source. Only 3 people had steam accounts with counterstrike (one person even said that they'd be back with a brand new copy just to play once...cringe, setup steam too). I whipped out urban terror and everyone was happy (although urban terror is not exactly the same as counter strike, it is for all intents and purposes close enough) and pleasantly surprised. I don't mean to be in here touting my opensource love and ideals, but free opensource games are great for lan parties. That's why i list off some free games for people at lans parties who wanted to get down and dirty with the classics like UT quake 3, etc.., but ripoffs

Nexuiz...great UT ripoff
Operana...great quake3 and team arena ripoff
Urban terror...great counterstrike ripoff
Assaultcube...also a great counterstrike alternative, but faster paced, and more standard fps style, i don't care for it so much, but other people sure liked it