...did we all play the same game?
'cause generic soundtrack aside, i don't even need to hesitate - this is superior to quake ii in just about every way. sure, there's no rocket jumping, but that hardly matters in a corridor shooter; what's important is gunplay and Q2 wishes it had weapons half as good as these. the shotgun? nailgun? the fucking bfg that shoots black holes? get the hell out of town and don't let me see you here again
...that praise being said, i'll be damned if it doesn't put its shakiest leg first
unlike quake ii, the start here isn't slow because of its shooting - that feels fantastic from the get go - instead it's the aggressively invasive 'story' that's constantly trying to pull you from the action. let me shoot. the fucking. aliens! that's all i wanna do, man!!
"nah nah - i hear you", calls tim willits, newly appointed president of the Carmack Fan Club, "here, you can shoot again - in a turret section! and after that, ohoho, mission briefing!! and then - two more vehicle segments!!!"
with one swift motion i knock that shit out of his fucking hands. then i scream, "I JUST WANT TO SHOOT THE STROGG WITH MY SHOTGUN. THAT'S LITERALLY ALL I WANT TO DO. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR SET PIECES (besides the mech one - that was pretty cool) OR YOUR SPACE MARINE STORY - I DON'T EVEN CARE THAT I COULD PERSONALLY WALK FASTER THAN MY CHARACTER WITH WEIGHTS STRAPPED TO MY LEGS. THE GUNS FEEL GOOD, TIM. PLEASE JUST LET ME USE THE FUCKING GUNS!!!!"
i think he took that bit about space marines harshly given the events that transpired shortly after, but all of my prayers had been answered nonetheless! no longer was i walking back and forth through areas i'd already visited just to report to some dumbass military man that the elevator got unjammed or steve blum #3 successfully completed filing his tax returns; i was actually playing the game - uninterrupted
when quake 4 gets its shit fully together after the first 1/3 or so, it shifts from stop-and-go into maximum overdrive. there's zero bad weapons, enemy types continue to vary enough (not to mention there's actually a couple decent bosses - a rarity for shooters) and ironically even the mission objectives become significantly more engaging when they're things you're doing and not just details off sgt. pvt. blum's shopping list
environments start looking a lot cooler too. Q2 toyed with body horror in small doses, but ravensoft went all-in here. call me simple, edgy, whatever - i think giant entrails breaching through space corridors and limbless (but still alive and wiggling) bodies being used as power supplies are pretty fucking rad. say what you will about id tech 4 - doom 3 looks fantastic and this is no different. hands down the most underrated shooter engine
misguided start aside, this is the best fps (barring quake 1, obviously) that i've played in a considerably long time. can't wait to receive matthew kane's next orders in quake 5!
wait fuck
'cause generic soundtrack aside, i don't even need to hesitate - this is superior to quake ii in just about every way. sure, there's no rocket jumping, but that hardly matters in a corridor shooter; what's important is gunplay and Q2 wishes it had weapons half as good as these. the shotgun? nailgun? the fucking bfg that shoots black holes? get the hell out of town and don't let me see you here again
...that praise being said, i'll be damned if it doesn't put its shakiest leg first
unlike quake ii, the start here isn't slow because of its shooting - that feels fantastic from the get go - instead it's the aggressively invasive 'story' that's constantly trying to pull you from the action. let me shoot. the fucking. aliens! that's all i wanna do, man!!
"nah nah - i hear you", calls tim willits, newly appointed president of the Carmack Fan Club, "here, you can shoot again - in a turret section! and after that, ohoho, mission briefing!! and then - two more vehicle segments!!!"
with one swift motion i knock that shit out of his fucking hands. then i scream, "I JUST WANT TO SHOOT THE STROGG WITH MY SHOTGUN. THAT'S LITERALLY ALL I WANT TO DO. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR SET PIECES (besides the mech one - that was pretty cool) OR YOUR SPACE MARINE STORY - I DON'T EVEN CARE THAT I COULD PERSONALLY WALK FASTER THAN MY CHARACTER WITH WEIGHTS STRAPPED TO MY LEGS. THE GUNS FEEL GOOD, TIM. PLEASE JUST LET ME USE THE FUCKING GUNS!!!!"
i think he took that bit about space marines harshly given the events that transpired shortly after, but all of my prayers had been answered nonetheless! no longer was i walking back and forth through areas i'd already visited just to report to some dumbass military man that the elevator got unjammed or steve blum #3 successfully completed filing his tax returns; i was actually playing the game - uninterrupted
when quake 4 gets its shit fully together after the first 1/3 or so, it shifts from stop-and-go into maximum overdrive. there's zero bad weapons, enemy types continue to vary enough (not to mention there's actually a couple decent bosses - a rarity for shooters) and ironically even the mission objectives become significantly more engaging when they're things you're doing and not just details off sgt. pvt. blum's shopping list
environments start looking a lot cooler too. Q2 toyed with body horror in small doses, but ravensoft went all-in here. call me simple, edgy, whatever - i think giant entrails breaching through space corridors and limbless (but still alive and wiggling) bodies being used as power supplies are pretty fucking rad. say what you will about id tech 4 - doom 3 looks fantastic and this is no different. hands down the most underrated shooter engine
misguided start aside, this is the best fps (barring quake 1, obviously) that i've played in a considerably long time. can't wait to receive matthew kane's next orders in quake 5!
wait fuck
how does this game get worse AFTER you become a cyborg
The stroggification scene is fucking nightmarish and I love it. It makes me uncomfortable but in the best way possible because A.) you're locked in an FPS perspective the whole way through, which adds a tangible and personal feeling of body horror the whole scene, and B.) you're right behind a guy the entire time, so you get to watch the process happen to him first, a small and subtle but brilliant choice that makes the painful incisions and dismemberments that happen to your guy all the more tense and frightening. You know what's coming, and it makes the moment when it happens hit that much harder. I also like that it never gets too gory - the guy in front of you is always just far enough away that you can only get a vague but discernible portrait of the horror that awaits you, and even when it does happen to you, the limiting first-person perspective actually makes it easier to process what's happening instead of being permitted a full third-person view of the gory details. It is a brilliant horror scene that's actually aided by the video game medium, because the stroggification would be nowhere near as tangible and icky-feeling if it wasn't in a first-person perspective, something that only feels plausible and natural in a video game setting. The stroggification scene rocks.
the rest of this though, uh, what the fuck is this??? Basic-ass generic oorah first-person shooter that has virtually nothing to do with Quake's dusty regality or gothic industrialism. I'd argue it's even more of a blemish on the series that the notoriously unfitting Doom 3 was to Doom. id Software properties at the time were in dire straits, lemme tell you.
the rest of this though, uh, what the fuck is this??? Basic-ass generic oorah first-person shooter that has virtually nothing to do with Quake's dusty regality or gothic industrialism. I'd argue it's even more of a blemish on the series that the notoriously unfitting Doom 3 was to Doom. id Software properties at the time were in dire straits, lemme tell you.
Quake 4, which was made in the same engine that was used for Doom 3, and considered the black sheep of the series, is a bit of a weird entry in the Quake franchise to say the least.
Visuals haven't aged gracefully, but that's ok. I like the overall aesthetic they went with, even if it might get a little monotonous at times. At least the atmosphere picked up in the last 5 levels.
The gameplay pace isn't as fast as the previous entries, but it doesn't feel bad and the gunplay is good. It also gets a little bit better in the second half.
It's different from its predecessors and far more akin to what you'd call a "modern shooter", so that may turn off some people.
Level design is fine, enemy and weapon variety is fine as well. You'll periodically get your weapons upgraded, which is nice.
Only 2 weapons have a flashlight option, which was a little annoying, since a big chunk of the game is spent in the dark and you'll also have to fight enemies there, kinda forcing you to use those 2 weapons.
The story takes place shortly after Quake 2 and is ok for what it is. It boils down to "Aliens are bad and we gotta destroy the bad aliens". You won't miss too much by not paying attention to it.
Nothing really stood out, but there's nothing really bad either.
The game took me a little under 9 hours to beat and I found it to be a bit more enjoyable when split into 2-3 hour sessions.
I guess the worst thing I can say about this game is that the final boss felt underwhelming and it lacks memorability in comparison to the previous entries of the series.
Visuals haven't aged gracefully, but that's ok. I like the overall aesthetic they went with, even if it might get a little monotonous at times. At least the atmosphere picked up in the last 5 levels.
The gameplay pace isn't as fast as the previous entries, but it doesn't feel bad and the gunplay is good. It also gets a little bit better in the second half.
It's different from its predecessors and far more akin to what you'd call a "modern shooter", so that may turn off some people.
Level design is fine, enemy and weapon variety is fine as well. You'll periodically get your weapons upgraded, which is nice.
Only 2 weapons have a flashlight option, which was a little annoying, since a big chunk of the game is spent in the dark and you'll also have to fight enemies there, kinda forcing you to use those 2 weapons.
The story takes place shortly after Quake 2 and is ok for what it is. It boils down to "Aliens are bad and we gotta destroy the bad aliens". You won't miss too much by not paying attention to it.
Nothing really stood out, but there's nothing really bad either.
The game took me a little under 9 hours to beat and I found it to be a bit more enjoyable when split into 2-3 hour sessions.
I guess the worst thing I can say about this game is that the final boss felt underwhelming and it lacks memorability in comparison to the previous entries of the series.
A mediocre first half is mostly made up for by a stronger second half in this mid 2000s FPS.
Following the multiplayer focused Quake 3, Ravensoft takes a stab at the Quake franchise with a continuation of the story of Quake II in humanity's war against the cybernetic Strogg, taking place immediately after the events of the 2nd game. Using the id Tech 4 engine, Quake plays very similarly to Doom 3 though with much less of an emphasis on horror. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to debate.
Quake 4's biggest issue is that the first half of the game is a slog. The plot is very basic sci-fi military stuff and the game play isn't very engaging. The player character moves like they are walking through molasses and the experience is brought down by poorly implemented backtracking and hand holding. There is a specific event that occurs roughly midway through the game in which you gain improved movement speed, but more notably the plot becomes a bit more interesting and the game starts to actually feel like a Quake game. The latter half of levels are more varied and bring more interesting combat sections that almost make you forget the tedium you just went through.
Shooting feels pretty good though the explosive weapons feel noticeably weak. There's a decent amount of enemy variety as well even if some enemy types felt underused. Quake 4 can get very dark at times so the decision to make the flashlight only usable with the pistol or machine gun is just irritating. The biggest game play weakness, like many other titles of the time, is the over abundance of middling vehicle sections. There's multiple sections where you either pilot a vehicle or man a turret on one and while some are better than others, they all drag on too long and feel like a large step down from the main on foot game play.
Graphically the game has held up better than I expected probably thanks to the use of mo-cap and a darker ambience. The music and sound design is good as well, but for some reason is mixed awfully. Dialogue is often incomprehensible over background noise and with no subtitle options nor a way to adjust audio levels beyond a master volume control, you'll just need to deal with it. Voice acting is serviceable with a notable inclusion of Peter Stormare as one of the supporting characters.
I didn't play any multiplayer as the servers are pretty much dead, but from what I've researched it sounds like this is one of the weaker entries in the series for multiplayer. The lack of official bot support is disappointing as well given that it can provide an otherwise dead game a method to experience the multiplayer maps populated.
It may sound like I've little positive to say about the game, but I do believe the 2nd half of the campaign is quite good and the first half is fine if not a bit uninspiring. I don't think this is quite as good as Doom 3 and that is probably best showcased by how this game has been somewhat forgotten in comparison to the 3rd doom installment, but if you can grab this game on sale then I'd recommend it for a solid 6 - 10 hours of mid 2000s FPS gameplay.
Following the multiplayer focused Quake 3, Ravensoft takes a stab at the Quake franchise with a continuation of the story of Quake II in humanity's war against the cybernetic Strogg, taking place immediately after the events of the 2nd game. Using the id Tech 4 engine, Quake plays very similarly to Doom 3 though with much less of an emphasis on horror. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to debate.
Quake 4's biggest issue is that the first half of the game is a slog. The plot is very basic sci-fi military stuff and the game play isn't very engaging. The player character moves like they are walking through molasses and the experience is brought down by poorly implemented backtracking and hand holding. There is a specific event that occurs roughly midway through the game in which you gain improved movement speed, but more notably the plot becomes a bit more interesting and the game starts to actually feel like a Quake game. The latter half of levels are more varied and bring more interesting combat sections that almost make you forget the tedium you just went through.
Shooting feels pretty good though the explosive weapons feel noticeably weak. There's a decent amount of enemy variety as well even if some enemy types felt underused. Quake 4 can get very dark at times so the decision to make the flashlight only usable with the pistol or machine gun is just irritating. The biggest game play weakness, like many other titles of the time, is the over abundance of middling vehicle sections. There's multiple sections where you either pilot a vehicle or man a turret on one and while some are better than others, they all drag on too long and feel like a large step down from the main on foot game play.
Graphically the game has held up better than I expected probably thanks to the use of mo-cap and a darker ambience. The music and sound design is good as well, but for some reason is mixed awfully. Dialogue is often incomprehensible over background noise and with no subtitle options nor a way to adjust audio levels beyond a master volume control, you'll just need to deal with it. Voice acting is serviceable with a notable inclusion of Peter Stormare as one of the supporting characters.
I didn't play any multiplayer as the servers are pretty much dead, but from what I've researched it sounds like this is one of the weaker entries in the series for multiplayer. The lack of official bot support is disappointing as well given that it can provide an otherwise dead game a method to experience the multiplayer maps populated.
It may sound like I've little positive to say about the game, but I do believe the 2nd half of the campaign is quite good and the first half is fine if not a bit uninspiring. I don't think this is quite as good as Doom 3 and that is probably best showcased by how this game has been somewhat forgotten in comparison to the 3rd doom installment, but if you can grab this game on sale then I'd recommend it for a solid 6 - 10 hours of mid 2000s FPS gameplay.
better than every doom ever made lol
la escena de la stroggificacion me traumo de chiquito como es posible que mis papas me dejaron jugar esto 8/10 denme la secuela
It's a tragedy that Raven got sent to the cod mines.
Upon my second play through my opinion is mostly unchanged from my review in 2007. The campaign is enjoyable enough for an old school feel, but playing with 4K texture mods really helps a lot. The game is a pain to get working right on modern operating systems and needs a release of some sort. Multiplayer servers are offline, but LAN and fan servers still exist. You, of course, aren't missing anything by not playing this. I feel the campaign here is better than Doom 3's with faster pacing and more of the classic id Software feel to it and less stop and go like in Doom 3.
Forget not offering a single interesting idea done better than other mid-2000's FPS contemporaries like Half-Life 2, Halo 2, or even this title's own cousin in Doom 3; Quake 4 in a vacuum has no soul, no atmosphere, and not a single thing in its favor beyond being technically competent.
The phrase "This looks like a fake video game" is perhaps overused, but never have I felt so strongly that this was the case as I have with Quake 4. It's an A.I.'s idea of what a video game is, so much so that it might not even have enough flavor to be slotted into a 4 second shot in an episode of CSI. It's a 7 hour slog of what is essentially a child playing with the dullest set action figures as possible. It's like fast-forwarding past all of the fun satire and charming production design of Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers film so you can watch the last 20 minutes of overly bloated alien shooting at 0.5x speed.
Quake 4 is all of these things, and ultimately somehow is a complete Nothing video game. The setting and plot are less inspired than Brute Force and it fails to follow up on any of Doom 3's ideas or technology to such a degree that in hindsight I'm tempted to think I was too harsh on that game.
Sure, it doesn't brick my hard drive, the guns do damage and make sound, and playing Quake 4 doesn't kill my cat, but I'm convinced the only thing notable about this game and the only reason anyone gives it any thought is the fact that it says "Quake" on the box and that Raven Software and id Software are otherwise known for video games that actually engage on some level and have sparked joy and innovation.
I'd like to say something witty like "more like Quake 4 out of 10." but astonishingly, it does not even reach those heights.
Quake 4 is a video game for people without tastebuds.
The phrase "This looks like a fake video game" is perhaps overused, but never have I felt so strongly that this was the case as I have with Quake 4. It's an A.I.'s idea of what a video game is, so much so that it might not even have enough flavor to be slotted into a 4 second shot in an episode of CSI. It's a 7 hour slog of what is essentially a child playing with the dullest set action figures as possible. It's like fast-forwarding past all of the fun satire and charming production design of Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers film so you can watch the last 20 minutes of overly bloated alien shooting at 0.5x speed.
Quake 4 is all of these things, and ultimately somehow is a complete Nothing video game. The setting and plot are less inspired than Brute Force and it fails to follow up on any of Doom 3's ideas or technology to such a degree that in hindsight I'm tempted to think I was too harsh on that game.
Sure, it doesn't brick my hard drive, the guns do damage and make sound, and playing Quake 4 doesn't kill my cat, but I'm convinced the only thing notable about this game and the only reason anyone gives it any thought is the fact that it says "Quake" on the box and that Raven Software and id Software are otherwise known for video games that actually engage on some level and have sparked joy and innovation.
I'd like to say something witty like "more like Quake 4 out of 10." but astonishingly, it does not even reach those heights.
Quake 4 is a video game for people without tastebuds.
the vibes are so good. this is Peak Art Direction
but if i have to walk down one more grey hallway to shoot the same three dudes one more time i am going to e x p l o d e
but if i have to walk down one more grey hallway to shoot the same three dudes one more time i am going to e x p l o d e
A few days ago I was looking at the Quake games on Steam and realized something: I had not only not played Q4 since I was very young and I also happened to remember pretty much none of it, not even that much of the cutscene everyone knows this for. I was in the mood for something quick to play so I installed it and gave it another go.
From the beginning this game gives off DOOM 3 vibes more than anything, except the horror atmosphere isn't the focus, guns feel punchier and action is almost immediate.
Already an hour in I was feeling like this game was utilizing the idtech 4 engine way better, as it had a lot of pretty lighting in detailed areas with rich textures, but without making things overly dark and also making levels more fast paced. Sure, the initial walking speed is a bit annoyingly slow, but the levels are designed in such a way that I never felt too slow even while backtracking.
I think there's something to be said about the presentation of this game, the story continues right from the ending of Quake II and follows a silent protagonist alongside a squad of veteran soldiers. None of the characters are very deep or noteworthy, but they have some good voice work and the showing of different squads advancing through Stroggos in coordinated assaults gives a more natural tone of war that was absent in Quake II. The Strogg are designed in more interesting ways as well, giving us new foes with gruesome character design and a bunch of returning enemies a new spin, like the Berserkers having lighting attacks or the Iron Maidens being able to teleport and float. In general enemies use a wider variety of weapons as well, making them less monotonous when encountering the same enemy type. Unfortunately the Strogg still look too human like to my liking, with not many indications of them really being a galactic civilization that existed away from humans for a long time, but that problem is inherited from Quake II and not a particular issue with this game.
Unfortunately the AI isn't all that great, enemies have pretty predictable behaviors and ally squad members aren't always good at following you or finding a good spot, however levels are also designed well enough around this and will rarely show these weaknesses to a big degree.
Speaking of ally squad members, they're honestly nice to have around but aren't too much of a big deal. They do mostly stay alive without your supervision but can still die so it's a bad idea to let big enemies get a hold of them. A few sections with them are actually tricky to manage while trying to keep everyone alive which I welcome. They'll also provide you with weapon upgrades throughout the game, a system that's very clearly a last minute addition but helps the pacing as you get new reasons to use your weapons.
Weapons themselves all feel great, they all are good options during firefights and can still serve different roles. Of note are the lighting gun and nail gun which return, redesigned, from the first Quake game and the very versatile assault rifle and shotgun. Disappointingly the rail gun requires an upgrade to pierce enemies and the SSG is not here, but the arsenal is very robust and feels powerful which is what matters.
Going on, the game has a big moment in the middle which we all know as the Stroggification scene. I am not as impacted by it as others, but getting turned gives you a boost to player speed, health and armor. After this the game really picks up and gets more confident in throwing big enemies in higher numbers at you, which creates a lot of intense combat arenas that are very fun to get through.
The only points in which the pacing of the game is really bogged down is by the vehicle sections. I don't find them frustrating at all and at moments they're a good show, but they feel completely unnecessary and I would not miss them if they were cut. Polishing up the weapon upgrade system or getting more enemy variety could have been a better use of resources than the vehicles, but still, they're at least over quickly and I don't find them to ruin the game.
The final stretch of the game is the most fast paced and action heavy part and I really love it, it feels like the Strogg are giving way too much attention to you as an individual due to how much you're foiling their plans and it's great. The final boss is a pushover just like with Quake II, but at least it's harder to cheese as you can't just pop out a Quad Damage and Invulnerability to get through it quick.
Overall it's a pretty polished game that doesn't feel like it wastes my time. Despite being very derivative of Quake II and DOOM 3 I think it does a bunch of things better than those, particularly just being way better at pacing than DOOM 3 ever was, and is overall a very polished experience. It's maybe not one of the greats or as historically significant but it's still a good time and it has aged very well. Take it from someone that has a lot of nostalgia for Halo: it does not at all feel like Halo or CoD as some say, it really just feels like something that would naturally come after DOOM 3 mixed in with Quake II and I enjoy that a fair bit.
From the beginning this game gives off DOOM 3 vibes more than anything, except the horror atmosphere isn't the focus, guns feel punchier and action is almost immediate.
Already an hour in I was feeling like this game was utilizing the idtech 4 engine way better, as it had a lot of pretty lighting in detailed areas with rich textures, but without making things overly dark and also making levels more fast paced. Sure, the initial walking speed is a bit annoyingly slow, but the levels are designed in such a way that I never felt too slow even while backtracking.
I think there's something to be said about the presentation of this game, the story continues right from the ending of Quake II and follows a silent protagonist alongside a squad of veteran soldiers. None of the characters are very deep or noteworthy, but they have some good voice work and the showing of different squads advancing through Stroggos in coordinated assaults gives a more natural tone of war that was absent in Quake II. The Strogg are designed in more interesting ways as well, giving us new foes with gruesome character design and a bunch of returning enemies a new spin, like the Berserkers having lighting attacks or the Iron Maidens being able to teleport and float. In general enemies use a wider variety of weapons as well, making them less monotonous when encountering the same enemy type. Unfortunately the Strogg still look too human like to my liking, with not many indications of them really being a galactic civilization that existed away from humans for a long time, but that problem is inherited from Quake II and not a particular issue with this game.
Unfortunately the AI isn't all that great, enemies have pretty predictable behaviors and ally squad members aren't always good at following you or finding a good spot, however levels are also designed well enough around this and will rarely show these weaknesses to a big degree.
Speaking of ally squad members, they're honestly nice to have around but aren't too much of a big deal. They do mostly stay alive without your supervision but can still die so it's a bad idea to let big enemies get a hold of them. A few sections with them are actually tricky to manage while trying to keep everyone alive which I welcome. They'll also provide you with weapon upgrades throughout the game, a system that's very clearly a last minute addition but helps the pacing as you get new reasons to use your weapons.
Weapons themselves all feel great, they all are good options during firefights and can still serve different roles. Of note are the lighting gun and nail gun which return, redesigned, from the first Quake game and the very versatile assault rifle and shotgun. Disappointingly the rail gun requires an upgrade to pierce enemies and the SSG is not here, but the arsenal is very robust and feels powerful which is what matters.
Going on, the game has a big moment in the middle which we all know as the Stroggification scene. I am not as impacted by it as others, but getting turned gives you a boost to player speed, health and armor. After this the game really picks up and gets more confident in throwing big enemies in higher numbers at you, which creates a lot of intense combat arenas that are very fun to get through.
The only points in which the pacing of the game is really bogged down is by the vehicle sections. I don't find them frustrating at all and at moments they're a good show, but they feel completely unnecessary and I would not miss them if they were cut. Polishing up the weapon upgrade system or getting more enemy variety could have been a better use of resources than the vehicles, but still, they're at least over quickly and I don't find them to ruin the game.
The final stretch of the game is the most fast paced and action heavy part and I really love it, it feels like the Strogg are giving way too much attention to you as an individual due to how much you're foiling their plans and it's great. The final boss is a pushover just like with Quake II, but at least it's harder to cheese as you can't just pop out a Quad Damage and Invulnerability to get through it quick.
Overall it's a pretty polished game that doesn't feel like it wastes my time. Despite being very derivative of Quake II and DOOM 3 I think it does a bunch of things better than those, particularly just being way better at pacing than DOOM 3 ever was, and is overall a very polished experience. It's maybe not one of the greats or as historically significant but it's still a good time and it has aged very well. Take it from someone that has a lot of nostalgia for Halo: it does not at all feel like Halo or CoD as some say, it really just feels like something that would naturally come after DOOM 3 mixed in with Quake II and I enjoy that a fair bit.
"A Polarizing Mess"
"Quake 4" marks a return to the single-player focus of the Quake franchise following the multiplayer-only "Quake III: Arena", and Id Software decided to partner with Raven Software in order to take a backseat approach in crafting a direct sequel to "Quake II". Released during the mid-2000's amidst the ever-expanding wave of dull FPS titles hitting the market, the goal was to make this the hardest hitting entry to the franchise to date by finally bringing "Quake" into the new millennium. With a new engine, a darker tone, and all the motivation in the world, what is Quake 4's legacy? It turned out to be the worst "Quake" campaign!
I knew there was something wrong when I started the game completing the generic “go here and do this” military missions found in many contemporary military shooters of the time. While these missions were hit-or-miss in those titles, I instantly felt they were out of place in this franchise. The lack of player empowerment for directing oneself to the objective was heavy-handed, and it didn’t help that your allies throughout the game take every opportunity to belittle you and your efforts with completing objectives. The role of the player was much less badass than previous entries, despite the game constantly telling you that your character is a “legend”. This issue with tone wouldn’t just focus on the player’s role/legacy dynamic either. The focus on horror elements was completely new, and while I tried to give it a chance it ended up just devolving into the same jumpscare-ridden mess most games of this era tended to try to be. The only decent area that included horror was the “Waste Processing Facility”, where the zombie enemies were introduced. The lighting here was pretty solid, and while nothing “scared the crap out of me”, it definitely contained an increased level of ambience and atmosphere.
The story told here is also painfully dull. The whole plot revolves around an invasion of the Strogg homeworld, but not much is expanded upon with the enemy faction despite their savagery and medical experimentation. There’s a twist where you are turned into a Strogg, but it results in a slight variation in gameplay and some initial backlash toward your appearance. Besides that, no one seems to care too much. This change allows you to bypass much of the Strogg security measures and allows an infiltration of various bases in order to strike back against them. Not a whole lot of character development, and really bad dialogue throughout the whole ride. The setting is also extremely repetitive with factory setting after factory setting thrown at you over and over again. The color palette being so dull doesn’t help this game much, but better level structure could have made the world feel more enjoyable to play in and more interesting in the grand scheme of things.
The shooting also took a huge step back in quality. Guns felt really weak and the sound felt underwhelming throughout the whole experience, and therefore I just never found it that satisfying to shoot things. This is absolutely nuts for a “Quake” title to have subpar shooting mechanics, yet it's boring to engage with just like everything else in this game. Upgrades only make your guns slightly more usable, but you pretty much go through the whole game with a weak arsenal of weapons. Enemy AI is also not very great, and therefore gunfights are equally dull and repetitive. The combination of “meh” weaponry and dull AI led to uninteresting encounters, and the game grinds to a halt even after you become “Stroggified”.
One of the only real positives here is the lighting utilized throughout the game, and even then it's inconsistent and too dark at times. Shadows are fairly accurate to the angle they are created, and this helps add some horror to different sections of the campaign. The textures aren’t the best, but when the lighting is given room to shine it helps make the game look better than it actually does underneath the polish. It's commendable, but with the lackluster aspects surrounding this engine quirk it fails to bring the game any higher.
Level design also felt like it took a big step back. Locations felt linear in approach and the enemy AI didn’t seem to know what it wanted to do in a lot of areas. It became really easy to abuse the AI and its inability to take cover at times, so the campaign was mostly cakewalk with no strategy whatsoever. The vehicle sections, on the other hand, were really stupid. Not only did the audio design fail to make the “tanks” feel like tanks, but arenas were just completely barren and allowed for little cover. This led to these outdoor fights being the hardest in the game, mostly because there was nowhere to go to hide from artillery fire. Compared to the designs in “Quake” and “Quake II”, this was one of the biggest steps back for the franchise.
The game as a whole just failed to captivate me throughout its entire campaign. The shooting felt really weak, the level design was stripped back heavily, and while it has some atmospheric horror moments and solid lighting, its story was as barren as its graphical fidelity. This didn’t feel like a “Quake” game - it felt like some soulless mockery of the series. I would Not Recommend playing this one as it forgets everything that made the previous single-player entries good and opts to try and streamline something that had always stood out for its creativity in design. Sometimes you can fix something that isn’t broken, but this is one of those botched examples where the game lost what made it special…
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)
"Quake 4" marks a return to the single-player focus of the Quake franchise following the multiplayer-only "Quake III: Arena", and Id Software decided to partner with Raven Software in order to take a backseat approach in crafting a direct sequel to "Quake II". Released during the mid-2000's amidst the ever-expanding wave of dull FPS titles hitting the market, the goal was to make this the hardest hitting entry to the franchise to date by finally bringing "Quake" into the new millennium. With a new engine, a darker tone, and all the motivation in the world, what is Quake 4's legacy? It turned out to be the worst "Quake" campaign!
I knew there was something wrong when I started the game completing the generic “go here and do this” military missions found in many contemporary military shooters of the time. While these missions were hit-or-miss in those titles, I instantly felt they were out of place in this franchise. The lack of player empowerment for directing oneself to the objective was heavy-handed, and it didn’t help that your allies throughout the game take every opportunity to belittle you and your efforts with completing objectives. The role of the player was much less badass than previous entries, despite the game constantly telling you that your character is a “legend”. This issue with tone wouldn’t just focus on the player’s role/legacy dynamic either. The focus on horror elements was completely new, and while I tried to give it a chance it ended up just devolving into the same jumpscare-ridden mess most games of this era tended to try to be. The only decent area that included horror was the “Waste Processing Facility”, where the zombie enemies were introduced. The lighting here was pretty solid, and while nothing “scared the crap out of me”, it definitely contained an increased level of ambience and atmosphere.
The story told here is also painfully dull. The whole plot revolves around an invasion of the Strogg homeworld, but not much is expanded upon with the enemy faction despite their savagery and medical experimentation. There’s a twist where you are turned into a Strogg, but it results in a slight variation in gameplay and some initial backlash toward your appearance. Besides that, no one seems to care too much. This change allows you to bypass much of the Strogg security measures and allows an infiltration of various bases in order to strike back against them. Not a whole lot of character development, and really bad dialogue throughout the whole ride. The setting is also extremely repetitive with factory setting after factory setting thrown at you over and over again. The color palette being so dull doesn’t help this game much, but better level structure could have made the world feel more enjoyable to play in and more interesting in the grand scheme of things.
The shooting also took a huge step back in quality. Guns felt really weak and the sound felt underwhelming throughout the whole experience, and therefore I just never found it that satisfying to shoot things. This is absolutely nuts for a “Quake” title to have subpar shooting mechanics, yet it's boring to engage with just like everything else in this game. Upgrades only make your guns slightly more usable, but you pretty much go through the whole game with a weak arsenal of weapons. Enemy AI is also not very great, and therefore gunfights are equally dull and repetitive. The combination of “meh” weaponry and dull AI led to uninteresting encounters, and the game grinds to a halt even after you become “Stroggified”.
One of the only real positives here is the lighting utilized throughout the game, and even then it's inconsistent and too dark at times. Shadows are fairly accurate to the angle they are created, and this helps add some horror to different sections of the campaign. The textures aren’t the best, but when the lighting is given room to shine it helps make the game look better than it actually does underneath the polish. It's commendable, but with the lackluster aspects surrounding this engine quirk it fails to bring the game any higher.
Level design also felt like it took a big step back. Locations felt linear in approach and the enemy AI didn’t seem to know what it wanted to do in a lot of areas. It became really easy to abuse the AI and its inability to take cover at times, so the campaign was mostly cakewalk with no strategy whatsoever. The vehicle sections, on the other hand, were really stupid. Not only did the audio design fail to make the “tanks” feel like tanks, but arenas were just completely barren and allowed for little cover. This led to these outdoor fights being the hardest in the game, mostly because there was nowhere to go to hide from artillery fire. Compared to the designs in “Quake” and “Quake II”, this was one of the biggest steps back for the franchise.
The game as a whole just failed to captivate me throughout its entire campaign. The shooting felt really weak, the level design was stripped back heavily, and while it has some atmospheric horror moments and solid lighting, its story was as barren as its graphical fidelity. This didn’t feel like a “Quake” game - it felt like some soulless mockery of the series. I would Not Recommend playing this one as it forgets everything that made the previous single-player entries good and opts to try and streamline something that had always stood out for its creativity in design. Sometimes you can fix something that isn’t broken, but this is one of those botched examples where the game lost what made it special…
Final Verdict: 4/10 (Below Average)
This marks the fourth installment in Johnny Boy’s Quake brainchild. Running all the way back to 1994 Quake was kind of a “palette swap of Doom” and it’s strong point being multiplayer. Quake 4 changes that with an excellent single-player experience. Unlike Doom 3 Quake 4 is more of an “on rails shooter” where it guides you through a lot of scary and tense scripted events. These work for the game and separates it from its brethren. You play as Kane who is a soldier that has to help stop the Strogg invasion by destroying them at their core; the Nexus. As you make your way to the Nexus you can pick up a ton of cool weapons, upgrades, and even turn into a Strogg yourself. The weapons range from your piddly blaster to a dark matter gun. You have your railgun, a nailgun, shotgun, lightning gun etc.
Throughout the campaign, you can unlock upgrades for these weapons like clip extenders, scopes, and extra damage. This lets you easily change your strategy around and what gun works in what situation. The game has some pretty neat enemies types ranging from Grunts that rush you with their bulky body or Berserker’s who are all about melee. You have floating enemies that shoot rockets at you, you have giant spider robots, you even have massive Strogg with shields and railguns. These are all gruesome looking enemies that are both terrifying to look at and really fun to fight. The game sports great AI with enemies dodging your shots and ducking behind cover. Each enemy has to be taken care of differently, so you have had five weaker enemies and two guys with railguns. You take the five weaker ones out with a grenade or a rocket then deal with the railgun guys with your dark matter gun, or you can shoot rockets at their feet. This allows you to create a strategy that works best for you. I just really love the atmosphere Quake 4 delivers. You’ll walk through rooms and lights will dim and enemies will run across corridors, your teammates will get dragged off and tortured, and there are also some really cool vehicle sections. You either mount a machine gun, drive a tank, or a mech. All handle really well and these sections are both fun and challenging. This is a nice change to Quake which has always been on foot.
Now when it comes to multiplayer the game is fun, but nothing really special. What doesn’t help is no one is playing online (which really sucks) and the one map I did play was really boring. The game does have a lot of downfalls though. The game does have major frame rate issues but isn’t as bad as what people say. It only bothered me a few times in the game. The graphics are really good yet the Doom 3 engine is really dated and can’t be pushed any further. While the game does have weapons upgrades and vehicle sections the game still feels redundant and has the dumbest ending ever. So, if you want a good single player experience it’s worth a rental or purchase (it’s less than $10 everywhere) then play Quake 4.
Throughout the campaign, you can unlock upgrades for these weapons like clip extenders, scopes, and extra damage. This lets you easily change your strategy around and what gun works in what situation. The game has some pretty neat enemies types ranging from Grunts that rush you with their bulky body or Berserker’s who are all about melee. You have floating enemies that shoot rockets at you, you have giant spider robots, you even have massive Strogg with shields and railguns. These are all gruesome looking enemies that are both terrifying to look at and really fun to fight. The game sports great AI with enemies dodging your shots and ducking behind cover. Each enemy has to be taken care of differently, so you have had five weaker enemies and two guys with railguns. You take the five weaker ones out with a grenade or a rocket then deal with the railgun guys with your dark matter gun, or you can shoot rockets at their feet. This allows you to create a strategy that works best for you. I just really love the atmosphere Quake 4 delivers. You’ll walk through rooms and lights will dim and enemies will run across corridors, your teammates will get dragged off and tortured, and there are also some really cool vehicle sections. You either mount a machine gun, drive a tank, or a mech. All handle really well and these sections are both fun and challenging. This is a nice change to Quake which has always been on foot.
Now when it comes to multiplayer the game is fun, but nothing really special. What doesn’t help is no one is playing online (which really sucks) and the one map I did play was really boring. The game does have a lot of downfalls though. The game does have major frame rate issues but isn’t as bad as what people say. It only bothered me a few times in the game. The graphics are really good yet the Doom 3 engine is really dated and can’t be pushed any further. While the game does have weapons upgrades and vehicle sections the game still feels redundant and has the dumbest ending ever. So, if you want a good single player experience it’s worth a rental or purchase (it’s less than $10 everywhere) then play Quake 4.
It's Doom 3's combat streamlined to be quicker and have more oomph in the gunplay, but with a bunch of same-looking corridors and bullet sponge enemies. I think I'm halfway into the game and I already lost interest. There are also vehicles in this game and they control like ass.
For what it's worth, it looks fine for a 2005 shooter when you turn up the settings all the way. The problem is there is a bug in the game that causes the textures to blur on the highest settings because the game doesn't recognize GPUs higher than 1GB. Thankfully, the fix is easy in the config file.
I can say one big positive thing about this game is that its shotgun feels way better than Doom 3's melee shotgun.
For what it's worth, it looks fine for a 2005 shooter when you turn up the settings all the way. The problem is there is a bug in the game that causes the textures to blur on the highest settings because the game doesn't recognize GPUs higher than 1GB. Thankfully, the fix is easy in the config file.
I can say one big positive thing about this game is that its shotgun feels way better than Doom 3's melee shotgun.
"A man like Kane could get us killed" -Bitch ass Strauss.
Few games can depict such gore in extreme levels that it could cause trauma. Just the stroggification process is enough on it's own.
It's good for a nearly 20 year old game.
I hate Strauss. I just hoped that he would turn out to be a Strogg so that I could get the satisfaction of killing his blabbering ass.
Few games can depict such gore in extreme levels that it could cause trauma. Just the stroggification process is enough on it's own.
It's good for a nearly 20 year old game.
I hate Strauss. I just hoped that he would turn out to be a Strogg so that I could get the satisfaction of killing his blabbering ass.
Raven created one of the best, most vicious body horror segments ever in a video game. paced perfectly and framed ingeniously, and they had absolutely fucking nothing left in the chamber after that. unprecedented as a game with one moment of brilliance surrounded by an otherwise basic shooter game from 2005.
Hilariously mediocre. I didn't think a game could audibly scream "2005 Xbox 360 launch title FPS" and it mean anything, but man this game just embodies that so hard. It completely lacks the personality of other idTech 4 games like Doom 3 and Prey 2006, but makes up for it a bit with some solid atmosphere and that one infamous sequence.
“We have Doom 3 at home”
But in all seriousness the similarities are glaring from the art style, enemy variety, level design and the various weapons which should be a good thing because I love Doom3
Unfortunately it’s a crappy console port with jarring frame rate drops that never make the game unplayable but came close several times and were annoying throughout. The load times in this game are also excessive. The checkpoint system is also frustrating with checkpoints before some unskippable cutscenes which can be a neausance on higher difficulties and I found myself hard saving a lot.
The game also suffers greatly from pacing problems with the first act being pretty slow and the game constantly shooting itself in the foot by adding drawn out boring turret/tank sections which just feel like filler and kill your enjoyment.
This review may sound overly negative but I can say I’m positive on this game. The second half of the game really picks up and you’ll be running though massive gauntlets of enemies. The shooting feels great and some guns really stand out like the nail gun, shotgun, hyper blaster and definitely the dark matter gun. Swapping weapons, circle stafe jumping and ducking behind cover is a ton of fun and all the weapons have good matchups against specific enemies. As a side note I’ve never taken more splash damage from my own grenade/rocket shots as I did in this game.
The art style and especially the dynamic lighting are gorgeous even if some of the textures haven’t aged very well. The sheer amount of blood and body horror also surprised me in a good way.
All in all it ends up being solid but frustrating because with better pacing and optimization on console this would be a game id be coming back to.
6/10
But in all seriousness the similarities are glaring from the art style, enemy variety, level design and the various weapons which should be a good thing because I love Doom3
Unfortunately it’s a crappy console port with jarring frame rate drops that never make the game unplayable but came close several times and were annoying throughout. The load times in this game are also excessive. The checkpoint system is also frustrating with checkpoints before some unskippable cutscenes which can be a neausance on higher difficulties and I found myself hard saving a lot.
The game also suffers greatly from pacing problems with the first act being pretty slow and the game constantly shooting itself in the foot by adding drawn out boring turret/tank sections which just feel like filler and kill your enjoyment.
This review may sound overly negative but I can say I’m positive on this game. The second half of the game really picks up and you’ll be running though massive gauntlets of enemies. The shooting feels great and some guns really stand out like the nail gun, shotgun, hyper blaster and definitely the dark matter gun. Swapping weapons, circle stafe jumping and ducking behind cover is a ton of fun and all the weapons have good matchups against specific enemies. As a side note I’ve never taken more splash damage from my own grenade/rocket shots as I did in this game.
The art style and especially the dynamic lighting are gorgeous even if some of the textures haven’t aged very well. The sheer amount of blood and body horror also surprised me in a good way.
All in all it ends up being solid but frustrating because with better pacing and optimization on console this would be a game id be coming back to.
6/10
it really just doesn't get better man
DOOMATHON entry #17/20
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
Doom 3 is known today largely as the black sheep of the series, and its sister series would receive a game in the same engine the following year with a much stronger identity crisis that I imagine was overlooked because of how much Quake's legacy has been defined by deathmatch. Quake 4 is by far the most forgotten main entry in this marathon, remembered today mostly for a single scene that I saw in a WatchMojo countdown a decade ago if it's remembered at all. Because of this, I was genuinely unsure what to expect for once, and what I got is a game that's as much a product of its time as Doom 3 and just as influenced by its peers, this time for worse.
This is a linear military shooter that's as grey and brown as they come, lacking in the grotesque body horror-driven sci-fi aesthetic that makes the Strogg stand out for a substantial portion of the campaign and severely limiting movement speed in the first half without having the mechanical cohesion of Doom 3 to justify it. That last point is especially important, as I'd argue that the preservation of the original game's movement is what allowed Quake 2 to work as a sequel even though it wasn't originally intended as one. What holds Quake 4 together during the first half is its surprisingly excellent gunplay - every weapon here feels fantastic, especially the shotgun and nailgun once they're upgraded. The encounter design isn't particularly varied, but the enemies are always fun to shoot.
Once the infamous Strogg transformation occurs, things pick up significantly. You move as fast as you should have been able to in the first place, fights become tougher to compensate, and environments become more varied and make better use of the engine's atmospheric lighting capabilities. There's a particularly great section in the latter half in which you're faced with the mindless, shambling remains of failed Strogg transformations, easily the most striking bit of horror in the series outside of the one scene everyone already knows about. This huge increase is momentum is unfortunately halted by a final stretch of levels that return to the more repetitive structure of the early game, but aren't without highlights such as a much-appreciated reinterpretation of the Iron Maiden.
Quake 4 is an odd sequel, one that's arguably less faithful to Quake 2 than that entry was to its predecessor. Its rock-solid shooting mechanics are bogged down by the trends of its era more than any other game in this marathon, but if there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that good shooting goes a long way in making even the jankiest time capsules palatable to me.
Cross-posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariofan717/status/1760796889761624405
List: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Mariofan717/list/doom--quake-campaigns-ranked/
Doom 3 is known today largely as the black sheep of the series, and its sister series would receive a game in the same engine the following year with a much stronger identity crisis that I imagine was overlooked because of how much Quake's legacy has been defined by deathmatch. Quake 4 is by far the most forgotten main entry in this marathon, remembered today mostly for a single scene that I saw in a WatchMojo countdown a decade ago if it's remembered at all. Because of this, I was genuinely unsure what to expect for once, and what I got is a game that's as much a product of its time as Doom 3 and just as influenced by its peers, this time for worse.
This is a linear military shooter that's as grey and brown as they come, lacking in the grotesque body horror-driven sci-fi aesthetic that makes the Strogg stand out for a substantial portion of the campaign and severely limiting movement speed in the first half without having the mechanical cohesion of Doom 3 to justify it. That last point is especially important, as I'd argue that the preservation of the original game's movement is what allowed Quake 2 to work as a sequel even though it wasn't originally intended as one. What holds Quake 4 together during the first half is its surprisingly excellent gunplay - every weapon here feels fantastic, especially the shotgun and nailgun once they're upgraded. The encounter design isn't particularly varied, but the enemies are always fun to shoot.
Once the infamous Strogg transformation occurs, things pick up significantly. You move as fast as you should have been able to in the first place, fights become tougher to compensate, and environments become more varied and make better use of the engine's atmospheric lighting capabilities. There's a particularly great section in the latter half in which you're faced with the mindless, shambling remains of failed Strogg transformations, easily the most striking bit of horror in the series outside of the one scene everyone already knows about. This huge increase is momentum is unfortunately halted by a final stretch of levels that return to the more repetitive structure of the early game, but aren't without highlights such as a much-appreciated reinterpretation of the Iron Maiden.
Quake 4 is an odd sequel, one that's arguably less faithful to Quake 2 than that entry was to its predecessor. Its rock-solid shooting mechanics are bogged down by the trends of its era more than any other game in this marathon, but if there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that good shooting goes a long way in making even the jankiest time capsules palatable to me.
Cross-posted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariofan717/status/1760796889761624405
Quite trauma inducing, since I played this when I was like 10
It's not bad, it's alright. Kinda boring. The Stroggification is probably the most interesting part of the game.
Starts out as a boring ass game until you get chopped up into pieces and stuffed in a robot, and then you get faster movement speed, so it becomes a real Quake game at that point.
coworkers are still mad about my bionic legs, jealous lot since im never late
that first hour or so of the single player is some magic go watch that on youtube or some shit do not play this game
Over the course of my gaming life I've been on a journey. See, I'm not the biggest fan of "modern shooters", you know the ones, big emphasis on cover, slow movement speed, limited weapon slots, really boring enemies and level design; think the shooters that games like Call of Duty and Gears of War inspired. So, I made it a quest of mine to look for the best modern shooters, the ones that actually have substance and warranted using the aforementioned mechanics. So far I have found 6 of them, you can find them on this list: https://www.backloggd.com/u/mirphy/list/the-only-good-modern-shooters/
From the beginning paragraph, you're probably expecting me to say that Quake 4 is one of those good modern shooters, however, it isn't as simple as that. The game actually combines elements of both boomer shooters and modern shooters, in an amalgamation of ideas and mechanics...
...and it honestly works very well.
I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Quake 1 and 2's singleplayer experiences. Quake 1, while it had good ideas, overall felt like a lesser Doom to me, because it borrows a lot of ideas from that series but also does some things worse, such as level design, enemy usage and tone. No, I am not a fan of Quake's atmosphere. I'm a huge fan of games like Doom 64 and Super Metroid, so I think I have a fairly high standard when it comes to atmosphere, so that may be the reason for it. However, despite that, Quake is still fairly enjoyable, the first episode especially, and while I can't get into its atmosphere, I appreciate the intent and how it gives the game its own identity. Quake 2, on the other hand, suffers from mostly the exact opposite problems in comparison to Quake 1, it's overall a little more polished but the game is even easier than Quake 1, which was already a pretty easy game. Enemy placement is extremely bland, levels merge together and it overall lacks any identity. It's a fun game, I had more fun with it than the first game, but it's just so extremely bland, and is vastly overshadowed by its older sister game.
So safe to say, I was not hyped for Quake 4, I was interested, seeing how it was regarded more as a military shooter and looked upon less fondly, but I was by no means hyped, and oh boy, I was pleasantly surprised when my expectations were subverted, because Quake 4 is representative of everything great about Raven Software, the company who developed it. They are the kings of the 8/10 game, none of their games really push boundaries or revolutionise game design, but they are extremely fun, and have a fair amount of substance and heart. Quake 4 is by no means a perfect game, nor is it the boomer shooters the series is commonly thought of as, but it's such a fun and creative game that I can't help but love it, and I have confidence in saying that it is the best Quake game, or at the very least, my favourite.
The first hour of the game is really what brings it down for most people, including me; it's boring, not challenging at all and probably put a sour taste in the mouths of many Quake fans upon its release. You walk very slowly and are basically forced to use cover against generic hitscan enemies and it sucks; you only have access to 5 weapons at this stage of the game, one of which you only get in the last level before the turning point in this game, and they're underwhelming, to say the least. The grenade launcher is good, and so is the hyperblaster, but the Shotgun and "Machin3" gun feel very unsatisfying to use, so much so that I had to install a mod, it was bother me that much, and it was at this point where I was going to write it off as another boring modern shooter.
However, if you do end up playing this game, power through that section, because right around the corner is the Stroggification cutscene. It's what EVERYONE remembers about the game, and honestly? I think it's way deeper than just being "unnerving". It gives you an insight into how the Strogg are made, they are people, or at least used to be. They're monstrosities, created through the blend of flesh and metal, and they're out to turn everything into that, and this is a good way to flow into one of the highlights of the game: its existential dread. You see, every time you hear about the war going on outside of the battles you're fighting, it's almost always about something bad happening. This is a very grim war, most of the companions you meet end up dying; it's so heavy that even when you finish the game and have destroyed the Strogg's leader and communication network, it doesn't feel like a victory. This game brings back the Makron from Quake 2, and while I usually don't like reviving characters in any story, I think it works here, because if he came back before, he could come back again. The Strogg are a force to be reckoned with, almost a cosmical threat, and it does leave you wondering "Did I really win?", because even after you destroy the Nexus, the fight is still going on.
And boy, is the fighting a lot of fun. Once you become a Strogg, your movement speed is vastly increased, and the arenas, as small as they may be, are built like loops and encourage a more aggressive playstyle. It's helped a lot by the enemy design, which is pretty good. The AI isn't great, but it is pretty competent, and it further emphasises this tactical gameplay. It's no F.E.A.R., but it's damn good, and that's actually a good way to describe the gameplay; it's a combination of Doom and F.E.AR. Enemies can flank you and rush you out from cover, and most of them are projectile based, the few that aren't can be dodged, and you'll need to, because even on the 3rd skill, Lieutenant, they can melt you very quickly.
Edit: I've played through most of the human section on General, the highest skill, and I can confirm Lieutenant is the definitive way to play the game. General Just ups the enemy damage to an absurd amount without changing the AI.
This is on top of stellar weapons, despite my initial criticism; you have your rifle, shotgun, plasma weapon and grenade launcher, as previously stated, but you also have a "nailgun", which can lock onto enemies and do a lot of damage; very useful if your target is moving around a lot. There's also the lighting gun which returns from Quake 1, which is incredibly useful as it can attack multiple enemies, as well as a railgun, a rocket launcher and a BFG-type weapon. Most of the guns have secondary functions which give them added utility, like the rocket launcher having a guiding feature or the rifle having a semi-automatic scoped mode. This is mostly nothing new for the series, but they're all balanced so well that it's still a point of praise, despite being derivative.
A point of criticism for many was the vehicle sections and the two turret sections in the game, however, I actually find that the vehicle sections are a point of praise. The turret sections are boring, and the first one in particular is pretty tedious, I won't argue that, but the vehicle sections offer up some variety to the gameplay, and while their movement isn't perfect, it's definitely not nearly as bad as many people make it out to be. It was so refreshing to go from being so extremely slow to flying across landscapes that I can't bring myself to hate it, and plus, there's only 2 of them in the game, and they aren't that long, so even if you don't like them, they won't be staying for too long.
Despite the clunkiness of the vehicle sections, the game is still very well paced. I wouldn't've minded longer fights with bigger arenas because the combat is so good, it would legitimately make this game even better. It doesn't have as good level design as the highs of Doom, it doesn't have the extremely polished enemy encounters of F.E.AR., hell, if you still dislike this game over the original Quake, I wouldn't blame you. Not everyone is going to like this game, Quake 4 is not the boomer shooter the series is known for being, and it isn't a generic, watered down modern shooter of the present day. But it is a Raven game, a perfectly solid title that offers a fun experience with a decent amount of substance, so much so that I might end up replaying right after I finish this review, which is high praise since I basically never do that nowadays. It's sad that so many games that came out in the late 90s and early 2000s for PC have yet to see the light of day on modern consoles, but for those PC players, I would definitely recommend picking this one up.
From the beginning paragraph, you're probably expecting me to say that Quake 4 is one of those good modern shooters, however, it isn't as simple as that. The game actually combines elements of both boomer shooters and modern shooters, in an amalgamation of ideas and mechanics...
...and it honestly works very well.
I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Quake 1 and 2's singleplayer experiences. Quake 1, while it had good ideas, overall felt like a lesser Doom to me, because it borrows a lot of ideas from that series but also does some things worse, such as level design, enemy usage and tone. No, I am not a fan of Quake's atmosphere. I'm a huge fan of games like Doom 64 and Super Metroid, so I think I have a fairly high standard when it comes to atmosphere, so that may be the reason for it. However, despite that, Quake is still fairly enjoyable, the first episode especially, and while I can't get into its atmosphere, I appreciate the intent and how it gives the game its own identity. Quake 2, on the other hand, suffers from mostly the exact opposite problems in comparison to Quake 1, it's overall a little more polished but the game is even easier than Quake 1, which was already a pretty easy game. Enemy placement is extremely bland, levels merge together and it overall lacks any identity. It's a fun game, I had more fun with it than the first game, but it's just so extremely bland, and is vastly overshadowed by its older sister game.
So safe to say, I was not hyped for Quake 4, I was interested, seeing how it was regarded more as a military shooter and looked upon less fondly, but I was by no means hyped, and oh boy, I was pleasantly surprised when my expectations were subverted, because Quake 4 is representative of everything great about Raven Software, the company who developed it. They are the kings of the 8/10 game, none of their games really push boundaries or revolutionise game design, but they are extremely fun, and have a fair amount of substance and heart. Quake 4 is by no means a perfect game, nor is it the boomer shooters the series is commonly thought of as, but it's such a fun and creative game that I can't help but love it, and I have confidence in saying that it is the best Quake game, or at the very least, my favourite.
The first hour of the game is really what brings it down for most people, including me; it's boring, not challenging at all and probably put a sour taste in the mouths of many Quake fans upon its release. You walk very slowly and are basically forced to use cover against generic hitscan enemies and it sucks; you only have access to 5 weapons at this stage of the game, one of which you only get in the last level before the turning point in this game, and they're underwhelming, to say the least. The grenade launcher is good, and so is the hyperblaster, but the Shotgun and "Machin3" gun feel very unsatisfying to use, so much so that I had to install a mod, it was bother me that much, and it was at this point where I was going to write it off as another boring modern shooter.
However, if you do end up playing this game, power through that section, because right around the corner is the Stroggification cutscene. It's what EVERYONE remembers about the game, and honestly? I think it's way deeper than just being "unnerving". It gives you an insight into how the Strogg are made, they are people, or at least used to be. They're monstrosities, created through the blend of flesh and metal, and they're out to turn everything into that, and this is a good way to flow into one of the highlights of the game: its existential dread. You see, every time you hear about the war going on outside of the battles you're fighting, it's almost always about something bad happening. This is a very grim war, most of the companions you meet end up dying; it's so heavy that even when you finish the game and have destroyed the Strogg's leader and communication network, it doesn't feel like a victory. This game brings back the Makron from Quake 2, and while I usually don't like reviving characters in any story, I think it works here, because if he came back before, he could come back again. The Strogg are a force to be reckoned with, almost a cosmical threat, and it does leave you wondering "Did I really win?", because even after you destroy the Nexus, the fight is still going on.
And boy, is the fighting a lot of fun. Once you become a Strogg, your movement speed is vastly increased, and the arenas, as small as they may be, are built like loops and encourage a more aggressive playstyle. It's helped a lot by the enemy design, which is pretty good. The AI isn't great, but it is pretty competent, and it further emphasises this tactical gameplay. It's no F.E.A.R., but it's damn good, and that's actually a good way to describe the gameplay; it's a combination of Doom and F.E.AR. Enemies can flank you and rush you out from cover, and most of them are projectile based, the few that aren't can be dodged, and you'll need to, because even on the 3rd skill, Lieutenant, they can melt you very quickly.
Edit: I've played through most of the human section on General, the highest skill, and I can confirm Lieutenant is the definitive way to play the game. General Just ups the enemy damage to an absurd amount without changing the AI.
This is on top of stellar weapons, despite my initial criticism; you have your rifle, shotgun, plasma weapon and grenade launcher, as previously stated, but you also have a "nailgun", which can lock onto enemies and do a lot of damage; very useful if your target is moving around a lot. There's also the lighting gun which returns from Quake 1, which is incredibly useful as it can attack multiple enemies, as well as a railgun, a rocket launcher and a BFG-type weapon. Most of the guns have secondary functions which give them added utility, like the rocket launcher having a guiding feature or the rifle having a semi-automatic scoped mode. This is mostly nothing new for the series, but they're all balanced so well that it's still a point of praise, despite being derivative.
A point of criticism for many was the vehicle sections and the two turret sections in the game, however, I actually find that the vehicle sections are a point of praise. The turret sections are boring, and the first one in particular is pretty tedious, I won't argue that, but the vehicle sections offer up some variety to the gameplay, and while their movement isn't perfect, it's definitely not nearly as bad as many people make it out to be. It was so refreshing to go from being so extremely slow to flying across landscapes that I can't bring myself to hate it, and plus, there's only 2 of them in the game, and they aren't that long, so even if you don't like them, they won't be staying for too long.
Despite the clunkiness of the vehicle sections, the game is still very well paced. I wouldn't've minded longer fights with bigger arenas because the combat is so good, it would legitimately make this game even better. It doesn't have as good level design as the highs of Doom, it doesn't have the extremely polished enemy encounters of F.E.AR., hell, if you still dislike this game over the original Quake, I wouldn't blame you. Not everyone is going to like this game, Quake 4 is not the boomer shooter the series is known for being, and it isn't a generic, watered down modern shooter of the present day. But it is a Raven game, a perfectly solid title that offers a fun experience with a decent amount of substance, so much so that I might end up replaying right after I finish this review, which is high praise since I basically never do that nowadays. It's sad that so many games that came out in the late 90s and early 2000s for PC have yet to see the light of day on modern consoles, but for those PC players, I would definitely recommend picking this one up.
I'm doing my part!
we get it you wish you were a halo but had to settle with being duct tape mod doom 3