Resenha de Quake 4: Uma Experiência Sombria Revigorante

Lançado em 18 de outubro de 2005, Quake 4 é um dos jogos emblemáticos do gênero de tiro em primeira pessoa (FPS), desenvolvido pela Raven Software e publicado pela id Software, renomadas empresas do ramo de games. Ambientado em um universo sci-fi sombrio e repleto de ação, o jogo foi aguardado ansiosamente pelos fãs da série e pelos entusiastas de FPS.

Quake 4 manteve a tradição da série de oferecer uma jogabilidade intensa, com gráficos impressionantes para a época e uma atmosfera imersiva. A história se passa em um futuro distante, onde os humanos enfrentam uma ameaça alienígena conhecida como Strogg. Assumindo o papel de Matthew Kane, um membro da Força de Ataque Especial, os jogadores são enviados em uma missão para invadir o planeta Stroggos e derrotar a ameaça alienígena.

Em termos de vendas, Quake 4 teve um desempenho sólido, embora não tenha alcançado os mesmos patamares de sucesso de alguns outros títulos da série. No entanto, conseguiu garantir uma base de fãs dedicada e vendeu milhões de cópias em todo o mundo.

No que diz respeito à recepção crítica, Quake 4 recebeu elogios generalizados pela sua jogabilidade sólida, gráficos impressionantes e atmosfera envolvente. No Metacritic, um agregador de análises de jogos, o título obteve uma nota respeitável, refletindo a qualidade do jogo.

Particularmente, minha experiência com Quake 4 foi extremamente positiva. Apesar de não ter tido a oportunidade de jogá-lo no lançamento, fui atraído pela sua atmosfera sombria e pela jogabilidade desafiadora. A sensação de imersão proporcionada pelo enredo envolvente e pelos gráficos bem elaborados me cativou desde o início. Embora minha opinião pessoal possa diferir ligeiramente da média do Metacritic, ainda assim considero Quake 4 como um jogo altamente recomendado para os fãs do gênero FPS, especialmente aqueles que apreciam uma narrativa sci-fi envolvente e uma ação frenética.

Quake 4 Review

First Quake game in 6 years, first Quake story in 8 years, an Xbox 360 console exclusive, the exactment for this could not be higher. Dose Quake 4 on 360 match its PC counterpart? Or dose it faulter before it starts?
Quake 4 is the 2nd FPS to feature on the 360’s launch lineup behind Perfect Dark Zero. Its arguably a much better franchise than Perfect Dark but both games follow up what have to this point been two fantastic series of games. Quake 2 left off with the Strogg defeated and the macron destroyed. You play as Corporal Kane, a Mariene who is sent to destroy the Strogg on their home planet of Stroggos. Spoiler alert, it dose not go well, that’s hardly a spoiler as within 5 seconds of the game starting this is apparent, you crash land on the planet and spend the rest of the game trying to survive. The story is decent, not Oscar worthy but certainly keeps things moving well, its take cues from Doom 3, with cut sense intermingled with story sections in gameplay that create a nice atmosphere, you really feel the despair and dire situation you find yourselves in.

Gameplay also straddles the line between new and old well, the opening 1/3 of the game plays like a slightly more action heavy Doom 3, less horror here as you run and gun your way from one end of levels to another. Eventually you gain access to the Stroggs abilities and see an increase to movement and increased health, at this point it starts to feel more like Quake 2, darting through levels never stopping as you carve your way through you enemies. The weapons in Quake 2 are excellent, almost all are upgradeable through the story and are all fun to use, on harder difficulties ammo is scarce and you get a real sense of peril at times and wating of conserver it. What helps with this are you allies, for roughly 60% of your playthrough you will have allies by your side, and for the most part they don’t suck. They are more than capable and can at times clear levels for you if you want, they can be killed but they aren’t weak, they can also give you health if they are a medic or increase your amour out of combat if an engineer which is a nice touch.

Level design here is very good, the overall pacing is excellent, levels never get boring are vary the challenge well. They are intermingled with vehicles too which break the action up well. The Doom 3 engine looks great on the 360, its night a day better over Doom 3, lighting is impressive and there are plenty of high res textures, some of the level backdrops are very low res however and quite noticeable the rare times you are outside. It’s a shame the game dose not run better, it struggles to hold a steady frame rate, rarely hitting 30fps. Its never “broken” or unplayable, but on the harder difficulties it did lead to my death a few times.

Multi-player was available on launch but sadly the servers are now shut down now. You can play via system link but there is no way to play them split screen which is a shame, there is also no co-op campaign here, which is odd considering how often you have allies with you. This also means you cannot get 1000g on this game, roughly 40% of the achievements are online MP only, and do on work, even via system link. Single player difficulty achievements also don’t stack, so you will need to play through the campaign 4 times to unlock them all.

Quake 4 swings and mostly hits, the campaign is an expertly paced thrill ride with great weapons and fun level design. It’s a good-looking game that is poorly optimized for the 360, sadly its not backwards compatible with newer systems, so if you want to play Quake 4, the pc is your best bet at present.
8/10

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.

When I think of the era this game released in, and, compare it with the FPSes of its era, like Medal of Honor or Call of Duty, and I think to myself.

"Which of these games would I want to re-play in the current day?"

Honestly...

The answer is obviously F.E.A.R but, this is definitely a top 5 contender!

It's a really fun game! Has a lot of the design philosophies of older shooters like Quake 2 but with a slower pace.

The weapons feel fantastic to use, the enemies are very fun to fight.

The horror aspects of it are incredibly well done!

But god, the dialogue and the story... it's like the game was slated for a T rating and thus there's basically no swearing, whatsoever.

As an example (and, minor spoiler for one of the levels): At one point you go through the under-belly of the Stroggification facility where you see the "Failed" Strogg experiments where they're distracted.

You see those utterly horrifying and disturbing zombified versions of your comrades, discarded as if they were garbage, in a genuinely awful shape, and on the inter-comm one of your buddies goes.
"Woah, those're freaking zombies!"

It sounds like a parody of what you think 90s dialogue is, even though this game was made in the mid-2000s, it's very weird and takes you out of the moment a lot of the time.

Still, very good game! Not as good as the other Quakes but that's a very high bar to try and cross.

I quite like it!

Super janky nowadays.

A surprisingly good FPS title, that has a cool little story to it.

Worth a play.

Honestly surprised Quake 4 doesn't get talked about more often in FPS discussions. Just a really solid fun combat loop.

Quake 4 has its shortcomings, namely, Raven software felt the need to compete with the likes of halo and half-life 2 so there are some boring vehicle and turret sections from time to time, but it doesn't ruin the game. It starts off slow, but once you hit the Stroggification Facility it kick-ups a gear, and the flow of levels and combat improves a lot.

Use "Quake 4 tweaker" to get it running smoothly on a modern machine. There's a link to it in Q4's PCGaming Wiki page.

Progress: Dohráno 100%
Quake 4 je docela odlišné od ostatních her ze série Quake, připomíná spíše Doom 3 s rychlejším gameplayem, příběh je solidní, ale přijde mi rádoby temný, jednou výjimkou je strogifikace, která je v skutku strašidelná.
Zbraně jsou různorodé, ale i nostalgické pro kohokoliv kdo hrál dřívější Quake hry.
Příběh přímo navazuje na Quake 2, ale hru si můžete užít i bez jakékoliv předešlé zkušenosti se sérií.

Edit: Režim pro více hráčů jsem hrál jen krátce, protože nebylo s kým.

Raven Software is a good developer, id Software is a good developer. Quake is a good franchise, id Tech 4 is a good engine. Quake 4 is anything but good, painfully average military shooter with glimpses at being a sequel to Quake II but feeling like something else entirely. I'm one of those who likes Doom 3 and Quake 4 in some ways feels like it was trying to remake Quake II in the similar vein Doom 3 was a horror redo of Doom. Quake 4 could have been interesting if it went more into horror instead of chasing the trends of much more interesting shooters at the time. At least the multiplayer somewhat resembles Quake.

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.

"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)