Quake is often cited as an atmospheric, break-neck speed shooter; Having not played it until now, I believe both descriptors have historically been far overstated.
The Trent Reznor score is of a high quality, but does little to keep the player engrossed in whatever strange mish-mash of an aesthetic Quake seems to be going for - Throughout the 4 supposedly distinct, yet equally brown realms, you start to crave for something more... Energetic. Not just in the music, but the enemies and weapons themselves.
The world of Quake is far more aggressively dangerous than that of Doom, and it feels as though there has been a sort of regression to more bullet sponge-type enemies, and guns that are strictly worse-feeling than their Doom counterparts. The result is something that, unexpectedly, plays more defensively and cautiously than Doom - Lowering the difficulty isn't much of a solution to this issue as it makes everything feel trivialized. There just isn't a sweet-spot for Quake's combat loop to really click.
Grindy combat, dour visuals, underwhelming sound design, and a soundtrack that loses its luster by the second episode culminate in a game that, while technically impressive, feels like a chore to play.
Map design mostly feels like an improvement over Doom, or at least, it feels a lot more streamlined - Levels do feel brief, and easy to navigate in a good way, so much so that the game hasn't bothered including an automap. This is a shame, because while most of the time you won't ever need one, the times where it would be appreciated feel so much worse without it.
While the intro level to each episode is quite enjoyable, The overall quality of Quake's level design varies greatly between each of the individual episodes - 1 Is a solid foundation that 2 immediately underwhelms. 3 is the peak of the entire game, and 4 finishes the game with a mediocre whimper.
Perhaps my understanding of what Lovecraft really is is wrong, but very little about the environments screamed Lovecraftian to me, and maybe only about half of the entire enemy roster felt appropriate. Quake had gone through a tumultuous development cycle of varying ideas, and it really shows. Each realm is a unique flavor! Except, not really. Quake is Lovecraftian Sci-Fi! With maybe some Norse mythology thrown in there? And some other things that kind of just feel like Doom.
The lack of set-piece bosses after the first episode is a sore disappointment, an issue further exacerbated when the game's final moments return with another eldritch big bad in the most anticlimactic way.
Even with all my many gripes with Quake's singleplayer, it's still a mostly enjoyable shooter. While it doesn't control slow by any means, and yes, there certainly is a sort of atmosphere to the game, I think Quake's reputation has set me up for some major disappointment. What has been touted as a fast, aggressive, moody shooter, in reality has manifested itself as a grindy, defensive, and bland one.
Thankfully, the 2021 remaster does support a slew of multiplayer options, where I feel the game more accurately lines up with everything I had heard about it before, and then some. Quake's multiplayer really is breakneck speed. It would be completely overwhelming almost to new players had they not included the fairly competent bot implementation in local multi-player. So, kudos to the developers involved for that.
I find myself not being able to articulate all my thoughts on Quake in a very interesting or engaging way, and I think that reflects how Quake made me feel in general.
The Trent Reznor score is of a high quality, but does little to keep the player engrossed in whatever strange mish-mash of an aesthetic Quake seems to be going for - Throughout the 4 supposedly distinct, yet equally brown realms, you start to crave for something more... Energetic. Not just in the music, but the enemies and weapons themselves.
The world of Quake is far more aggressively dangerous than that of Doom, and it feels as though there has been a sort of regression to more bullet sponge-type enemies, and guns that are strictly worse-feeling than their Doom counterparts. The result is something that, unexpectedly, plays more defensively and cautiously than Doom - Lowering the difficulty isn't much of a solution to this issue as it makes everything feel trivialized. There just isn't a sweet-spot for Quake's combat loop to really click.
Grindy combat, dour visuals, underwhelming sound design, and a soundtrack that loses its luster by the second episode culminate in a game that, while technically impressive, feels like a chore to play.
Map design mostly feels like an improvement over Doom, or at least, it feels a lot more streamlined - Levels do feel brief, and easy to navigate in a good way, so much so that the game hasn't bothered including an automap. This is a shame, because while most of the time you won't ever need one, the times where it would be appreciated feel so much worse without it.
While the intro level to each episode is quite enjoyable, The overall quality of Quake's level design varies greatly between each of the individual episodes - 1 Is a solid foundation that 2 immediately underwhelms. 3 is the peak of the entire game, and 4 finishes the game with a mediocre whimper.
Perhaps my understanding of what Lovecraft really is is wrong, but very little about the environments screamed Lovecraftian to me, and maybe only about half of the entire enemy roster felt appropriate. Quake had gone through a tumultuous development cycle of varying ideas, and it really shows. Each realm is a unique flavor! Except, not really. Quake is Lovecraftian Sci-Fi! With maybe some Norse mythology thrown in there? And some other things that kind of just feel like Doom.
The lack of set-piece bosses after the first episode is a sore disappointment, an issue further exacerbated when the game's final moments return with another eldritch big bad in the most anticlimactic way.
Even with all my many gripes with Quake's singleplayer, it's still a mostly enjoyable shooter. While it doesn't control slow by any means, and yes, there certainly is a sort of atmosphere to the game, I think Quake's reputation has set me up for some major disappointment. What has been touted as a fast, aggressive, moody shooter, in reality has manifested itself as a grindy, defensive, and bland one.
Thankfully, the 2021 remaster does support a slew of multiplayer options, where I feel the game more accurately lines up with everything I had heard about it before, and then some. Quake's multiplayer really is breakneck speed. It would be completely overwhelming almost to new players had they not included the fairly competent bot implementation in local multi-player. So, kudos to the developers involved for that.
I find myself not being able to articulate all my thoughts on Quake in a very interesting or engaging way, and I think that reflects how Quake made me feel in general.