11/07/05 >> Quake IV (PC)
Genre: First-person Shooter
Quake was just as much revolution for the FPS genre as Doom was, even more. The first Quake game was an addictive, fast and fun FPS that once again proved that ID Software was one of the most important keys in the evolution and development of FPS gaming. That it paved way for some of the most popular multiplayer ever on the PC helped its reputation even more, and just as Doom, Quake was written into the history books as one of the major highlights in gaming.
Built on the still quite impressive Doom 3 Engine, Quake 4 is yet another showcase of what ID and Raven are able to do, and that Quake 4 is a worthy sequel they can be proud of.
Quake 4 sets place after the events of Quake 2(Quake 1 and Quake 3 has nothing to do with the storyline), and opens up with an all out war on Strogg’s home planet in order to finally wipe them out. You take place as Matthew Kane, who is launched onto the Strogg's planet Stroggos in the heat of the battle to turn the tide of the war along with the rest of the Marines. Of course, nothing goes right, and your transport ship is shot down, turning your entrance into a bloody mess, in the midst of the battlefield. From there on, you are more or less on your own, following orders from the surviving squads that are trying to fight the Strogg.
Make no mistake. Quake 4 is a simple FPS game. There's not much different or new here that separates it from the crowd in terms of gameplay, but what it does, it does good.
You are thrown directly into the action when you start a singleplayer game, armed with your trusty pistol (which looks and feels quite good). You then get introduced quite quickly to how the mission system works since the NPC's will talk to you and update your missions on the go. By pointing at the NPC's you can see their names, Squad and ability, and those with special ability can use it on you if you talk to them. You can refill your health and armor, and even get new weapons or upgrade your old. The system works great, since you care about your Squad. You will usually be much more interested in taking the heat for them, since they can heal you back up afterwards, and still hang around to protect you. Some missions require you to protect certain NPC's, and luckily the NPC AI is very good. Throughout the whole game, not once did they get stuck or lost in the environment, but they followed you, led the way, took cover and were generally a great addition to the normally lonesome gameplay.
The weapons feel good in Quake 4. They feel, sound and look much better than they did in Doom 3 (Comparisons are inevitable); they just feel heavy and powerful. Even the pistol feels great. In a nod to the earlier Quake games, the games are much more innovative and fun than usual FPS games. You have the basic Pistol, Machinegun, Shotgun and Rocket Launcher, but weapons like the Hyperblaster, Grenade Launcher, Nailgun and more makes the basic run and gun concept much more interesting, and instead of only having a few useful weapons, everything feels useful. The only thing that it lacks is the normal grenades, and although the Grenade launcher fills the same role, its absence is notable. The game has a all powerful final gun too, and the effect is much more impressive than the BFG. It has to be seen since it looks really unique and cool.
If there's one thing that Quake 4 has done right, it's the monsters. Everything from the details, difficulty and AI is much better done than in Doom 3(Where the monsters suffered from lack of details and dumb AI), and they do feel much more challenging and fun to fight. There's the basic Strogg Soldiers that can put up quite a fight if they outnumber you, heavier armored units, flying freaks, giant robotic spiders, ghostlike robot females and all kinds of weird and nasty monsters. They blend technology and biology in a gruesome form, and during the course of the game you'll also see how they are made, which is done in a very original and disturbing way. The boss fights are not that good though, but for a change they are less about patterns and more about all out shooting. While not original, it's refreshing and it ensures that you can focus on the important things, staying alive and doing damage instead of dying endlessly trying to figure out patterns or following them blindly. This ensures that the game is focused on fun and fast gameplay. The final boss battle is a textbook example of how to make a dramatic and awesome ending to the game.
The settings are quite similar to Doom 3. This means that, unfortunately, most of the game is spent indoors in the various facilities and buildings. Apart from a few notable locations, these indoor levels get very repetitive, and very fast. It's a bit unfair to compare the level design in Quake 4 to the one in Doom 3, but in this case, it should be done, because it shows that no matter how advanced the engine is, it won't make the game interesting if you can't get the scenery right. There's only so many indoor, broken down high-tech facilities you can visit before you start to get bored, and you merely fight your way because you hope that the next level brings changes. And sometimes it does, because now and then even the indoor levels bring variation to the environments and settings. But as quickly as these levels arrive, they are over just as fast and replaced with the standard level design.
Sometimes you get out into the open, and the parts where you are outdoors are usually the most fun and impressive parts, often featuring intense vehicle sequences. These breaks up the slightly repetitive levels, and breathe some fresh air into the gameplay. The levels are usually not that hard, because the vehicles heal automatically. This is good though, since things happen quite fast during those levels.
Even more than the singleplayer, Quake 4 has been primary hyped for the multiplayer. And it had a good reason for it, Quake 3 Arena was one of the best multiplayer games ever, along with Counterstrike and Unreal it paved way for the importance of having a solid Multiplayer.
It is then sad that they didn't work more on the Multiplayer part. It plays well, is fun and fast, but I honestly did not feel like there was anything special about it that kept me going for hours, unlike the fantastic MP in games like Battlefield. We have seen this so many times before, and while I'm sure that Quake 4 will be played a good deal, especially by Arena fans who will get a bit nostalgic reliving old fights on the remade battlefields, in the end you'll most likely grow a bit tired of the simplistic setup. Make no mistake, the levels are fun. They are fast, and at best, it's quite an adrenaline rush if you get into the right mood and with the right players, but it can only hold interest for so long. Multiplayer has evolved, and that's one of the things Quake 4(Like Doom 3) hasn't been able to understand.
But, I shall not be too hard on it. First of all, ID and Raven's focus was on the Singleplayer, not the multiplayer. And as mentioned earlier, at it's core, the multiplayer is fun. Not for long periods, but a few rounds now and then should provide a much needed rush for those who look for a well executed multiplayer part. Deathmatch is still Deathmatch, and Quake 4 does it good. It just doesn't make it special.
Built around an improved Doom 3 Engine, the graphics are still able to impress...If you got the system that is. When comparing Doom3 and Quake 4 on the same system with the same resolution and near to identical settings, Quake 4 looks better. Lightning, animation, textures, details, most aspects of the graphics are improved. You'll still be able to see that this is the Doom3 engine, but it's put to much, much better use now. The game is less dark, the rooms are usually lit enough so that the environments can be studied this time, and the layout and usage of textures and objects are better. Everything looks much more detailed. Doom 3 did suffer from some bad textures, but this has been much improved in Quake 4, and it simply looks better in all ways. Monsters looks much better now, and while there only exists one version of each type, they are still detailed enough to impress. The NPC's also look better, which is good since you interact much more with them.
One thing that has to be mentioned is the flashlight effect. You'll sometimes hook up with other squad members wearing flashlights, and when you see them in dark rooms, the effect is very impressive, and probably the best use of flashlights to this date in any game. It looks close to real. They wave their flashlights around, and the lightbeams looks very realistic. This must simply be seen, because it adds such fantastic atmosphere to the few places it occurs.
Quake 4 sounds good. Weapons, Monsters, Environments, NPC’s, Ambiance and music are done right. Weapons sound heavy and powerful, which adds to the feel of the game. They have just the right Oomph that gives your speakers more to work with compared to the weak sounding weapons in Doom 3. Monsters have much better sounds than Doom 3 too, and they often shout things in their own native language. Yes, their vocabulary is limited, and you'll hear them shout the same things over and over, but it's still a good deal better than the growling in Doom.
The voice-acting is also quite good. There are a few NPC's that sounds cheesy and badly voiced, but generally, the quality is good. The great actor Peter Stormare has a big role and you'll be hearing him a lot, and there are several veteran Voice actors who helps bring personality to the NPC's without taking away the feeling. Matthew Kane never speaks himself, but the NPC's you meet usually leads the conversation so that it's not necessary. It's also refreshing to hear the female pilots during the course of the game, although you never meet them in the game.
During this review, there have been a lot of comparisons between Doom 3 and Quake 4. And the game should be judged by itself, standing alone. But, it does build upon the Doom 3 setup, and both improve upon it and fall into some of the same traps that plagued Doom 3.
Quake 4 shows that ID/Raven has learned from the mistakes done in Doom 3, but that there are still rooms for improvements. Weapons, Monsters, Level design, AI, Gameplay and other aspects have generally been improved, but it's still suffering from the repetitive levels that were one of the major problems with Doom 3. Yes, Quake 4 has some levels that break away from this, but for the majority of the game, it's the same high-tech buildings, with broken lifts, doors that need to be unlocked, objectives that seem to repeat itself and only serve to interact you with various technological objects. But it does everything better than Doom. There's hardly a cheap scare, and the focus has been shifted to intensive running and gunning instead of preparing for the next monster out of the closet. And when things break loose, the game is pure fun, because the weapons are varied and gives you a better sense of power than the underpowered ones in Doom 3.
Some very impressive and much more exciting sequences, including various vehicles driving while battling giant spiders, make Quake 4 a better singleplayer experience.
The Multiplayer suffers from the focus on Singleplayer, but it still serves its purpose and allows you to participate in the basic modes of Multiplayer. Fun for a while, but it's getting old no matter how fancy it looks.
In the end, Quake 4 is a good choice. The singleplayer campaign should last you a good 10 hours the first time on a medium difficulty, and higher difficulty makes the game longer but more intensive due to the increased challenge and need to be more careful. It's worth replaying it on at least two difficulties; simply because the game is well done, and it's simply fun.
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Game Score: 7.9
