Quake 4

Quake 4 is good for what it is. And what it is, is an old school corridor shooter dressed up in impressive graphics, (the doom3 engine can do lighting!),, populated by well-animated and modeled capable teammates and fearsome biomechanical foes. The graphics and sound succeed in creating a creepy, disturbing alien industrial environment. The level of gore and some story elements make this game unsuitable for minors; the Strogg's intention wrt organic lifeforms leaves much to be desired. The game is a fps with team assistance; not a team-based game. The enemy AI is good enough; the weaker enemies dodge & hide, the stronger ones charge at you because they can handle what you dish out. That being said, don't play on the first two difficulties if you want a challenge. The difficulty does ramp up in the last third of the game, with increasing numbers of enemies dishing out punishing attacks. The game is very linear, with a storyline that suffices to tie the stages together. Quake 4 has no pretensions to be anything else than a modernised, improved continuation of Quake 2, and in this it succeeds admirably.

If you played this game at release, nostalgia will carry you a long way in playing this, and if you didn't, it's a squad based shooter that didn't do the squad part very well at a time when squad based what-have-yous were all the rage and other games DID do it better.

First and foremost, there's a way to fix the awful graphical quality by editing a setting in your config file but I'll let you do the minor searching necessary to figure it out for yourself. I'm relatively new to the Quake series and can't claim to have years of loyalty to the series so this review is mostly from the perspective of an impartial onlooker, not a lifelong fan. Simply put, Quake IV is a shooter. It doesn't have much of a "hook." It looks and feels a LOT like Doom 3 to the point where it could almost be a sequel, although the action seems to be more aggressive. The gunplay isn't bad and usually feels pretty good. A lot of the guns seem to have a good "kick" to them, especially the upgraded nailgun. You get upgrades and guns in relatively unceremonious fashion, usually a squad member just hands you a gun or upgrade and you're on your way. Much of the game is spent with your squad which I personally don't like, I prefer the classic go-it-alone approach to FPS games. There are times where you're made to scout out on your own but you'll soon meet up with another squad and continue with the team. A ways into the game, you're given an upgrade which increases your health capacity and most importantly, your speed. This enhances the game's pacing and makes it feel more like a classic run 'n gun shooter, making the second half better than the first. Most levels are quite short and linear, which is a matter of taste. I prefer more exploration. There isn't much for secrets to find. Some levels make you man a turret, tank, or walking mech. The guns on these machines can be fun but as with most games, these vehicles usually create more problems than they solve so I could do without these levels. Enemies aren't that special or memorable, same with bosses. They can be tough but nothing really stands out about them. Overall Quake IV isn't really groundbreaking but it's a fun shooter. If you just want some simple face-shooting action, it does the job and nothing more.

developed for the marvelous raven software (Hexen, Heretic, Soldier of Fortune, etc.) quake 4 is the direct sequel of quake 2, the story continue the desperate fight of the humanity for survival against the insidious conqueror race known as strogg, who want defeat the human race for one of the most important natural resources of the earth, the human himself. the single player mode begins a few hours later from the operation overlord (quake 2), the Strogg received a hard hit that reduced their defences, one hero, a marine whiout fear, fought against hordes of monsters and destroyed their mayor defense system and defeated their leader. the human race needs to take this opportunity to give us a chance of surviving. now you are Matthew Kane one marine who has the mission to fight in the heart of the enemy planet... and it seems that things will not be easy at all. Several monsters of quake 2 will make their appearance is this game and you will recognize them instantly. Graphically the game uses the ID Tech 4 engine (doom 3 classic), that replaces the orange color from quake 2 for a dark and claustrophobic one, the gameplay, although is run and shoot like every quake title is slightly slower that is centered in the terror, in the game where added some aspects like scripted scenes that give a more cinematic touch, there is few moments when allies can help you and there is phases of conduction too, where you can drive tanks and mechs!, the multiplayer mode, turn on some technics like bonny hopping, rocket jump, etc. giving Q4 a classic feel. The only problem that I have found is from the limitation of the engine for exemple the corposes disappear a few seconds after the dead and the game it feels linear and has few secrets but that does not mean that it is not a masterpiece. thanks GOG and Bethesda for bringing more titles like this!

Without a doubt, one of the most tedious, forgettable shooters I've played in my life. Beyond the Quake name and iconography, the campaign for this is "generic space marine simulator 2005". The weapons are all pea-shooters with underwhelming feedback, the enemies are bullet sponges, the levels are stupid-linear, the vehicle sections are clunky and way too long for their own good. The game looks good, especially with a texture mod or two, but every second of the campaign feels like a waste of time and life you're not getting back. There are many games that were lambasted at the time of release, but they're fun to play many years later. Doom 3 is one of them. Raven's own 2009 Wolfenstein is another. Quake 4 is as generic and tedious today as it was 15 years ago. It wants to be Halo, but lacks the pace and flow of that series. There are much better alternatives out there, even for space marine-enthusiasts.