Quake 4 – Game Review (PC) » Armchair General

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The maps and environments are a mixed bag, mainly because everything everywhere looked exactly the same to me. This is compounded by the fact that many of the environments will remind you of maps on Doom 3 (similar cranes, networking centers, heavy equipment, pipes, etc). Even within the game, there are three towers which all seem identical, especially when you are standing on top of them. At times I couldn’t tell you the difference between data storage containers and the Mr. Coffee equipment. Yet, to be fair, there are a couple of really interesting environments along the way. A ride on an armed monorail as you approach the first of the three towers (why it wasn’t done for the other two is a mystery) was fairly enjoyable, if a bit short. The interior shots of the Strogg computer system and the hubs of the three towers are truly fascinating. The Stroggification processing scenes are also morbidly interesting, and they are one of the few times you actually feel for your character’s plight. Finally, a cut-scene in the middle of the game contains a pretty cool crash landing into a Strogg facility (I actually expected to walk out of the wreck with a blaster just like Quake 2).


Creature effects are top notch.	Friendly soldier modelling is overall very realistic, even when they are in motion.

Enemy behavior is akin to Doom 3, with enemies taking the odd dodge here or there, using boxes for cover and generally not walking blindly into your fire. Nothing outside the realm of expectations. Enemies are actually a bit more realistic in how they arrive on scene in this game, as you don’t find creatures stuffed in closets just waiting to pounce on you. For the most part the old teleport-behind-you trick is minimized, which was refreshing after suffering through a full game of it in Doom 3. It was disappointing to see that the concept of "bosses" is still around, but if you enjoy fighting these behemoths, there are several to keep your save/reload keys quite busy. For the most part, the room-to-room fighting was pretty good, although a bit claustrophobic at times. It would have been great to face off against the Strogg from a long distance, in the open (or at night!) forcing you to use the scoped railgun to pick them off before you could approach their base…

Graphics / Sound

The graphics of Quake 4 are, as you might expect, remarkably similar to Doom 3. It is pretty safe to say that if you liked the former, you will like the latter. Even with my very middle-of-the-road Radeon 9800 Pro, the details were crisp and vivid in presentation. One map had green slime dangling from the ceiling in a very believable fashion. Heat and fire are also well done, and I totally bought into the illusion of heat bending the air. This was most visually impressive when watching enemy railguns rip through the air next to my head. The effects of battle are also very well done, with most weapons giving a satisfying report or visual cue when they hit on target (this might be an explosion, a blood splotch on the enemy, or total vaporization!). One of the most impressive enemy attacks combines both graphics and sound – and I can only describe it as a "cone of silence."

However, I must reflect upon a few visual issues I noticed while playing. The exterior landscapes were much less impressive than in Doom 3, as there was no sand blowing around, you weren’t fiddling with oxygen tanks, etc., perhaps making it easier to notice the flaws with the world at large. If looking into "the distance" on this world, you’d see a blocky, pixilated view of the Strogg installations – which looked like something H.R. Giger would draw. Having H.R.Giger-esque landscape is not in and of itself a bad thing, except that the rendering literally makes it look like a drawing, rather than a real location on the planet (sort of like a stage set with a painted background). This is most noticeable when you are on top of the three towers in the Nexus Core portion of the game. Finally, the sinewy, curvy drawings of the Strogg buildings on the horizon are the polar opposite of what you find in every Strogg facility when you actually get there, which is the linear, boxy, mechanical layout that was started in Quake 2 and continued in this game.


Ducking a railgun blast. My personal choice for best special effect in the game.	The storyboard landscape makes it difficult to see it as more than just a set.

The sound was pretty well done overall, but not quite as immersive as Doom 3 (remember hearing heartbeats in your headphones as you cowered behind your chair?). The voiceovers of the various characters were simple and unobtrusive, although it was a bit humorous that everyone on my team seemed to be from Eastern Europe or Latin America. One annoyance that evoked horrible memories of Halo was my fellow Marines screaming the same inane "battle cries" over and over whenever we were in firefights. This got old real fast and often made me want to just want to let them get killed (was this wrong?). The music wasn’t very memorable for a major title like this (I can still remember Trent Reznor’s music from Quake 1 for example). It seems like a lost opportunity to not have someone like Reznor reprise his role and create something remarkable for Quake 4. All in all, the music and sound effects are technically proficient, but lack the heart and soul that could have made it great.

Conclusion

I am not ashamed to say I had very high hopes for this title, given its heritage. For its day, Quake 2 was my favorite First Person Shooter, and despite scores of FPS titles I’ve played in subsequent years, Quake 2 still brings warm feelings to my heart. In fact, I coaxed several additional years of mileage out of that title with such mods at Threewave Capture the Flag, Loki’s Minions CTF, Lithium, and as recently as last year I was out on a Quake 2 server playing railgun-only against some friends. That engine certainly helped fuel the FPS genre in ways that modern titles probably have no hope or desire of emulating. In that light, Quake 4 can probably be looked upon as a "safe" title which will do well in the near term, but have little staying power beyond its initial run. If true, it explains why there are so many aspects of this game which feel like they were taken from previous innovators (see if you don’t think multiplayer reminds you of Unreal Tournament). Why innovate if you are only looking at short term profitability, or console ports? Even uniformly bad reviews of an Id-stamped product probably wouldn’t deter people from cleaning the shelves for Christmas; and look around at the reviews – they are all over the map when it comes to scoring Quake 4.

As a reviewer I can see why the spread is so wild when trying to rate this game. From a strict, narrowly defined technical standpoint, this is a pretty good First Person Shooter. You enter the visually crisp world of the Strogg, you have a variety of weapons to use, a variety of locales to use them, and a variety of enemies to use them upon. If you are looking for no more than that, this game can probably deliver for you. Likewise, for younger enthusiasts who may be unfamiliar with the game’s lineage or don’t care about the broader genre, Quake 4 would probably deliver a satisfying kill fest – although I have to say that while overall it is less intense than the demons and blood-soaked rooms of Doom 3, there are some Stroggification cut-scenes and visuals that are not appropriate for younger gamers. Ironically, these scenes along with about three superfluous uses of the F-word will probably keep this game out of the hands of just the type of gamers who would most enjoy this sort of straight ahead fragging adventure (the game is Rated M for Mature 17+).

If you are the type of gamer who asks the tough questions along the way (Why don’t they just nuke the place? Why can’t Joe Marine find his own lousy box of floppies? Why must we fight bosses like we did in 1982?), you may find this title less enjoyable. For my part, I believe gamers of all ages deserve a product which contains a story that is as cutting edge and interesting as its graphics. Quake 4’s story would have worked back in the late 90’s, but I don’t think it’s too unreasonable for this day and age to demand a little bit of an extra effort from companies as well-known as Id. This game’s on-a-rail approach and lack of originality was certainly well below what I expected from a sequel of this magnitude. I’ll just go back to watching my Quake 2 intro movie and dream about what a great sequel this could have been…