Quake IV Review (no fat)

Game Description

Ask a writer; what is the hardest part in his line of work, and he will surely answer it's the introduction. When you're introducing something new, you're enthusiastic. When you're introducing something you like, you're proud. But what about introducing Quake IV? Being nostalgic is inevitable, and the other Quake games in the series probably popped up in your mind immediately after you saw the title.

Quake IV is the latest incarnation of the Quake series, in ID's quest for the console world. As always, it highlights wonderful graphics and top-notch effects, but how much can the Xbox 360 take, remains to be seen.

Quake IV Stroggle for Survival

Quake IV's storyline picks up from where Quake II left us. The nameless marine (the One?) in Quake II managed to kill the leader of the invading Strogg forces, the Makron. You will get into the shoes of Corporal Matthew Kane. Matthew Kane is the new man in the Rhino Squad, and the preferred target of the jokes made by his mates. Things get twisted though, when the drop-ship that carries the Rhino Squad gets hit and has a very rough landing. The crash decimates the squad, and you are picked up by a capital ship and assigned a communication jamming mission.

Although the plot itself is not what you would be tempted to call a wonder of storytelling, it stands up in the crowd of storylines from the other Quake games. The story itself could have been better if ID Software hadn't revealed the only artistic twist in the plot. If you don't know what this is about, you will enjoy the story even more

The gameplay itself does little to innovate. Quake IV is not a game to reinvent the genre, but, in the usual tradition of Raven Software, it excellently applies everything the developers know. You will find yourself running along the well-known corridors, blasting enemies and crawling around. At the same time, we should appreciate the effort made by the art team. The level design is at least interesting, considering that the designers used a rather limited set of objects and settings. You will surely not get bored by Quake IV's levels.

You’ll probably remember (or know) that one of Quake's major achievements was the weapon set. Quake IV comes with what looks like an armory: a blaster, a machine gun, a shotgun, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, the monstrous BFG and many others delight most players. However, Quake IV rather missed the point here. All the weapons are upgradeable, which is good (especially at the shotgun's initial rate of fire), but the developers disrupted the balance by deciding to mount a flashlight on the machine gun. Not because mounting a flashlight on a weapon is a bad idea, but because the only gun that has this option is the machine gun. This means that most players will simply ignore the other weapons (except for special cases) and play along with the machine gun. Many other guns have their own problems that make them a bit unfriendly at first. The shotgun reloads so slowly that you will be tempted to use it as a baseball bat that shoots bullets, and that’s not the only example. The positive, though, is that the development team doesn’t have to carry on with their hunt for the biggest and noisiest weapon.

An interesting twist in the gameplay is the ability to play along with some allies. During the game, some AI-controlled players will join forces with you. Although they seem to be able to take a lot of lead they will die eventually and they are smarter than what you would expect, which spices up the atmosphere.

Quake IV - A Friendly Game

It’s simply impossible to talk about Quake IV without mentioning the multiplayer mode. Raven decided to try to recreate the old Quake feeling, but they didn't succeed entirely.

The multiplayer mode will give you some mixed feelings. The gameplay itself is entertaining and fun, but questioning the end result is inevitable. The designers shortened the dead times and introduced the jumping pads from Quake III in an attempt to make the game more dynamic. They also introduced some of the older maps, and even the announcer sounds just like the one in Quake III.

The downside of this is that it doesn't really make a step forward. In fact, it feels more like a step backwards in terms of gaming experience. While you will like the action itself, you will often be a bit dragged away by the feeling of rudimentary gaming. The online multiplayer mode is optimized for 8 players, which is a nice change.

Quake IV Stressing the hardware

Unlike what we were used to getting from ID Software/Raven, this time the graphics has a bad effect on the game itself. Compared to the PC version, the textures are a bit faded and the graphics, in general, feel less sharp. Even so, Quake IV is probably one of the best looking games on the Xbox 360. But it also shows the limit of a game console.

It's hard to say if the port itself is bad, or if the hardware simply cannot cope with the demands of the engine, or both. The outcome is that the frame rate often drops below any level of decency. Whenever the action heats up, the game slows down, and sometimes ends up looking like a slideshow. This sensibly affects the gameplay quality. It's probably why you would be tempted to buy the PC version instead, if you have the option.

The audio side, on the other hand, is one of the more interesting ones in the virtual world. The voice work feels very realistic and inspired, although it's a bit repetitive at times. If you try to listen to the music, you will also like it quite a lot, despite being too discrete at times.

Quake IV – 2cent

Overall, the artistic side of the game is nicely rendered while it's standing still. The good look is disrupted by a lack of optimization, which can be felt even in the Quake II copy that is bundled.

Quake IV Price

You can buy Quake IV for 59.99 USD. The price itself is a bit too much, but if the occasional glitches of the framerate don't bother you, it's a good investment.