Quake 4

The first thing you will notice about Quake 4 is how reminiscent of Doom 3 it is.  Those who played id Software’s other major franchise will feel right at home from the off.  From the feel of the weapons, to the character models and corridors, at some points it could almost be the same game.  Being compared to Doom 3 is no insult though.

Quake, like Doom, was a pioneer in terms of First Person Shooters.  It’s been a favourite for years amongst PC gamers both for it’s single player mindless blasting and it’s multiplayer mayhem.  In fact, the online focused Quake 3 was the Halo 2 of it’s time, even overcoming the serious lag issues of Dreamcast online to provide a great, fun, frantic experience.  Quake has always been associated with PC primarily though and the transition to console has rarely met expectations.  With Xbox and 360 boasting such an impressive FPS selection though, perhaps Quake will finally find it’s place in the console market, with Microsoft’s next generation offering.  On the other hand, things have changed since the days of Quake and Quake 2.  Can Quake holds it’s own in an already over-exploited genre with fierce competition that it never had to worry about in the early 90’s, or is it time for id Software to accept Quake has had it’s day and it’s time to pass the gauntlet to the likes of Halo, Timesplitters and Call of Duty?

Players take control of soldier ‘Matthew Kane’, a member of the elite Rhino Squad.  An alien threat called the ‘Strogg’ are battling to take over Earth and wipe out the human race.  It’s down to Kane and his men to take down the Strogg, “the existence of the human race is in your hands”. 

Well, the story’s not going to win any awards is it?  Humans versus aliens, and you’re the guy who rises to destroy the enemy.  It’s been done so many times, it’s really a cliché of me to say it’s cliché.  However, id aren’t trying to fool anybody.  Quake has never been about the story, it’s about solid, mindless shooting.  In fact, the story despite it’s simplicity does indeed add to the game.  When you see the terrors that these beasts impose on your colleagues, it really can be emotive.  Quake 4 may not make you jump as much as Doom 3, but you will witness horrific things throughout the game that are worthy of it’s high age rating.  The strogg do not just kill humans, but harvest them.  Most levels are ‘decorated’ with human torsos hooked up to machinery while they’re still half alive and many humans are converted to strogg foot soldiers to fight against the humans they once worked with.

That takes us onto the original part of the story, setting it apart from the totally mindless.  In fact, this would have made for an interesting plot twist had id not ruined it by including it in trailers, the pre-title movie, the game manual and the back of the game box!  About half way through the game, you yourself are ‘stroggified’ upon being captured.  This section actually makes for one of the best levels in the game as you undergo the whole procedure from a first person perspective, helpless while your enemy mutilate you.  Fortunately you escape before they ‘convert’ your mind, so while you look like a strogg, you still fight for the humans.

Most of the game is set indoors in industrial environments, basically shooting anything that moves as you move from point A to B.  There are a range of enemies from human-esque foot soldiers to big gladiator beasts, with good AI that heightens as you progress.  A few boss battles are implemented, though they are not regular.  The few that do make an appearance do bring a welcome mix to the proceedings, but I found them generally underwhelming including the final boss, apart from the fantastic ‘lift guardian’.  You always have a mission objective to give more of a feeling of purpose, though they’re basically recycled and include the likes of “activate this” or “meet him”.  An interesting addition is the inclusion of vehicle sections.  These are very basic and often somewhat easy thanks to the self-replenishing armour.  However, again they do well to break up monotony and though they’re basic, they do provide some explosion induced cheap thrills. 

Of course a huge part of FPS’ is the selection of weaponry.  I’m pleased to say that Quake 4 does not disappoint in this area.  10 weapons are available for your armoury as you start out with a pathetic blaster and end up with a huge ‘Dark Matter Gun’, which lets just say is no water pistol.  Quake 4 chooses not to adopt the ‘drop and pick up’ weapon method of many shooters, and instead every weapon is kept until you have a whole arsenal.  This introduces a tactical element as you choose the weapon most suitable for the situation, taking into account reload speed, power, availability of ammo and anything else applicable.  There is some originality in the weapon design, though I found myself often opting for the classic but satisfying machine gun as the strogg fall under a rain of lead.  Most weapons are modded as you progress causing you to look upon your choices from a different angle.

The achievements are done really very well in Quake 4, particularly the weapon achievements.  There are 15 gamerscore points available for each gun, for completing a level solely with that gun.  This offers a new challenge as you try to complete tougher levels with relatively weak guns and desperately try to conserve ammo.  It also offers an incentive for replayability of levels.  Separate achievements are also available for completing the game on each difficulty.  Unlike many games whereby for example, you gain the easy and medium difficulty achievements for playing through on hard, on Quake 4 to get maximum points you will have to play through on private, corporal, lieutenant and general.

Most of the game is played alone.  This does add to the sense of fear, and there are a few jumpy moments.  However, at times you will be accompanied by fellow marines.  The company is nice at times and their AI is good.  Colleagues will chat to you and are useful alongside you in battle.  Particularly useful are the technicians and medics who will restore your armour and health respectively.  The emphasis of importance on these characters deters you from cheaply allowing them to take the brunt of battle, and again brings more tactical thinking into it.  Sometimes you’re even rewarded with an achievement for safely escorting a soldier.

Instead of the now commonly adopted saving/checkpoint method used in Halo, Quake allows you to save anywhere.  This is good in that it means you should never have to replay large sections.  However, I found this aspect to be somewhat of a hindrance.  By allowing me to save anywhere, I felt obliged to do so and ended up saving far too much just because I could!  It’s no quick process either, meaning the game is significantly broken up.  Of course, you may not have this problem but I learned that really I need some ‘discipline’ when it comes to saving, and those with a similar inclination could suffer.  Also, I found dying and restarting to be a painful process.  When your character dies (there are quite a lot of health packs and machines so it shouldn’t happen too often) you have to choose ‘load last save’, wait a bit while that loads and then wait rather long for the level to load.  This adds up and overall you have to endure quite a long load just to restart, which really should not have to be suffered with the Xbox 360.