The gaming series that helped define
the First-Person Shooter as the dominant PC gaming genre is back with a
vengeance. Quake IV expands the franchise with updated graphics, character
models, and maps. But is it enough to live up to the expectations that
come with such a popular gaming franchise? The Laser's Jim McHugh drops
into battle to find out.
I'll be completely honest with you. I've
been purposely putting off my review for the Activision released shooter,
Quake IV for months. I know, I know…the game has been out for some time
now, so I should have absolutely no excuse for not finishing up everything
in an orderly fashion. However, I do have one, and it's a goody. Simply
stated, I'm lazy. Now I'm not talking about your typical slothful behavior
that has plagued all game reviewers at one time or another. You know, when
you get that god awful game thrown onto your desk by that unforgiving
editor: the game that no-one in the office wants to review at all.
So, you just put it off for as long as humanly possible.
Quake IV in no way fell into that
disparaging category, thankfully. Conversely, it was a game that I
completely looked forward to playing. As a matter of fact, the day that I
received my review copy of the game, I eagerly loaded it up onto my lowly
PC gaming rig and jumped into the action as quickly as possible. After
about 5 minutes of playing, I came to the unmistakable conclusion…my
video card had finally hit its limit of usefulness. The slow graphics
processing aspect of the game should have been my first clue. But the real
kicker came when I realized that all of the games visuals were not
supposed to be lime green. The backgrounds, the character model faces,
etc. I hadn't taken my own advice given to gamers when QIV's predecessor
Doom III was released (both games utilizes roughly the same graphics
engine) and thought I could muddle through the game without having to drop
down the hardware cash. So, I sadly uninstalled my game, jumped onto the
Internet, and started my research/quest to find a new video card. Four
long weeks later, I was the proud owner of a brand new nVidia GeForce 6800
APT video card for my gaming rig (not to mention an added 1gig of memory
just for the hell of it), and my plethora of excuses for not playing the
game disappeared along with my slothful ways.
With
my newly installed graphics card and RAM, I reloaded my copy of Quake IV
and hungrily jumped into the first-person fray. After all of the hassles
and pains that it took to get my rig up and running again (not to mention
the withdrawals I went through for a month without my cherished PC games)
what I found in QIV really wasn't that much of a surprise. To be honest, a
shooter is a shooter no matter how you look at it. You take a virtual gun,
run around a hallway (or something similar) and take pop shots at bad
guys. It's the FPS mold that iD helped create, and they stick to what
works in their latest release in the long running Quake franchise. So,
fans really shouldn't be surprised with this. It's like ordering a
hamburger: you're getting ground meat served on a bun, and shouldn't be
too shocked when you take your first bite. However, QIV isn't your typical
grungy fast food cheeseburger: it's more like fresh, gourmet burger from a
well-to-do tavern. And I hungrily dug into what the game had to offer.
In this latest version of Quake, players
get to tackle the enemy headfirst on one of the Strogg's own planets,
taking on the bio-mechanic bad guys on their own turf. This gives the
creators of the game the license to design some very cool levels, allowing
fans of the game series to finally take a peak into the before unseen
background of the alien menace. Through 10+ hours of gameplay, players get
the chance to fight along side their space marine brethren (with AI
controlled 'squad' abilities) as they storm through various Strogg held
facilities, landscapes, and strongholds. An added bonus comes halfway
through the game (POTENTIAL SPOILER…maybe not) when you get the chance
to actually witness the 'Stroggification' process firsthand. An event not
intended for the weak stomached.
As I stated before, Quake IV is a solid
FPS that stands on its own merit without any problem whatsoever. The
action is fast paced, the backstory and plot interesting enough to keep
the players attention, and the level designs are not only incredibly
detailed, but also varied enough to keep the 'cookie-cutter' maps found in
other games at a minimum. A variety of weapons can be found in the game as
well that add to the diversity of carnage of destruction you can dish out
to the Strogg, including some older favorites from the series (the Rail
gun) and newer additions to the arsenal (the Gravity/Black Hole Gun).
While the enemies AI isn't the best I've run into this past year in the
FPS world, the sheer diversity of the types of bad guys you run into is
definitely noteworthy. Also of note are the levels where vehicles can be
used (by both the Strogg and the Marines) giving us a nice change of pace
from the game's typical fight or flight FPS gameplay elements, as well as
allowing us a glimpse into what we might be able to expect from the
upcoming QuakeWars: Enemy Territory, slated for release later this year.
While
the game has its highlights, Quake IV definitely had some low moments as
well. The before mentioned AI is just one example where we would have
liked a little bit more tactical and strategic actions from not only the
enemy units, but also the marine squad members. Also, it would have been a
lot more fun to get a little more time with the vehicle aspects of the
game: instead, we just get a quick glimpse into what could have been a
grand adventure that is being saved for upcoming releases. Beyond that,
the two major letdowns I came away with after playing Quake IV lied within
the Strogg and multiplayer portions of the game. The 'Stroggifcation' that
players go through later in the game didn't really add to the overall
gaming experience. While it was fun to view the grisly cutscenes, the
gameplay changed very little beyond added armor and health (from that of
the space marine) and a little more comprehension of the Strogg
datastreams, signs, and monitors posted throughout the later levels.
Still, the most dissapointing aspect of the game hands down goes to the
multiplayer portion of QIV. I mean, this franchise of gamine helped define
modern multiplayer gaming as we know it (Team Fortress, anyone?), so you'd
think that iD would spend just a little more time getting this part of the
game right. The QIV servers with decent amount of players, low pings, and
team styled gameplay (my personal choice) were just few and far between.
Not to mention my sheer boredom with your typical CTF, DM, and TDM styles
of games which make up the choices for Mulitplayer. . After spending about
an hour trying to find some decent cooperative matches online, I just gave
up and went back to my beloved Call of Duty 2 servers. In my opinion, the
ball was seriously dropped here.
Even with the flaws found within the
game, I still have to give the creative team and iD a hearty slap on the
back for developing a hearty and fun shooter that passes the torch of the
Quake franchise in a new and very cool direction. Those that are fans of
the previous editions of the game will no doubt jump into this one with a
big smile on their faces. While, newcomers to the series will enjoy the
hardcore FPS gaming that Quake IV has to offer.
Grade: B+
