Takes me back to the good old days, because I feel like I am playing a better-looking Quake 2 and 3.
Reminds me of the old days, a good-looking game, guns have good sound effects, and the voice-overs are done right.
Cons:
Unpolished multiplayer, game is not a big step up from Quake 2 and 3, vehicle parts are easy and boring
Gameplay Single Player:
The game starts out making you believe you are getting your moneys worth. A cut-scene showing dead marines floating amongst rubble in space, you and your fellow squad members flying to the surface of Mar—ummmm I mean the Strogg home world, your ship gets hit and it crashes. For a huge surprise that really makes you think you have gotten your moneys worth you awake to find…only one or two dead bodies and to see a cut-scene of another marine getting killed, you know what that means, most of your squad actually lived, now there is a surprise. The first two or three missions are very well done but the game just gets worse from then on.
The levels begin to get boring and look somewhat similar. Instead of fighting with others you are alone, twice in the same level you are forced to see two of your squad-mates get killed in the most idiotic fashion while you just stand and watch. You eventually get captured and are partly made into a Strogg, which was one of the most poorly kept plot twists ever. This changes three things you now run faster (as fast as all the other marines, I guess your guy would not have made it onto the track team), you get an added 25 points to your health, and can now use Strogg healing stations to recharge your health. Another new feature is the addition of vehicles. How are they? Well, I hate them to be blunt. Way to easy when you are in them, the shields and armor even recharges. When you are on a turret the game just feels like an on rails shooter. Controls for them feel like Halo and the shield ability to recharge will remind you even more of Halo.
The gameplay is similar to Doom 3. Enter an area run through it killing everything; get to the end of the level, load up the next area. The only difference is that Doom 3 had a better environment and a good chance of scaring you, Quake 4 has neither.
The story is decent, nothing special. It is what is expected from most FPS games.
The weapons in the game are interesting and are all upgradable. Some of the weapons available to you are a pistol, shotgun, nailgun, and a very powerful gravity gun that sucks in and kills nearby enemies.
Gameplay Multiplayer:
It is uninspired at best. It plays exactly like Quake 3, meaning that it is like a faster version of the single player, which was already fast enough with it being a run and gun game. The gametypes you can play are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag, of course, but they have also added two new gametypes. The first is a tournament where you battle one on one and when you win a match you move up the tournament tree, not that interesting. The other is Arena Capture the Flag, which is like capture the flag but with power up pickups which seems to try to add some strategy to the game. Every time I tried to get in a game there were usually no people playing, but the few times I did get in a game the lag made the game almost unplayable.
Graphics:
The first thing that you notice about the game is the graphics, especially how good the character models look. I later became disappointed by the recycled objects and the terrain for the planet when you are outside is all the same. This makes the games good graphics feel like a waste sometimes.
Although gamespot’s review complained of slowdown I rarely ever had any, and when I did it was bearable and only lasted for a few seconds.
Sound:
They did a great job with the sound effects in this game. Weapons actually sound powerful instead of the usual quite popping sounds that most games have their guns make. The voice-overs are also very well done, though much of it is just the screams of groups of marines getting slaughtered. Even the voices of the Stogg are well done though most you just hear as announcements when in their areas; they don’t communicate to each other during battle.
Value:
Not much of a deal at this time a short single player game that is just ok and a multiplayer that feels like you are playing Quake 3. Although the special edition comes with Quake 2, playing Quake 4 already feels like you are playing Quake 2, and it will cost you more money.
Tilt:
The Game feels like two games in one, or maybe I should say two remakes in one. The graphics are great but are usually put to waste and none of the added features help the game in any way. A decent shooter, but not great and not one that is worth its current price.
How does it compare to the other versions:
If you were going to buy the PC or the 360 version it would be best to go with the PC version. Cheaper, better looking, a better online mode, and downloads.