Quake 4 delivers a old school FPS and succeeds in that regard. However, it tries to be something more and falls short.
I have played, and beaten, every Doom and Quake game and enjoyed both series immensely.
Quake will always be the following formula known to us FPS - a slightly different Doom game with very improved graphics; which coincidentally, is a accurate description of Quake 4.
Quake 4 delivers classic old school FPS action found in Quake 2 from 1997-1998 and succeeds in delivering in that area.
However, FPS's have evolved, become more complex, intelligent, atmospheric and epic.
Unfortunately Quake 4 fails to break from its chains and is stuck in an older era. Which is what ultimately drags Quake 4 back down and keeping it from what could have been a epic shooter.
Quake 4 takes place soon after the events of Quake 2.
In traditional classic story telling you may expect from an ID game - you a lone space marine will fight hordes of enemies and face impossible odds and will ultimately save all of humanity.
Levels:
Quake 4's levels are identical to Quake 2 - Pretty much identical with a few interesting areas scattered in between a mass of dark metallic rusty corridors we've all travelled down before.
This to me was disappointing - I found myself playing a game I played almost 10 years ago with better graphics. The exterior areas were most disappointing - they were clean, bland and not exciting at all.
Considering Strogg is a evil, hot dessert plant of a barbaric scavenger race I was expecting some atmosphere in that regard, but found nothing.
Atmosphere:
Atmosphere is something which Quake 4 lacks quite a bit of.
Looking back at the story for a moment - The Strogg attacked Earth, they killed hundreds of thousands of people and now humanity has brought the war to them in a final fight to survive.
All that considering you would think you would feel like you were apart of a desperate and violent epic war to save all mankind...
When playing Quake 4...I kept asking myself "Where is everybody?"
Considering the seriousness and scale of this conflict - there is no one around.
I found myself walking around and maybe encountering a few marines at scripted events every now and then,while outside battles in which you drive a tank and a mech suite fell short as well as again - there was no one around!
Sometimes through out the game you hear some battle noises and look out a window and see nothing. Even comically, just as in 1998's Quake 2 - you may see a jet or two fly by every now and then.
There were very few moments while playing Quake 4 did I feel like I was apart of some epic war that the game was trying to sell me.
Also, I found myself noticing that the voice acting was a little too calm. Considering hundreds of thousands of marines are at war and getting slaughtered, in space, the air and on the ground - everyone seems to sound so relaxed and calm.
I remember one instance in which I was hearing a radio transmission of a ship coming in under fire and considering this ship had thousands of people on board and was being blown to bits the transmission was very anti climatic due to sub-par voice acting.
Quake 4's story is also very predictable and missons are painful as you are always told to open this door, press that button and always find a snag along the way to get an elevator or bridge working.
Graphics:
Graphically Quake 4 uses a improved version of the Doom 3 engine. Quake 4 is more colourful and sharper then Doom 3 - but the aforementioned level design makes the levels look bland and repetitive.
Characters and the Strogg hoverer look very good. The Strogg are highly detailed, are designed well and have move fluidly and naturally. Shooting them reveal wounds and blood marks where they were hit. Unfortunately there is not much gore, and as in Doom 3 the bodies unfortunately disappear and dematerialize before you can run over and examine your kill.
Weapons and Action:
It's Quake 4's old school game play that ultimately saves the day. Quake 4 will satisfy anyone's need for a fast and furious run and gun shooter.
The weapons in Quake 4 are well done. I enjoyed all the weapons except for the unimpressive, generic and bland Dark Matter Particle Gun - which is supposed to traditionally be a BFG 9000 like in all ID games.
In Quake 4 you fight waves of Strogg in many combinations, and they have pretty good AI and are very aggressive.
Like a classic old school shooter, Quake 4 will eventually put you in a large ominous room where many bosses will attack you at once.
There area also a few outdoor tank and mech battles but I found them quite easy.
Conclusion:
So in the end, is Quake 4 worth playing?
If you are a fan of ID games and are looking for a old school FPS and are not expecting to find anything revolutionary - then definitely play Quake 4.
However, considering all the games Quake 4 has to contend with upon its release Quake 4 lacks the material to be anything other then what Quake has always been to Doom - a generic copy cat Doom Clone with better graphics.
Considering when Quake 4 came out there were a lot of other better shooters out certainly does not help its standing.
In this case Quake 4 is a blander,tonned down, less atmospheric, less dark, predictable and faster paced Doom 3.
Which begs the next question - Is Quake 4 a good game?
Quake 4 is a "good" game. Not excellent, not great, not bad - just good and it will give your trigger finger that fix you need.