If you're new to Quake, have Live and want a fast-paced game with lots of thrills, then you'll find Quake 4 a great fit.
While this is the fourth episode in the series, Quake 4 is really a sequel to Quake 2 rather than Quake 3: Arena. Why is this? Well, you could say it has to do with the fact that Quake 3 had no story; its core focus was multiplayer action, almost precisely the same as Counterstrike. Anyways, in Quake 4, you take the role of Matthew Kane-a new recruit in a military force battling the Strogg in a seemingly endless war which as been taken to the planet Stroggos. Within the game’s first cutscene, you’re given information about what happened in Quake 2-how a lone soldier presumably killed the Strogg’s greatest threat-the Makron. To make a long story short for Quake 4’s storyline, the plot basically involves you fighting your way through wave after wave of Strogg in hopes of delivering a crippling blow to their existence and civilization. There is a plot twist about one third through the game’s campaign where Kane gets “Stroggified”. In addition to looking quite freaky after the transformation, Kane will be able to run faster, jump slightly higher and has room for twenty-five percent more health and armor. But other than that one plot twist the game’s storyline is very pedestrian for a sci-fi shooter.
In addition to the customary storyline, Quake 4’s gameplay itself is very by-the-books. When you first get your Machinegun and start executing anything that’s Strogg, you’ve pretty much experienced what the game offers gameplay-wise. About the only things that spice up the gameplay is that there’s the occasional boss battle, a couple vehicle sequences and that some of your weapons will be upgraded. Some of the upgrades your weapons get include extended clips for your Machinegun, better accuracy for the Railgun, homing shots for the Nailgun, and so on. Though these are nice touches, they don’t do much to help the game stand up against games like Half Life and Halo. The good thing about Quake 4 is that the action is top-notch and it’s a blast to play. Each of your weapons looks cool, has its own attributes and is quite fun to use. So fun, that once you’ve got most or all of the weapons you’ll be wondering which weapon you’ll want to use to make all that oppose you fall.
That doesn’t mean that the game is easy, it actually puts up quite a good challenge. The enemy AI isn’t sophisticated, but they definitely will put you through your paces. While they don’t do much other than strafe and shoot at you, they tend to hit you most of the time and some of them are a blast to battle with. And unlike most shooters, Quake 4 isn’t one that you can beat in one sitting. With all the enemies you’ll face and all the environments you’ll traverse, it’s likely to take you about fifteen hours to complete the game’s single-player. When you’re done with the game’s single-player, the next part to tackle is multiplayer, which can only be accessed through Xbox Live, there’s no split-screen whatsoever. The action in multiplayer is chaotic and merriment like the single-player, but it’s more like an update to Quake 3: Arena, which may disappoint some, especially long-time fans of the Quake series.
One of the first things you’ll notice about Quake 4, both on the Xbox 360 and PC, is that its graphics are quite good. The game runs on an updated Doom 3 engine, and for-the-most-part, it comes off looking really slick. Stuff like lighting, textural detail and particle effects like smoke and explosions also look great. That said, there’s not much variety to the game’s environments. You’re mostly just gunning down enemy after enemy in several interior levels that are mostly just made of steel walls and doors. Also, some of the character models look rather synthetic and a few outdoor levels look somewhat grainy and not so next-gen. Now, one issue that’s been addressed several times is Quake 4’s framerate on the 360 version. While the framerate may have a high sensitivity feel to it, the camera only gets nasty when there’s a lot going on at once. But throughout most of the game the framerate remains steady and doesn’t get in the way too much.
As for the game’s audio, Quake 4 is fully loaded. The music is typically a faint orchestral-like tune sampled and mixed to make it sound more suspenseful and help compliment the game’s thrills. As for the voice-acting, Quake 4 is pretty standard-featuring believable marine voice-overs but also a few annoying characters like Strauss. Yet the part that Quake 4’s audio really shines is in the game’s sound effects. Each gun sounds dissimilar to the next and the sound effects compliment the weapons perfectly. The Machinegun has a loud clinging noise that sounds like a bunch of fences being smashed and grinded together, which is a joy to hear when you play it. Other weapons like the Lightening Gun, Grenade Launcher and the Dark Matter Gun-which is the game’s equivalent to the BFG, are also worthy of mention for excellent sound effects. The only real problem with Quake 4’s sound is that sometimes the lack of music makes a few moments less engaging and the voice-overs are just standard, nothing more and nothing less.
All told, Quake 4 on the Xbox 360 is a solid shooter and while it doesn’t break new ground, it does deliver a fun and thrilling experience most shooters seem to miss nowadays. Whether you should buy the game comes down to two things. The first is if you have Xbox Live or not. If you don’t have Live then you’re not going to get much replay value out of the game upon beating the game’s single-player. The other is that if you have Live and you’re a long-time Quake fan then ask yourself if you’re willing to deal with an almost exact replica of Quake 3’s multiplayer only with a few upgrades. If you have Live and this is your first time experiencing Quake 4, then you’re likely to find a lot to enjoy in this game.