Although it doesn't offer anything revolutionary it is still a solid FPS worth playing
STORY:
The story takes place right after the 2nd game (don't worry if you never played the 2nd game or forgot the ending every copy of Quake 4 comes with a free disc with Quake 2 on it with achievements) and the Earth army is invading the Strogg home planet the Strogg are a alien race that the humans have been fighting for some time they use captured humans as their soldiers(by implants and all that fun stuff) you play as a man named Matthew Kane he is supposedly a legendary solider that did amazing feats back on Earth and transferred to Rhino Squad Rhino squad is the best of the army they are the first ones in to a battle and each member has something special to offer (like a awesome sharp shooter or a expert at demolitions) and they along with the other space marines invade/crash land on this weird mars like planet to finally end this long bloody war
GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay is the same FPS we all have been playing its the same enemy appears they shoot you, you shoot them etc etc now what makes this game fun is usually you are always with NPC's now the A.I isn't the brightest but they get the job done and rarely get in the way usually though throughout the level you are left alone to get some creepy moments in the game also if you have a medic and technician in your squad you talk to them and they heal your armor and health and it feels nice that they are actually doing their jobs
The levels you fight in are fun too the Strogg even though machines love to make a creepy atmosphere with castle-like structures and weird almost Nazi-like banners scattered all over the bases you see many Strogg structures such as a anti aircraft gun, com center, medical area, and waste dump now all these levels are both highly unique and similar some levels are the same damp dark area with the same silver colored walls and grated walkway while others are varied and some are very creepy needless to say even though some levels do look similar they do mix it up a bit also what makes this different is what happens to captured humans trust me looks around certain levels and becoming a Strogg solider is much better than the alternative
The enemies (the Strogg did I mention them enough yet?) range from fun to shoot to JESUS DO THEY EVER STOP!!! yes the game tends to (more towards the end really) to spawn enemies constantly until you find the "teleporter" to make them stop also they do make you at some times fight very tough enemies at 3 at a time and it does get frustrating but the game has both checkpoints and the ability to save constantly in-game so its not that bad you just need to know when to save also there is a nice variety of enemies and all have a human look to them which adds some sort of creepiness to the game
The weapons are the basic standard of FPS games it has the basic machine gun, pistol, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, nail gun, and the BFG(which isn't called the BFG but anti matter gun) etc etc yet "id" did change some things up like every gun can be upgraded the more you play the game for example the nail gun can be upgraded to have a homing device and all you have to do is play the game the game takes care of the upgrades for you which is both a Pro and Con also whoever played DOOM3 complained that the flashlight as never on a gun well they fixed that to make the machine gun have a flashlight and I have to say the machine gun is one of the best weapons in the game it has a nice scope, decent range, decent ammo (when upgraded), and overall just fun to use
finally there are some on-rails segments and vehicle levels and I have to say they are fun and varied and broken up enough to not get boring or repetitive and they five you a nice look at the alien landscape you are fighting in and I have to say its great there are also parts where you are on your own huge ship that acts as your main base on the planet and they are cool because you can explore the ship and hear the humans talk on the current situation or hear soldiers out in the field
Now there are some problems and the main problem right off the back is you never feel like you are invading early in the game you have to blow up some hangers(since the aircraft is slaughtering your squads) and your team is downstairs and you and the demo expert go up to the hangers by yourselves so you would think be quick run blow up the hangers meet up with your team? nope the demo man walks a slow casual walk taunts any Strogg in his way (then kills it with his shotgun) and plants the bombs hangs out to watch it blow up then groups up with the squad while you have another mission objective finally when you meet up with your squad they are just hanging out telling war stories and admiring the engines on some ship and telling a engineer (that randomly showed up) to send it back to the main ship to get it looked at and this happens all the time not just that moment but throughout the whole game every squad and solider just hang out where its seems safe and its scripted
The soldiers you fight with never really feel like they are in combat they almost sound bored when they talk they even tell you that only a couple miles away your walker units (huge walking tanks) got completely overrun by the sheer amount of Strogg with no panic in his voice just like making small talk by the water cooler and I am like huh? that's an important fact you just told me or how a medic tells you that the Strogg take organs out of humans to see how long they last without them without even a nervous glance
Also during the loading screen the game tells you random facts about the game or your squad or your player and it just feels weird I am finding out facts from a loading screen and not from in-game moments also the soliders love to stop and admire you when you are on the ship but never say exactly what happened on Earth only the fact that A.) the Strogg invaded B.) Kane held them off until reinforcements all they do is hint and hint but nothing else and I think they ruin the biggest twist of all right on the back of the case I don't want to spoil it but they just ruined one of the biggest surprises ever
GRAPHICS:
The graphics are nice they are almost an updated Doom 3 engine the areas are dark (but not too dark) the enemies look good and the guns look good overall they are next-gen worthy but nothing to brag about
Audio:
the Audio is pretty good the guns sound unique and the voice acting (even though sound bored) is solid the Strogg sound nice and each have their own sounds and you know when they are coming
Pro's
comes with a free Quake2, gets creepy,some very epic moments, what they do the humans is at times original and very creepy, lengthy, a nice variety of enemies, on-rails and vehicle segments are broken up enough to enjoy, the landscape looks good, the structures look good, overall a solid FPS game (meaning everything seamlessly fits)
Con's
need to save a lot, some repetitive NPC's, the game hints at deeper stories but never tells you about them, ruins a huge plot twist everywhere you look, generic weapons, generic story and armor, some hard and frustrating boss/waves of enemies encounters, towards the end the enemies tend to spawn until you take out where they spawn from, the A.I. at times is bad but doesn't happen often
Overall:
Overall the game is a fun FPS it doesn't do anything revolutionary but you can still enjoy it if you give it a chance its not as bad as others say