Extremely underrated - the lag is overexaggerated. An excellent and challenging game.
I own every FPS shooter for the Xbox 360 available within a week of launch. Call of Duty 2, Perfect Dark Zero, Condemned, and Quake 4 – I’ve played them all. But the one that truly stood out was Quake 4. Underrated graphics – especially the shadows; in one level, you must traverse the sewers of an enemy compound to escape their grasp. You will often see the shadows of “botched transfers” – zombie-like creatures – as they stalk the narrow tunnels ahead, and this really instills a sense of realism. The lag is exaggerated - the only place where the lag affected gameplay was in one vehicle shootout where you rode a tram, with dozens other trams and flying bomber ships all trying to take you out. Other than that, the lag is very minor, and if you don’t have a $3,000 Alienware computer like Gamespot, then there will definitely be less lag than on the computer version.
The story is standard, but works much better than recent story failures such as Perfect Dark Zero and Halo 2. You are Matthew Kane, a veteran space marine, assigned to an elite assault team – Rhino squad. After the events of Quake 2, where a lone marine destroyed something-or-other, you and your squad go on full offense against the alien Strogg. It begins as a huge fleet of giant starships appears outside of the enemy planet, Stroggos. You and Rhino squad take a dropship down to the planet, but (of course) the vessel is shot down and goes plummeting to the surface. You wake up, and begin your mission.
The game lasts about 13+ hours – lengthier than many recent first-person shooters. It spans three acts, each with three or four levels. Every two or three levels, you face a boss – these range in difficulty, but aren’t very hard until the final one.
The audio is amazing on the game, except for one flaw – the communicator Kane wears is very loud, and all the other people are kind of quiet. This makes it difficult, sometimes, to hear your allies or squadmates. Other than that, everything sounds great.
Finally, the multiplayer is very fast-paced – the speed is increased, creating mass chaos on the battlefield. I, myself, have played little of the multiplayer aspect, but the speed stood out.