QUAKE 4: The second of the series? What? I review the singleplayer QUAKE 4, take heed, its a good game, not a great.

User Rating: 6.5 | Quake 4 PC
By thejackal465 | Review Date:
Before I begin, I have to tell you a little story. Once upon a time, in a land of flowers where "fantasies" are never "final," (and where mushrooms and turtles are the enemy--I am sure) there happened an event even more astounding than the time Local Princess Rainbow Brite declared the woodland creatures an affont to God, initiating a century-long jihad against their kind. No--this was even worse. Square decided to release a discontinuity in its Final Fantasy series in America. Many millions climbed buildings and jumped to their doom to escape this horror before it was revealed that one of the titles was simply not released in the continental states. I tell you this, not only so that you feel the terror that Square inspires in us in our happy-go-lucky land of chocolate streams and cupcake fields, but also to explain why Quake four is actually the second in the Strogg-fighting series. Quake was a doom-like game released a while back for PC. Quake 2 was released using the same engine, but with a different story alltogether--where a space marine fights the cybernetic alien race of Strogg. Quake 3 followed in the footsteps of Quake and Quake 4 followed Quake 2. Basically, The even Quake titles follow one story and the odd follow something entirely unrelated. Now that this is out of my system, I will begin my review.

Quake 4 plays a great First Person Shooter. The story is good. The adventure is sweet. The game overall is alright. Notice my wording. Why is it that I am using sweet, good and alright as opposed to solid, awesome, or even the overkill that is flauciojibberanus? Because that is what it is--Its a good game, not a great game. Let me throw a few random words and phrases out in the open: sterile, linear, repetative, footless, exploding barrels. All of these words describe a typical FPS--and all of these words describe Quake 4. The environments are (for the most part) sterile, not dynamic--there is little interaction between main character Matthew Kane and the world around him. His shotgun blasts clang off walls without dammaging them, even his dark matter gun blasts fail to char the upholstery of the Strogg facilities. The game is very linear with repetative enemies (always the same half man/half machine alien (with a few variants))--looking down will not allow you to see your character's feet (not a fatal problem, but noteworthy)--and even the toughest gun battles may be shortened by a few quick rounds into a conveniently located exploding barrel.

The story, however, is solid: as space marine Matthew Kane, you are sent to the Strogg homeworld to destroy their bases after their leader, the Makron, was assasinated in Quake 2. Things are going smoothly until you are taken hostage by the Strogg's new Makron and turned into a Strogg, yourself (during a creepy but cool first person cinema showing the strogg installing cybernetic implants into your paralyzed body). Your marine buddies stop the Strogg at the last second before they can "jack you in" to the Nexus, thereby giving them control over you and you become an instrumental piece of the Marines' plans to assasinate this new Makron and destroy the Nexus once and for all.

HeadshotJackal's Rating:
I gave this game a 6.5/10. The game runs fine, but fine can only get you so far. A creepy, fun FPS, but that's really all it is--an FPS.

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