Quake 4 , looks magnificent...
Q4 picks up from where QII left off by pitting you against the Strogg, a race of cybernetic freaks that fuse human body parts with mechanical prosthetics and weaponry. At the end of Q2, you destroy the Strogg leader, the Makron and take out their planetary defense cannon known as the Big Gun hoping this will cripple the Strogg Empire once and for all. Underestimating the Strogg was a grave mistake as they've managed to pick up the pieces and have reconstructed an even more powerful Makron over the years. This is where your character, Matthew Kane comes in, a member of the elite Rhino Squad whose task is to infiltrate the Strogg base and annihilate the barbaric race once and for all.
All those who've played Soldier of Fortune know Raven is extremely adept at depicting scenes of extreme violence and gore and the opening cut scene bears testament to that very fact. Throughout the game, you will come across highly mutilated bodies, and when I say mutilated I mean legless torsos with intestines hanging out, faces burnt beyond recognition exposing the grey matter beneath, marines with their stomachs ripped open exposing the organs within - you get the drift right? This game is violent, twisted and extremely graphic...just the way we like it.
First of all, I would like to take the time to thank God that the gameplay in Q4 doesn't resemble D3's 90% of the time. Even though there are a few Doom-ish moments here where you'll find yourself alone in the dark groping with your flashlight (which is thankfully attached to your weapon) waiting for an enemy to pop up and tear you a new hole, most of the time you'll be engaging in hectic battles with or without allies. Team AI is good enough with teammates ducking under crates and taking cover to save their asses. Unfortunately at times they will block your path when you must retreat momentarily to reload your weapon or avoid gun fire (something like the retards that passed off as your squad in Half - Life 2). Through out the game you'll come across medics and engineers who'll replenish your health and armor. Even if you find yourself taking a lot of damage, stay behind your squad till you find a health pack or so because they can sustain sufficient amount of damage, unless they're destined to die in a scripted sequence. Enemy AI is acceptable with basic minions charging towards you rolling and ducking to avoid your attacks at times. What these guys lack in brainpower, they make up for in sheer numbers. An hour or two into the game and you'll come across a decent variety among enemies and once the tougher ones emerge, the game play gets a bit frantic because you'll have to use different weapons to get rid of different enemies.
Don't let this deter you because there are a plethora of weapons awaiting you in the game. Initially, you'll have to get the job done with basic firepower like pistols, shotguns and sub-machine guns. Before you can start whining about how underpowered your guns are, you'll get your grubby paws on the real firepower that'll include a nail gun, the hyper blaster (weapon that fires blue plasma balls at a high rate of fire), a grenade launcher which is pretty weak, a rocket launcher that no FPS can probably do without, a Rail gun, a lightening gun and a dark matter gun, which is basically a distant relative of the BFG. Some of the weapons will be upgraded by your local engineer that'll basically increase the rate of fire of the weapon or give it tracking capabilities.
If for some reason you find yourself getting bored of conventional weapons, you'll be able to slaughter enemies using a Mech and a Tank (unfortunately you can't use them whenever you want to; both are level based). The Mech and Tank sequences are cool at first, but after navigating at least 100 areas that look more or less the same, monotony (any game's worst enemy) rears its ugly head. And as if that wasn't bad enough, most of the vehicular situations play exactly the same. Enter a particular area in Mech/Tank, shoot flying objects that drop turrets and then shoot turrets, run over a few Strogg, proceed to the next area and repeat procedure.
Just when you think the game's slipping into the doldrums, and you start getting D3 flashbacks, Raven throws a massive twist at you that has you becoming a Strogg. After being captured, you get taken to the Strogg medical facility where you get Stroggified in a morbidly entertaining sequence, with legs getting amputed and all. Just as the Stroggs are about to insert a chip into your brain; that'll completely convert you, your team busts into the room saving you in the nick of time. Now as half-man, half-Strogg you have an advantage over the Strogg as you can access various doors and terminals that you couldn't as a human. Besides this, you'll also be able to move a bit faster than your human counterpart and your health and shield bar increase from 100 to 125. That's pretty lame considering the torture you went through to become one of them. Hey I don't get any special powers, or cooler weapons but I can understand the Strogg language. Whoop-de-freaking-do!
Following the mentioned events you'll hook up with your team again only to be the only one left alive. The game dips in and out of boredom as you navigate an endless amount of rooms and corridors that look pretty similar except for a few ducts and vents.
Raven has spent quite a bit of time with the D3 engine and it shows as lighting, shadows, weapons, environments, and character models look brilliant. Even though Q4 runs on a more polished version of the D3 engine, it somehow worked better than D3 on my rig. Running this game on a AMD 64+ 3200, ASUS K8V motherboard, Gainward 6600 GT and a gig of Kingston RAM, I was getting 50 FPS constantly with all effects turned up to the max (except for AA, which I left at 4x).
Q4's no slouch in the sound department as well, as Raven has hired a bunch of actors who can pull of their parts convincingly. Weapons sound like...weapons, (except for the grenade launcher which when fired sounds like someone's thrown a few tin cans on the floor.) This is an extremely good thing since weapons are the highlights of any First Person Shooters and should pack a mean punch. The metal-ish soundtrack of Q2 has been ditched for an orchestral theme which isn't bad, but (in my humble opinion) metal some how suits the gothic and vile ambience Quake exudes.
In conclusion, Q4 like most games does have its share of strengths and weaknesses. If you're a fan of the series you're definitely going to pick it up or have already finished it. If you're new to the Quake franchise and are hesitant, pick it up if you like your games frantic, violent and gory.