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the Hushed Casket
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Quake 4: $15 @ EB FTW
Submitted by Midnight on Wed, 06/20/2007 - 4:50pm.
A few weeks ago when I went to my local EB games to pre-order the limited edition of Bioshock for Xbox 360 I perused the bargain bins as usual. I found a new copy of Quake 4 that was marked $29.99 and had been clearanced to %50 of that price. Having been a fan of Quake 3 Arena for PC I decided to finally purchase the title and give it a shot, as I had never done during it's initial release. I am very pleased with my purchase, and I can't think of another $15 better spent on a game. Furthermore, it came with a bonus disc containing Quake 2. Click "read more" for details.
As a fan of Quake 3 Arena I quickly felt at home with Quake 4. I don't know whether it is the plodding first-person view, the ability to hold a half-score of weapons with just two quasi-human hands, or the weapons themselves, but it just felt natural. Not having an internet connection at the time I started working on the campign on "Corporal," the medium difficulty. "Private" is the difficulty below Corporal with "Lieutenant" above and "General" unlockable by beating the game on Lieutenant.
The campaign is good--very good. Sure, the plot is a little trite: Marines in space fighting to save earth. However, the twist of battling the Strogg, an alien race that consumes its enemies and uses them to build more hybrid aliens, and the utter gore of it all give Quake 4 a flavor all its own. I really couldn't have guessed where the plot was going when I began the first few level.
The use of techs and medics is interesting as well. If there is a tech around just approach him and activate him to repair your armor. Same story with medics and your health. The Marines and techs of Quake 4 have very interesting, sometimes comical personalities. The variety of weapons is a lot of fun, as well as the ability to upgrade the weapons at different points in the campaign. My primary complaint is the atrocious load times. I estimate that the average load time for a game save is 10-14 seconds.
Quake 4's achievements are mediocre. Not bad, but not spectacular either. There are achievements for completing each of three acts on each difficulty. However, completing an act on a harder difficulty does not unlock the achievement for completing the act on a lesser difficulty. I've completed the campaign on Corporal, but the achievements for completing it on Priavte are still locked. There are achievements for completing a level with a single type of weapon, and those are fun, but it's sometimes difficult to tell when a new "level" will begin and end, making it difficult to pace yourself. There are many online achievements, including a few that require you to achieve a certain rank on the online leaderboards. I thought we figured out a while back those aren't a good idea.
I have yet to dive into multiplayer, but I expect it's a good time. I never see anyone on my friend's list playing Quake 4, so I assume it wasn't spectacular enough to become a FPS mainstay, but it might be worth a jaunt. Next time you're at EB/Gamestop take a quick look for Quake 4 in the clearance bin. It's a no-brainer for $15.
Quake 4
Played lots of Quake 4 on the PC not too long ago. It was criticized for being too much like the earlier versions of the series, however, I'd actually consider that a strong point. It brought back good memories.
Hopefully on the 360 version you're allowed to create custom gametypes of sorts. Railz only for life!! I played on some servers where the guys have been playing Rails only gametypes religiously for over a decade. Now that's some true veteran gamers for you. I guess they found what they liked and stuck to it. There's a sort of simplicity there that I admire.
One really good game that used the Quake 4 engine was "Prey". But talk about a case of vertigo! That game made me sick to my stomach for the first 3 days I played it. You, as well as your enemies can run up and down the walls and ceiling. It's more of a single player game because literally you can't find anyone in the multiplayer servers. The developer still hosts a few servers, however there are probably NO other servers available. I would have to wait 10-15 minutes running around just for 1 person to j-up into a game. The perception I believe was that the weapons sucked. (they were very different than your standard fps). One weapon was an acid gun that would squirt a short blast of acid similar to a shotgun. The game was really very well made though, some of the scenarios in single player were stunning and engrossing. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Hmm...
Quake IV seems disappointing (at least on the 360). I've heard horror stories about jarring bouts of low framerate and poor performance (on both the PC and the Xbox 360, but more so on the latter since you can't lower settings to improve performance); uninspired, repetitive gameplay and storyline--basically, a highly anticipated title (it is Quake, after all) that doesn't make the cut.
The PC version was good, however, from what I've heard in editorials and reviews.
For $15.00, though? I'd hit that. Especially when you consider the fact that you can unlock and play Quake II with revamped graphics.
O RLY?
There's nothing wrong with sticking to what made a game good--after all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, in this day and age, the older Quake games are... dare I say it, out-dated. There's nothing wrong with using an old, reliable formula, just as long as you don't make it so close to the original style that you might as well just play the previous, older titles.
Remember... it's just
Remember... it's just fifteen bucks.
Quake 4 Complaints
I actually enjoyed the nostalgia of Quake 4 being very similar to Quake 3. Framerate does drop at times of very, very intense graphical scenes, but that probably happened 4-5 times over the course of the campaign.
Bosses are foreshadowed with stockpiles of ammo, true. I suppose it is cliche to always take ventilation shafts when a route is blocked. However, I bet you didn't guess the twist that happened about level 3 or so! (At least I didn't)
Looking forward to Quake
Looking forward to Quake Wars. I may apply for the PC beta soon.
Good luck man, you have to
Good luck man, you have to have a paying File Planet account to ensure that your computer specs meet the minimum requirements. Kinda lumberjackish if you ask me :(.
DJ
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