9.8

Quake 4

Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake are the founding fathers of the first person shooter genre and when murmurs are heard about sequels, the gaming world turns into a frenzy of anticipation. Although both Wolfenstein and Doom have had 21st century remakes, it's finally time for Quake to have one of the best makeovers of the trinity.

The legacy of Quake finally returns on the PC, tentatively entitled Quake 4 and is the official sequel to the mythos. Contrasting the previous titles that not only received graphics and gameplay makeovers, they also received story makeovers that ignored many of the original concepts.

Thankfully Quake 4 is created by Raven and it returns gamers to the story of the war between Humans and Strogg and is faithful to all Quake games. Unlike Quake 3 which was purely a multiplayer gamer, Quake 4 contains an awesome single player storyline that really takes this old gamer back to the 1990's when games had REAL storylines.

After the brief victory for the humans in Quake 2, the Strogg have arrived in the Sol system and finally commence the invasion of planet Earth. In a desperate war for Earth's survival, the alliance have decided to counter attack the Strogg homeworld in an attempt for a reprieve for the humans.

Fortunately for the denizens of Earth, the gamer plays Corporal Kane who assists with Earth's counter attack on the homeworld of the Strogg. The storyline is a classic battle between good vs evil and without spoiling too much of the storyline, the game contains dozens of different plot twists that will sure to surprise all gamers.

The single player aspect of Quake 4 throws the gamer straight into the action as the humans desperately try to save their planet. The developers have done a brilliant job at recreating the savage war between the interstellar races and you really get a sense of feeling to this huge gruesome war. The gameplay of Quake 4 is similar to all first person shooters that has the gamer embarking on a variety of mission objectives with a wide gamut of arsenals to assist them on their journey.

Fans of the Quake 2 and 3 will be pleased to know that all the weapons from these previous titles have returned including an all new improved BFG called the Dark Matter gun that must be seen to be believed. As per the guidelines for first person shooters, ammunition, weapons and health is generally scarce throughout the gaming world that really gives you a sense of urgency when playing this title. Apart from the stock standard Strogg grunts that you will enter, there are also a variety of different boss fights that really ups the ante of the gameplay. The average gamer should finish this title in around fifteen hours but the more adept gamer in about twelve hours.

However, once you've finished the single player game, Quake 4 also offers a plethora of multiplayer options from LAN play to the internet. Multiplayer modes such as death match, team death match, capture the flag and also a tournament mode will ensure that gamers will be playing this game for a long time and I'm also sure there were be plenty of mods out for it in a couple of weeks.

Graphically, Quake 4 is easily the best looking first person shooter game on the market at the moment and although the gaming palette is quite dark and dreary, it really suits the theme perfectly. All the characters in the game have been professionally designed and contain some of the most realistic looking texture detail that I've seen in awhile. Match that with a plethora of special effects from bump mapping, particle effects and realistic lighting and Quake 4 is a visual dream. The Dark Matter gun is also pure eye candy, unfortunately as with all BFG type guns, the ammunition is quite sparse.

Regrettably there is a hefty price for Quake and the minimum system requirements is a Pentium 4 2.0Ghz, 512MB RAM and a DirectX 9.0 compatible soundcard. Gamers with older computers can basically forget about playing Quake 4, unless they wish to play it 640x480 which although looks impressive is nothing when compared to the higher resolutions.

The soundtrack of Quake 4 features a majestic sounding military musical score that not only gets your adrenaline pumping but also thoroughly immerses you into the gaming environment. The actors have also done a brilliant job at the voice acting and nothing sounds too forced or contrived as the voice acting perfectly mends with the graphics. Quake 4 also contains a variety of awesome sound effects from the savage sounds of war to the futuristic weaponry of the Quake 4 universe.

In conclusion Quake 4 is a great walk down "Old School" lane with some of the best first person shooter fun that I've had in ages. Awesome graphics, perfect gameplay and an engaging storyline, Quake 4 will easily be a contender for game of the year! A must buy!