Quake 4 is a true sequel for Quake II, and you will play as a marine named Matthew Kane, a member of a military unit called the Rhino Squad. You're not a squad commander in Quake 4. You're a guy who is taking orders, not barking orders. This should seem odd for people that played the first three Quake games, because this is the first time that we know the name of the character we are playing. The marines are supposed to be securing and cleaning up the planet Stroggos, which is the home planet of the Strogg aliens.

The game's objectives might not be the most interesting thing in the world, but the game's combat is generally pretty satisfying. While you won't see hundreds of combatants killing each other at once you will get to see some great firefights, tons of explosions and huge weaponry at the same time. Basically, you'll have missions where you may have to escort or protect a VIP, meet up with your squad mates and so on. There're also some vehicle-based missions which are are quite fun. You have a chance to utilize a tank and a two-legged mechanical walker to advance yourself through the Strogg ground defenses.

What about weapons? Don't worry! You've got your useless pistol, the machinegun, a shotgun, the nail gun, hyperblaster, rocket launcher, lightning gun, grenade launcher and the new BFG replacement, the Dark Matter gun. The weapons can be upgraded during the game. Which means even your weaker weapons at the beginning of the game can be used later in the game for more punch. For instance, the rocket launcher will be upgraded to hold three rockets instead of one and the nailgun will gain the ability to lock onto targets. On other side, some weapons seem to be a little lacking in area's - in particular the grenade launcher seems to be almost useless while the Shotgun feel a little unsatisfying - indeed, most of the time you'll just end up sticking to the assault rifle. You can carry as many weapons as you want, so the only tactics you have to worry about are keeping an eye on your ammo and health count and using the appropriate weapons for each enemy.



Quake manages to throw up much more enemies on screen than Doom 3 was able to, though it isn't going to approach Serious Sam numbers at any time. All of the Strogg enemies from Quake II return, including Grunts, Gunners and Berzerkers (who have a nasty new ground attack). Unlike the hellspawn from Doom 3, you won't find them hiding in cupboards waiting to pounce on you just as soon as you pick up that medkit and nor will they spawn directly behind you out of thin air. However, the AI in this game is, to be fair, pretty non-existant. The enemies revert to simply rushing at you. Your team mates are a slightly different cup of tea, they can be trusted to look after themselves reasonably competently, however they display no real signs of team intelligence and tactics, instead they either run to and hold pre-determined cover, or wait for you to take the lead.

Finally, the multiplayer -I've only played a little thus far but I've gathered a good first impression. Unlike the single player experience the multiplayer aspect in more heavily influenced by Q3A. Supporting up to 16 players, the typical multiplayer modes are present: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, One-on-One, Capture the Flag (CTF) and CTF Arena. There're nine Deathmatch (ten if you include the 1v1 version of one) maps, and five Capture the Flag maps. Players can elect either marine or Strogg models for any mode, and CTF teams are racially divided - marines vs Strogg. The multiplayer is very fast paced, with plenty of jump pads found to make the game even more hectic. It is a prettier version of Q3A, which is quite disappointing given the number of years that have passed since that game launched. Clearly developers have embraced the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy and that will simultaneously work for and against it.

Quake 4 basically is another first-person shooter where you don't really have to think what to do - just shoot. Don't expect the dark, creepy atmosphere of Doom 3, Quake is more fast paced (but still a bit slower than Unreal games or the original Quake) and in my opinion, looks sharper. The single player campaign is involving and never really gets boring. The few levels using the vehicles do seem a bit out of place in the game but they are few and far between so it is really not a big issue. The campaign features some good old fashioned boss fights worthy of the Quake name. Multiplayer is just Quake 3 which isn't a bad thing. Well, a few more maps would have been nice. But with its mod support Multiplayer will probably only get better so you might just have to wait.

Overall, Quake 4 is a good game but not revolutionary in any way. The gameplay is just fun, and as classified, Highly Addictive. Wait until you can pick it up for $25-$30, and it will be worth it.

related links: homepage, cheats, savegames, Buy Quake 4.

Minimum System Requirements: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or Athlon XP 2000+ processor, 512MB RAM, 3D hardware Accelerator Card - 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64MB*, 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers, 4x Speed DVD-ROM drive and latest drivers, 2.8GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows swap file)
 
* supported cards ATI Radeon 9700/9800/X300/X550/X600/X700/X800/X850 series, Nvidia GeForce 3/Ti series, GeForce 4/Ti series, GeForce FX series, GeForce 6 series, Nvidia GeForce 7 series.

Multiplayer Requirements: Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported, Internet play requires broadband connection and latest drivers, LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers.

Bandwidth: QUAKE 4 Multiplayer is bandwidth intensive. This means that a slower upload speed will be able to support fewer combatants. Recommended maximum players for broadband upload speeds under OPTIMAL conditions are provided below:
128Kbps - 4 players 512Kbps - 10 players
256Kbps - 6 players 768Kbps - 12 players
384Kbps - 10 players LAN - 16 players

* There are two versions of Quake 4 available - the basic version which comes with Quake 4 on CD's only, and the Special DVD Edition, which comes with Quake 4 on a DVD plus a Bonus DVD featuring the Making of Quake 4, as well as Quake 2 and both Quake 2 addon packs - The Reckoning and Ground Zero. What's amazing about this is both versions cost the same.