Nearly six years after the super-successful Quake III Arena made its debut, the Quake franchise has finally made a welcome return, once again relying on the technology fashioned by the masters of id. While Q3Arena was more or less purely a multiplayer foray, Quake 4 has returned to the planet Stroggos in a story that takes place shortly after the events that unfolded in Quake 2.

Players take on the role of famed Marine Corporal Matthew Kane, though as to what he owes his reputation is both unknown and unfortunately never explained. As the newest member of the elite Rhino Squad, Kane will fight tooth and nail to survive the onslaught of Stroggdom set before him in a (hopefully) final battle against the threat of the universe. Kane will gain access to both Marine firearms as well as a few key Strogg technologies – in more ways than just weaponry. Kane will make the greatest sacrifice of all, and become Strogg himself – almost.

Returning are both the standard and famous weapons of previous Quake games: Plasma Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Rocket Launcher, Lightning Gun, Nail Gun, and of course, the Marines trusty shotgun. Gameplay is no different than any other Quake mission-based outing, or any other FPS for that matter. 'Git yer weapons and git yer shootin' on!'

What makes this incarnation of Quake so appealing is the use of id Software's Doom 3 engine, which met both highly positive praise and some slightly negative ramblings. After playing through Doom 3, it became easy to conjecture that any game based on the same technology would exhibit extreme difficulty in rendering vast, open playfields. From the claustrophobic environments, slow overall pace, and low onscreen action, the Doom 3 engine had already almost proven its worthlessness for a game of any other scope. Sure, it looked good, but could the technology work as the foundation for a game that required the fast paced action that FPS gamers are used to, which Quake 4 would absolutely need?

Yes and no.

Quake 4 – What Doom 3 Should Have Been

This is not to say that Quake 4 is not without its blemishes. Quake 4 is not everything Quake 4 should have been. Technology-wise, it became almost fact, that the previous concerns of the Doom 3 engine (namely its viability in large open spaces) were in fact real. The very first level of the game quickly lets on to this unfortunate truth, with a sky and distant mountain range barely rivaling those of the original Half-Life, or any other game of that generation. A simple skybox consisting of a wrapped, flat image appeared to make up the environment beyond the playfield, which quite frankly, looked like ass. Lo-res ass to be more precise.

AI, just as in Doom 3, is mindless, but with a few tricks. Enemies will retreat or press forward when appropriate, though not always exceptionally. There are several occasions throughout the game where an enemy, just feet away from another enemy taking/returning fire, will not react in any manner whatsoever. In contrast, the AI of teammates tends to be a small stretch better, in that, they effectively exploit the lack of enemy AI, and turn out to be a great deal of help in battle when available.

On rare occasions, the typical corridor crawling will be broken up by vehicle based missions. Kane will gain access to a hover tank, mech tank, and the backseat turret of a few vehicles, though almost none are of any form of fun. The game can take anywhere from 10-18 hours to complete, with a better than average amount of enjoyment overall – though four-hour long sittings do require a break from the monotony.

Perhaps the best selling point of Quake 4 is multiplayer. Up to 16-players can compete in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Tournament, and Arena CTF. Classic maps such as the Edge and the Longest Yard make an updated and welcome appearance. The action is just as fast and frenzied as I recall from several years of Q3 bouts.

While the game does graphically meet the level of expectation for shooters today, it has great difficulty in running butter-smooth on anything ATI. This is a known issue with ATI cards and OpenGL games, and is rather unfortunate. However, disabling shadows in the video settings menu will greatly increase the framerate, and thusly, the playability of the game, with which I was having serious issues of getting into until I did so myself.

Conclusion

Quake 4, while not everything it could have been (poor AI, less than stellar outdoor missions), still managed to be worth the time and money. Unfortunately, becoming stroggified isn't all it's cracked up to be, and reaped little to no benefits play or story-wise. Multiplayer so far seems to offer the same enjoyable mayhem of Quake III, with just as much ferocity and speed. Here's my two cents: Quake 4: Buy it for the multiplayer.