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PC Gamer reviews Quake 4
- Thread starter SantaC
- Start date
Patrick Klepek
furiously molesting tim burton
I kind of doubt this score is legit.
AltogetherAndrews
Member
eXxy said:
Don't
Late Stage Marxist
Member
You people and your scores
Someone from Gamefaqs transcribed the article, some highlights...
"Over the course of its 15-year existence, developer Raven Software has been pushing the boundaries. It raised the bar (orlowered it, depending on your view) for hyper realistic gore with Solider of Fortune and went where no developer had gone before with Star Trek: Elite Force - not just one of the best Trek games ever made, but also one of the best shooters released in 2000. One of its few non-shooter efforts, X-Men Legends, has become the best selling X-Men game ever. And no list of Raven winners would be complete without its collaborations with id Software, most notably the Heretic and Hexen franchises.
So why is it that Quake 4, Raven's recent teaming iwth id, plays it very, very safe? A solid shooter, it's nonetheless a throwback to a time before Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Call of Duty, and Far Cry - an era in shooters when all you needed was a big gun and an even bigger boss monster to aim it at. And unlike other Recent "retro" shooters like Painkiller and Serioius Sam, Quake 4 doesnt offer inventive level designs, unique flair, or a budget price tag.
But there is one boundary it pushes: How much you're willing to pay for a 10-hour retread campaign and bot-less Quake III-style multiplay."
"As much as it pains me to say it, there isn't a single fresh idea in Quake 4. Gameplay is a Frankenstein's monster of bits and pieces from earlier games stitched together into a serviceable lump that may satisfy lovers of pure shooting mayhem, but is all stuff we've seen many times before. Worse, the borrowed parts were moldy to begin with."
"Graphics play heavily into Quake 4's multiplayer mode, which is essentially a "Best Of" Quake II and III's multiplayer gameplay (and maps). My favorite deathmatch map of all time, "The Longest Yard", has been made-over, courtesy of the Domo 3 engine, into "The Longest Day," while "The Edge" (from QII) is now "Over the Edge" and Q3's last map, "The Very End of You", has been reimagined as "Xaero Gravity"."
"All told, there are five multiplayer modes: Deathmatch (9 maps), Team Deathmatch, Tourney (1v1ranked competitions on DM maps), CTF (5 maps), and Arena CTF. The style is pure Q3 - fast action, lots of power ups (Quad Damage, Haste) and the single-player's limp Blaster gets the boot in favor of the razor-bladed Gaunlet for humiliation kills."
It then whines for a while that there are only bots and... you'll have to find people to play with (er hello. Internet?), before concluding:
"Because those 10 hours may be filled with good, solid shooting action (albeit time-warped from 1997), but they're not the great 10 hours we've come to expect from Raven and id."
"Final Verdict:
Highs - Loads of action; gruesome visuals; Q3DM17 with Doom 3 graphics
Lows - Uninspired gameplay; Stroggification plot twist goes nowhere; no multiplayer bots.
Bottom line - This old-school shooter suffers from a lack of 21st-century game design."
"Over the course of its 15-year existence, developer Raven Software has been pushing the boundaries. It raised the bar (orlowered it, depending on your view) for hyper realistic gore with Solider of Fortune and went where no developer had gone before with Star Trek: Elite Force - not just one of the best Trek games ever made, but also one of the best shooters released in 2000. One of its few non-shooter efforts, X-Men Legends, has become the best selling X-Men game ever. And no list of Raven winners would be complete without its collaborations with id Software, most notably the Heretic and Hexen franchises.
So why is it that Quake 4, Raven's recent teaming iwth id, plays it very, very safe? A solid shooter, it's nonetheless a throwback to a time before Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Call of Duty, and Far Cry - an era in shooters when all you needed was a big gun and an even bigger boss monster to aim it at. And unlike other Recent "retro" shooters like Painkiller and Serioius Sam, Quake 4 doesnt offer inventive level designs, unique flair, or a budget price tag.
But there is one boundary it pushes: How much you're willing to pay for a 10-hour retread campaign and bot-less Quake III-style multiplay."
"As much as it pains me to say it, there isn't a single fresh idea in Quake 4. Gameplay is a Frankenstein's monster of bits and pieces from earlier games stitched together into a serviceable lump that may satisfy lovers of pure shooting mayhem, but is all stuff we've seen many times before. Worse, the borrowed parts were moldy to begin with."
"Graphics play heavily into Quake 4's multiplayer mode, which is essentially a "Best Of" Quake II and III's multiplayer gameplay (and maps). My favorite deathmatch map of all time, "The Longest Yard", has been made-over, courtesy of the Domo 3 engine, into "The Longest Day," while "The Edge" (from QII) is now "Over the Edge" and Q3's last map, "The Very End of You", has been reimagined as "Xaero Gravity"."
"All told, there are five multiplayer modes: Deathmatch (9 maps), Team Deathmatch, Tourney (1v1ranked competitions on DM maps), CTF (5 maps), and Arena CTF. The style is pure Q3 - fast action, lots of power ups (Quad Damage, Haste) and the single-player's limp Blaster gets the boot in favor of the razor-bladed Gaunlet for humiliation kills."
It then whines for a while that there are only bots and... you'll have to find people to play with (er hello. Internet?), before concluding:
"Because those 10 hours may be filled with good, solid shooting action (albeit time-warped from 1997), but they're not the great 10 hours we've come to expect from Raven and id."
"Final Verdict:
Highs - Loads of action; gruesome visuals; Q3DM17 with Doom 3 graphics
Lows - Uninspired gameplay; Stroggification plot twist goes nowhere; no multiplayer bots.
Bottom line - This old-school shooter suffers from a lack of 21st-century game design."
I wouldn't blame Raven on this too much.
I would blame the source material.
The Quake series just doesn't make an interesting single player campaign.
Plus I think Quake 4 is getting some of the backlash Doom 3 should have received.
You can't make a game online deathmatch alone these days.
I would blame the source material.
The Quake series just doesn't make an interesting single player campaign.
Plus I think Quake 4 is getting some of the backlash Doom 3 should have received.
You can't make a game online deathmatch alone these days.
Beer Monkey
Member
Quake Wars is not from Raven. Fingers crossed...
why can't we have a proper sequel to Quake 1?? That game had so much style (with a lot of Lovecraft influence)..
It seems after American McGee and John Romero, id lost most of its "style"..
I mean quake had levels called "The Crypt of Decay", "The Dismal Oubliette", "Tomb of Terror", "Satan's Dark Delight", "Chambers of Torment", "Azure Agony"..
And the end game boss was Shub-Niggurath.
It certainly helped Sandy Petersen worked on the game too.. (he's also the designer of the call of cthulhu roleplaying game..)
After Quake 1, I really hated Quake 2 and its alien crap..
It seems after American McGee and John Romero, id lost most of its "style"..
I mean quake had levels called "The Crypt of Decay", "The Dismal Oubliette", "Tomb of Terror", "Satan's Dark Delight", "Chambers of Torment", "Azure Agony"..
And the end game boss was Shub-Niggurath.
It certainly helped Sandy Petersen worked on the game too.. (he's also the designer of the call of cthulhu roleplaying game..)
After Quake 1, I really hated Quake 2 and its alien crap..
Sweedishrodeo
the smegma spreader
People really loved the Q2 mods, but man i had so many mods for Quake it was sad. Dark Hour and that Dragonball Z mod come to memory...
bee
Member
sounds bad for general overall sales and getting new people into the game but really the entire quake community couldn't care less about the single player or 1 review(which doesnt say anything bad about the multiplayer) everyone that i know still has this game on pre order and cant wait for it to ship 
bee said:sounds bad for general overall sales and getting new people into the game but really the entire quake community couldn't care less about the single player or 1 review(which doesnt say anything bad about the multiplayer) everyone that i know still has this game on pre order and cant wait for it to ship
The problem with the multiplayer is that you are essentially paying $50 for a game you already have - but with an engine update.
D2M15 said:
No, 70% means it is average. PC Gamer scores are akin to scores in high school. 70% is a C - and is average. I don't care what they say their rating score is, if you pay attention, it follows this model.
Anything above average gets an 80 or more, and exceptional games get in the 90s.
But, we also have to put it in perspective. I think there is a fanboy element in PC Gamer as well. Doom 3 scoring in the 90s was bullshit. The game got that score on underserved hype alone. Once you peeled away the pretty exterior - you were left with a very shallow game indeed.
DEO3 said:
FPSers were fresher back in the early to mid 90s. gameplay just caught up with them. id still say carmack has the ability to create beautiful engines (i think doom3/q4 look great to be honest). it was only a matter of time to where the very genre they created, would be done better by other companies down the road.
edit: im still going to check the game out and who knows..maybe ill enjoy it
dark10x said:
No and no.
Asylum, Train Station, War Base-Airport, Iced Bridge, Docks, I could go on and on. Each and every level in PK was brilliant, unique and very fun to play (excluding Venice and Babilon).
And the last level? HELL? Best level in a FPS, ever.
SS1... man, great vast levels especially the last one and the demo one.
PK levels > everything else, seriously.
Now PK addon levels are crappy and nowhere near the standard of the first game.
What's an example of good level design for you, dark?
Late Stage Marxist
Member
How is this different from any number of sports titles? I'm not saying it's for everyone, but hardcore sports fans and hardcore competitive FPS fans have a lot in common. Doesn't Unreal do this every few years?siege said:
Red Blaster
Member
Quake 1 was so much fun. I loved the *ping* noise of the grenade launcher rounds bouncing on the ground.
Teknopathetic
Member
"Doesn't Unreal do this every few years?"
In the past 6 years, there's been 3 UT games, all 3 are different enough to be different games, but similar enough for fans to feel "at home". UT2k3 is the black sheep of the bunch, as it was a pretty poor/mediocre at best game. UT2K4 expands upon UT99 in a bunch of areas, speed changes, weapon balance, movement, etc.
In the past 6 years, there's been 3 UT games, all 3 are different enough to be different games, but similar enough for fans to feel "at home". UT2k3 is the black sheep of the bunch, as it was a pretty poor/mediocre at best game. UT2K4 expands upon UT99 in a bunch of areas, speed changes, weapon balance, movement, etc.
Late Stage Marxist
Member
Ok soTeknopathetic said:
Unreal: 1 bad game out of three*
Quake: 1 potentially bad game out of four
* 2/5 if you include core Unreal games
It's not as if UT2003 was BAD, though. It's true that it was basically a massive graphics update, but it was still solid enough. UT2004 went way beyond that, though.trippingmartian said:
You could also incredible Unreal and Unreal Championship 2, which are both good (and different).
Late Stage Marxist
Member
Basically both series cater to their respective fanbase and not much more.
Teknopathetic
Member
"Quake: 1 potentially bad game out of four"
More like 1 potentially bad game, one actually bad game out of 4.
More like 1 potentially bad game, one actually bad game out of 4.
C- Warrior
Banned
Yes, this is a big sequal, and thus scores for it matter.
But in this case it's only one score. I'd wait for mulitiple opinions before the bitching/damage control starts.
But in this case it's only one score. I'd wait for mulitiple opinions before the bitching/damage control starts.
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
MentalNoiz
Member
Would you like to see Activisions Quake 4 website, well all you need is a ... credit card ? WTF .
Click on the Quake 4 logo to the left :
M-Rated Content Access Gone Overboard
Saw this @ VE3D via JediPunisher .
:lol
Click on the Quake 4 logo to the left :
M-Rated Content Access Gone Overboard
Saw this @ VE3D via JediPunisher .
:lol
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
no bots? *puke*
MentalNoiz said:
I wrote Activision telling them how ridiculous it is that they require a credit card number to view information about their games. They replied, "Go to another site. Our web site complies with the ESRB ratings and thus we have to be able to verify your age."
Stupid, stupid, stupid. There's no reason they need "mature" content to promote simple facts about the game.
Kolgar said:
And using a credit card for age verification is so reliable. I mean, no child would ever swipe a credit card from his parents when they're asleep and use it to access a website, especially when no charge would show up on the card to give them away, right?
What a bunch of idiots.
Quake 1 TF was the best FPS online game EVER!!! for me atleast, it was fast paced and overall just kicked ass.
2 lacks the fastness of 1, 3 I didnt play much, maybe once or twice.
It would be nice if they went back to how fast paced 1 was... I wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about?
2 lacks the fastness of 1, 3 I didnt play much, maybe once or twice.
It would be nice if they went back to how fast paced 1 was... I wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about?
adrockthekid
Member
Could somebody please enlighten me as to why some people get all bent out of shape about the lack of bots? Seriously -- I could give a damn. Bots are, in the common parlance, teh suck. What exactly do they add to the game? Why the hell would you play with bots when there will no doubt be a freaking billion Q4 servers full of real people to play against? You people make little sense to me.
LordMaji said:It would be nice if they went back to how fast paced 1 was... I wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about?
I found Quake III to be pretty damned fast paced. I was just playing the single player bots the other day and was quite surprised at how quickly my character was running.
Megafoo Chavez
I love EGM
every pc fps is fast paced compared to console fps's. *cough* halo 2.
going back to quake 1 now is way too fast. and has quake 4 really been pushed as some big AAA title coming soon for the pc? no, not really.
i will be getting quake 4. it's fucking quake.
going back to quake 1 now is way too fast. and has quake 4 really been pushed as some big AAA title coming soon for the pc? no, not really.
i will be getting quake 4. it's fucking quake.
If you think Quake 1 is fast (I don't, though it is faster than today's games) try Doom multiplayer. It's insane.
That said, the multiplayer video on Activision's Quake IV site looked pretty darn fast. Piqued my interest. The fucking uninspired garbage single player videos did not.
That said, the multiplayer video on Activision's Quake IV site looked pretty darn fast. Piqued my interest. The fucking uninspired garbage single player videos did not.
Totally. id has really lost its way in this former hardcore fan's eyes.jett said: