Quake 4....

This is not so much a review as it is just my impressions of the game.

I've been playing Quake 4 lately having completed Prey (I'm also playing Prey on Cherokee difficulty although I sort of feel like waiting until I get a new computer to play it again). Some people have said to me in the forums that even though my computer did ok in the demo that the full version might not run so well. However having played through quite a bit of the single player campaign in the full version on my computer I find the performance to be pretty much the same as in the demo even in the vehicle levels where you pilot tanks or mechs.

My impression of the game is that it's your standard run of the mill sci-fi military FPS game but it is an improvement over Quake 2 which it is a direct sequel to. Quake 3 wasn't really a sequel to Quake 2 it was more like a side game just for multiplayer. In my opinion Prey had a better storyline.. characters that I enjoyed more and more innovations brought to the table than Quake 4 has. However there are still things in Quake 4 that I like and they even managed to squeeze in a few things that are reminiscent of Quake 1 such as water areas with zombies a nail gun and a lightning gun. Then it has some things carried over from Quake 2 obviously like weapons such as the "hyperblaster" and the "Rail Gun" and of course the storyline and most of the monsters.

I do like how things that where just hinted at in previous Quakes or where cut down are explored more in Quake 4. For example in Quake 2 you start off in a drop pod having just crashed into a Strogg building and in Quake 4 there is a similar sequence but you get to go for the whole ride and see what it's like as the pod is plunging through several Strogg buildings causing havoc in its wake.

I have beaten all the previous Quake games and I would like to add a Quake 4 notch to my virtual belt.

One other thing I noticed about Quake 4 is how colorful it is because of the lighting. Quake 2 was the first FPS on the computer to feature colored lighting and Quake 4 takes this to the next level. Sometimes they went a bit overboard with the colored lighting as some areas look very pink or light green to a degree that some people would think it's sickening. Or the different colored lights almost make it look like some kind of sci-fi techno rave but most of the time it simply makes it look like it's the sequel to Quake 2 which it should.

Some people might take offense to this but even though Quake 4 is a standard run of the mill sci-fi FPS I still liked it more than Halo. I felt like Halo was even more standard and mediocre than Quake 4 is. Some people might confuse that with me saying it's crap but that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying Halo is somewhere between bad and fantastic and so is Quake 4 but it's a bit higher than Halo in my opinion. Prey in my opinion is close to fantastic.

One reason why I say this is because Prey kept me compelled to play all the way through the end and then come back to play it again at a higher difficulty level. I've beaten Prey twice this month once on easy and once on normal. After a while playing Halo started feeling like a chore.. so I haven't beaten it even though I have had it for a long time already. Quake 4 is still compelling me to keep playing but not as much as Prey did.

Quake 4....

This is not so much a review as it is just my impressions of the game.

I've been playing Quake 4 lately having completed Prey (I'm also playing Prey on Cherokee difficulty although I sort of feel like waiting until I get a new computer to play it again). Some people have said to me in the forums that even though my computer did ok in the demo that the full version might not run so well. However having played through quite a bit of the single player campaign in the full version on my computer I find the performance to be pretty much the same as in the demo even in the vehicle levels where you pilot tanks or mechs.

My impression of the game is that it's your standard run of the mill sci-fi military FPS game but it is an improvement over Quake 2 which it is a direct sequel to. Quake 3 wasn't really a sequel to Quake 2 it was more like a side game just for multiplayer. In my opinion Prey had a better storyline.. characters that I enjoyed more and more innovations brought to the table than Quake 4 has. However there are still things in Quake 4 that I like and they even managed to squeeze in a few things that are reminiscent of Quake 1 such as water areas with zombies a nail gun and a lightning gun. Then it has some things carried over from Quake 2 obviously like weapons such as the "hyperblaster" and the "Rail Gun" and of course the storyline and most of the monsters.

I do like how things that where just hinted at in previous Quakes or where cut down are explored more in Quake 4. For example in Quake 2 you start off in a drop pod having just crashed into a Strogg building and in Quake 4 there is a similar sequence but you get to go for the whole ride and see what it's like as the pod is plunging through several Strogg buildings causing havoc in its wake.

I have beaten all the previous Quake games and I would like to add a Quake 4 notch to my virtual belt.

One other thing I noticed about Quake 4 is how colorful it is because of the lighting. Quake 2 was the first FPS on the computer to feature colored lighting and Quake 4 takes this to the next level. Sometimes they went a bit overboard with the colored lighting as some areas look very pink or light green to a degree that some people would think it's sickening. Or the different colored lights almost make it look like some kind of sci-fi techno rave but most of the time it simply makes it look like it's the sequel to Quake 2 which it should.

Some people might take offense to this but even though Quake 4 is a standard run of the mill sci-fi FPS I still liked it more than Halo. I felt like Halo was even more standard and mediocre than Quake 4 is. Some people might confuse that with me saying it's crap but that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying Halo is somewhere between bad and fantastic and so is Quake 4 but it's a bit higher than Halo in my opinion. Prey in my opinion is close to fantastic.

One reason why I say this is because Prey kept me compelled to play all the way through the end and then come back to play it again at a higher difficulty level. I've beaten Prey twice this month once on easy and once on normal. After a while playing Halo started feeling like a chore.. so I haven't beaten it even though I have had it for a long time already. Quake 4 is still compelling me to keep playing but not as much as Prey did.