More Strogg than Strogg

Category : entertainment + games + quake + review

Well, I bought a game I told myself I’d never purchase. But I went ahead and bought it anyway considering it was cheap and everyone kept telling me the single player campaign was pretty good. Not to mention I finally have a graphics card which can actually run it. I now concede that Quake 4 is all that and then some as far as the single player game is concerned. In fact, it’s absolutely awesome!

Being one who enjoys most multi-player titles along with a well balanced single-player aspect, Raven appears to have pulled out all the stops by seemlessly blending the puzzle and combat action in Quake 4. If you’re familiar with the good old and confusing puzzles where you’re left asking “what the hell do I do now?!” ala Hexen or Heretic, there’s many of these moments and then some. Not rediculous physics based puzzles but more along the lines of “what do I have to blow up next to keep going?!” type of puzzles.

But what suprised me even more were the sizes of enemies you encounter, from small to extremely ginormous and a real chore to take down. While getting my ass handed to me on an easy setting was actually fun, I began to learn that the game appears to ramp up the difficulty with each checkpoint you pass. Sure you might start on easy, but don’t expect the game to stay at that setting as you move further along. It’s either that, or I make for a grade-A frag magnet for Quake 4 NPCs.

Sadly, the multi-player is a big disappointment. Having played my fair share of Quake 3 and seeing that much of the multi-player are Quake 3 redux maps it still doesn’t quite come up to par. Sure everything looks pretty, but game-wise and timing seems very far off. The Dead Zone mode is laughable at best, it’s not something I’d play but if you’re curious go for it. Personally I hope that Enemy Territory: Quake Wars makes up for Quake 4’s weak multi-player. And I seriously hope that Quake Wars multi-player doesn’t stem from Quake 4’s lack there-of, but that’s just me.

Forget the vistas or player fatigue the pause button was created for a purpose, players want the action and a challenge not a pretty looking rest area. But that’s this player speaking for himself. If I had to choose between a continuation of Quake 4 and one of the next Half-Life 2 episodes, I think that for a single player fix it might have to be Quake. Mainly because it seems to actually deliver the kind of action you would want given the type of weapons you’re carrying. That and grenades actually blow things to shreds instead of sending the ragdoll flying.

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