Introduction

Quake IV picks up right where Quake II left off. This is good because Quake III was just multiplayer, and had no storyline whatsoever. The Strogg Makron has been killed by a marine, and now the real invasion can begin. You are a marine who is on one of the first drop-ships to hit the planet.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics in this game are amazing. The characters look almost life-like. The lighting is incredible. Several times during the game, you will be fighting in the dark, with your flashlight, and your squads flashlights all intersecting and reflecting. Beyond the models and the lighting, the actual environments look real as well. The only area where the graphics weren?t that great were with the skyboxes, it was fairly obvious that they weren?t rendered by the game. However, I will not take away points for that, because there isn?t a computer out there yet that could render distances that great.

Gameplay 15/20

The gameplay is similar to every other first person shooter out there, with a couple slight changes. First off, there is no use button. Instead, when you move your crosshair over something that is usable, it changes into a hand, and you can then manipulate the object. It can be frustrating when you are trying to shoot at something, but overall it is ok. The level designs are decent, and look great. Some of the strogg base is also somewhat creepy, but that is what the designers intended. The mission itself boils down to fight to one spot, escort a guy, or blow up something. There are a couple vehicle scenes as well, but they weren?t that much fun. As for replay, I don?t think that there is that much to replay, unless you want to play a harder difficulty level. Multiplayer is much like Quake 3?s multiplayer. For those of you who hate Doom 3?s way of handling flashlights, this is a bit better. 2 weapons, the machine gun, and the blaster have a flashlight built in. Other than those, however, and you are in the dark.

Weapons

The weapons in this are entertaining. You have the typical machine gun and shotgun, along with more esoteric weapons, like nailguns (not the Ryobi type) and lightening cannons (not like UT2K4?s) The ?killer? weapon in this is supposed to be the dark matter gun, but it really isn?t that special. I would much rather have the BFG9000 from Quake 2. :-) Also, most of the weapons get upgrades later in the game, such as guided nails, and larger clips. These are vital in some of the fights.

Enemies

There are only a couple enemies, but they are pretty well done. There are the typical grunts, who run around with guns, along with berserkers (watch their lightening bolts), and giant robo-spiders, and a couple types of zombies. Only a couple of the monsters were actually dangerous, but those that are, watch out. The medic/biotech guys can drug you so that you can?t see very well, and any time you get hit by a melee attack, your vision clouds over, and things get blurry for a few seconds. I recommend keeping your distance from stuff. :)

Sound 9/10

The sound is decent, though some of the weapons don?t have much oomph to them.

Stability 5/5

The game is perfectly stable. No crashes for me whatsoever.

Controls 5/5

Yep, wasd, and it can be configured to whatever you want.

Appropriateness

This is where the game falls apart, if you have a weak stomach, young kids, or parents. :) Blood is a given, and is everywhere. If you hit an enemy, there is a blood sprite attached where you hit them, along with the wall and floor behind them. You can bisect some things with a rocket-launcher or other explosives. One part of the game involves over-feeding a monster so that its insides explode throughout a room. Strogg use a lot of bio-tech, so in there bio-tech rooms, there is blood, and left over body parts lying everywhere. Also, the walls are generally covered with decapitated and dismembered human torsos which are wired into the computers. There is also another portion of the game where you see some humans getting their legs sawed off, and the stomach ripped open. Fortunately, it is pretty obvious when that part happens, and it is in a cutscene, so you can just hit space to skip it. Some parts of the game I went through *very* quickly. :) As for language, the s word is used a couple of times as is the d word. The f word is used once near the beginning of the game. I don?t recall God?s name being used in vain though.

Conclusion

This was an entertaining game, though they went overboard on the blood and gore. Sadly, there was no option to disable it. If you can handle the blood and language, you will enjoy this game. The special edition, which I played, includes Quake 2 with both of its expansions.

Overall score = 81.5%