Quake 4
First impressions:
I was so excited when I picked this game up on the day it came out; I was really expecting great times out of this game. But after I installed it and played through the first few maps of the single player I was unimpressed. I was really let down by the fact that the game play was the same as every other shooter and the variety just wasn't there. The AI of my computer generated squad mates was pretty decent but the enemy AI was just too predictable. So I ended up shelving this game for about a month.
After spending a lot of time playing Age of Empires III and F.E.A.R. I thought it was time to change things up a bit and give Quake 4 another shot. I'm very glad I did, as it turns out I just didn't play through the game enough to get to the good parts. Watching the huge drop ship land was just awesome and then things started getting exciting. Things just seemed to just get really intense in the game from then on. From riding in the gunner position on the truck, to manning a tank, to storming several Strog facilities with my squad mates. Oh and one word of advice: don't get too attached to any of your squad mates because they usually will end up dead sooner or later.
Overall atmosphere and level design of the game:
Raven really didn't do anything revolutionary in this category, they just did it right. This game reminded me a lot of the movie Aliens, with its very dark atmosphere as you roam from facility to facility. As you travel through the game you and your squad mates are given different tasks to complete such as escort this convoy and take out this key building and so on and so on. It may sound monotonous but each mission is always action packed with plenty of enemies to kill.
As you make your journey across the Strog planet from facility to facility there is a constant battle going on all around you. This was very well done and you constantly see bombardments rain down on the planet, fighters' dog fighting and crashing to the ground in front of you and watching tanks and your squad mates get blown up. Because of this you have a sense of feeling very small and just another soldier, nothing special and I really like that.
One thing I really didn't like (I find this to be true with almost all games) is that there are no alternate ways to go in the game, there's no freedom to choose a different route to complete a particular mission. Because of this I find myself occasionally getting bored of the game and putting it down. Today's gamers require verity and replay ability. Game makers nowadays need to be aware that this is a problem and correct it.
Graphics and visual quality:
The graphics are nice in this game, not great, not awesome, just nice. Raven used the same engine that was used for Doom3 a year ago. These graphics are awesome for a game that came out a year ago but are pretty average for today's standards. These graphics I consider to be acceptable though and they do a great job for setting the mood for the game. And of course the lighting effects are awesome (one thing Half Life 2 didn't have) and really did a great job of creating a very dark and depressing environment.
The visual quality in this game is pretty good. I'm glad to see that they decided to use a lot of computer monitors like the ones in Doom3. These monitors are very cool because they display different animations and videos as you come across them in the game. Another thing I liked is that there are several very detailed pieces of machinery making the environment come alive.
Game play and AI:
There is nothing really special to talk about here. The enemies are very predictable and pretty bland. Now don't get me wrong there a lot of enemies to shoot at and you need to be on your toes and conserve your ammo, your going to need it. This is a game that is very high energy and fast paced and keeps things fun and exciting. After playing Half life 2 and F.E.A.R. you cant help but expect other companys to follow suit as well and implement some decent AI. I definitely feel that they could have worked on this a little more.
Sound and music:
The sound and music quality in this game are great and I couldn't expect more. The music seems to que at key points to keep the scary factor on. The gunshots and explsoions sound awesome. this game sounded great on my 5.1 speaker setup and I feel it makes the game seem very real and life like. And the acting voice overs are done quite well and its good to see that Raven put the extra buck into some good quality actors to carry out their story.
I wish i had good things to talk about here but i just dont. Its like they totally forgot about multiplayer until the very end or something cause it just came out so bad. There are only 5 modes of play: Death match, Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, Tournament, and Arena Captuer the Flag. Makes me wanna yawn. To make matters worse they decided to not include all the cool vehicles you get to pilot in the single player to the multiplayer. One more gripe when you try to connect to an internet server and you fail it sends you back to the main menu of the game so in order to connect to a new internet server you have to bring up all the internet servers again. VERY LAME!!
