Pick up and play
You’ll experience familiar weapons throughout the game, a pistol, machinegun, shotgun, nail gun, hyperblaster, rocket launcher, lightning gun and grenade launcher all appear in this version. There is also a new BFG replacement, the Dark Matter gun. This gun discharges what can only be described as a black hole. Once you have hit an enemy the hole passes through them, and then sucks them backward into it. It’s a powerful weapon, although it does have long loading times. Some of the weapons have a built-in flashlight which enables you to navigate those dark corridors.
You start the game with the pistol, which doesn’t pack any punch at all, but you’ll soon pick up the machine gun, which has a handy zoom facility and the aforementioned flashlight. Throughout the game you’ll have the opportunity to upgrade your weapons, with double clips, larger clips, rapid-fire add-ons and even a homing device for your nailgun. Aside from the pistol, the weapons in Quake IV are powerful and exciting to use. They handle well and make a terrific noise over your surround sound.
Click for larger imageAlongside ground battles Quake IV now allows you to jump in vehicles, including a light armoured tank, and the cockpit of a mech. These sequences aren’t particularly challenging at Corporal level, but do break up the repetitiveness of the firefights.
The pace of the game is consistent, the action doesn’t pause very often and you’ll constantly find yourself on edge waiting for the next Strogg assault. The linear nature of the game makes objectives fairly easy to complete, near the end of your first mission you’ll have to return back to the beginning to collect a medic, then bring him back to your team-mates. It’s a simple premise, littered with attacking foe as you navigate the techno-industrial environment. It won’t test the brain cells but does make Quake IV a great pick up and play game.
Click for larger imageThese environments, seen throughout the Quake series, still look great, but these graphically superb backdrops are so similar to Doom 3 it’s uncanny. Metal railings, machinery and pipes gleam and twinkle, the light shading effects are superb. An example of the light shading effects immediately come into play, whilst creeping around the dark sewer-type tunnels, the sounds and graphics combined add to the feeling of intrepidation and downright spookiness.