Cheat Index - Quake 4 Computer Review

As someone who's been playing id software games since the Wolfenstein 3D days, it's been intriguing to watch shooters go from genre diversion to one of the most compelling reasons to play games on a computer. With companies like Epic, DICE, and Valve in the mix, we've been spoiled with a wide spectrum, from awesome single-player, huge multiplayer battles, and last-man-standing tournaments. And with players actually competing for money these days -- some of them earning enough to avoid having to actually work for a living -- the FPS has become a force to be reckoned with. Id Software has been there the whole time, particularly in multiplayer. For Quake 4, they handed the reins to Raven, who themselves have worked with id and its engines for over ten years now. These guys are no slouches, and the production values of Quake 4 prove this beyond a doubt. The game has a good share of "gee whiz" moments, with huge monsters, huge explosions, and huge vistas. You'll see some things that Doom 3 didn't indicate its engine was capable of -- some of which we saw in the Prey E3 demo video. And multiplayer has that same feel we've come to know from Quake: hectic, chunky, and bombastic. However, in the long run, the game is not quite what we've come to expect.

Unlike previous installments, single-player is there in a big way, with a winding plot, a cast of characters voiced by Hollywood actors, objective-based gameplay, light squad tactics, and countless set pieces. In fact, so much effort was put into the single-player presentation that the amount of multiplayer seems to have suffered as a result. For one reason or another, the franchise's priorities have zigged instead of zagged, and what we have now is MP maps with a 16-player cap, with only the Tournament Mode distinguishing it from the usual setup of deathmatch, team deathmatch and CTF.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Quake 4 story picks up where Quake 2 left off, with the Space Marines fighting the Strogg, this time on the enemy's home planet, Stroggos. You'll take the role of Corporal Kane as the Marines attempt to basically annihilating their Borg-like nemesis. You'll crash land in the middle of trench warfare, and it's off to the races as one superior officer after another sends you off to retrieve people, destroy key locations, and infiltrate deep behind enemy lines. Sometimes you'll be accompanied by game-controlled team members -- typically a technical officer who can repair your armor, and/or a corpsman who can heal you up to full health.

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