Quake 4

Although there may be times throughout the game where you will feel as though things are getting repetitive and drawn out, the play gets changed up at the right times and gives you a refreshing perspective to keep you going.

An addiction, a perfect sequel, both in story and gameplay, and a game you will want to explore over and over.

Quake 4 just screams its superiority over other first person shooters.

I had a ton of fun playing Quake 4, and while the game started off kind of slow, it picked up quickly and wound up being a solid, action-packed experience without the dreaded "realistic" limitations on combat that so many recent games put on the player.

Quake 4 really delivered on all fronts for me in terms of purely frenetic gameplay. I jumped at the cutscenes, I cried out expletives when I was getting owned by the Strogg, I gasped when the storyline took a major plot twist, and I was moved by the stunningly beautiful graphics.

Quake 4 is not pretentious. It's a hardcore shooter in which you don't have to be a hardcore gamer to experience.

The game’s single-player mode is fantastic, effectively using the Doom 3 engine to make a game of its own. It really showcases the engine well and shows its versatility.

Quake IV shows no mercy.

The multiplayer action is fast-paced and furious, just like Quake multiplayer should be and the single-player campaign feels just like it should, even if it is linear.

If you’re looking for a classic-style FPS with gorgeous visuals, Quake 4 is your cup of tea.

Quake 4 is fun. It’s not the evolutionary or revolutionary kind of fun, but it’s kind of old school FPS fun that the Quake series helped usher into the gaming world.

Quake 4 is everything that fans loved about Quake 2 and 3 in one package, providing an engaging single-player story and chaotic high-flying multiplayer.

A great extension of the "Quake 2" storyline. While there are certainly flaws in the single player and multiplayer, the game’s fantastic visuals and engaging storyline make it a worthy addition.

From a technical standpoint, Quake 4 exceeds all expectations, especially in multiplayer. Considering the game’s excellent performance on even the most modest rigs, cumulated with the traditional gameplay and countless modding options, I have no doubt that Quake 4 is here to stay.

Old-school FPS fans and gamers looking to get back to the roots of online fragathons will undoubtedly find a lot to love in Quake IV, and the game has perhaps fewer flaws than any I've ever reviewed. [Nov 2005, p.168]

Linear levels and some suspect AI (mobs that run at you until either they or you are dead) detract a bit from the game, but the controls are intuitive and there is a diverse amount of weapons and vehicles you can use to liven up the game. The pacing is great.

Games this good are extremely rare things, and as such they should be applauded. [Dec 2005 p.80]

Basically, Quake 4 took the ball that "Doom 3" started carrying and runs with it in a different direction, one that, for the most part, vastly outshines the original bearer of the engine.

Yes, Quake 4 delivers some incredible action to tie everything together, but the campaign gameplay is guilty of being slightly formulaic at times. [Nov 2005, p.104]

The single player campaign uses the old school twitch shooter style that is still enjoyable, but gets repetitive and is ultimately unsatisfying in these days of more sophisticated shooters.

Quake 4 just isn't notably better than "Quake III" in multiplayer, while having the single worst server browser known to man.

A pleasant surprise. Since I never liked Quakes' hyperactive online play, I am quite satisfied with the entertaining single player campaign. [Nov 2005]

By all means, enjoy the single-player game, marvel at its visuals, groan at its clichés and enjoy its firefights. However, I can guarantee that six months from now, as you fly through the air firing rockets and screaming in rage in an attempt to take out that railgunning bastard who's just fried your brains five times in quick succession - while all around bodies explode into a thousand blood-caked giblets - you'll have forgotten all about it. [PC Zone]

New world graphics and old world gameplay.

Probably the best example of an old-school shooter. It does all of the old tricks just right and adds a bit of spice for good measure, but gamers looking for a fresh experience will be left a little cold.

Quake 4 brings an engaging single-player challenge with a refresh of some of the genre’s most popular online play. Still, this is an incremental step, not a leap in design.

In terms of multiplayer, we’re still trying to figure out what went wrong in that process, because Quake III ruled in that department.

There's a lot of shiny wrapping, but the gift inside is disappointingly small. If there had been a vehicle-based mode with only one map, I think things could have been much different.

Quake 4 places more emphasis on its single-player campaign, and in so doing has slightly neglected its multiplayer aspects.

I'm not happy with the online gaming, and watching it chunk-a-chunk on my screen at 640x480 isn't good either. But there is enough fun in the gameplay and the story is deep enough to keep you coming back.

Voice overs are (thankfully) done by actors who sound like they give a damn. Music is well done and used sparingly as environmental clues when some pivotal plot point is about to occur or to punctuate dramatic moments like the start of a boss battle.

But for all its fire and flash pyrotechnics and soulless premise and execution, there's a delightful source of naiveté powering the proceedings here -- like a raw, juvenile fantasy torn straight out of the id and slopped wholesale onto our PCs. [*Single-Player review]

A fantastic-looking game with a great single-player campaign. The multiplayer, however, is underwhelming.

Raven Software pushed the envelope with the amazing shadow effects in "Doom 3," but unfortunately Quake 4 lacks that same degree of pixel-shader pizzazz outdoors. From the blocky sky box to the drab terrain and buildings, the exterior details pale in comparison to the atmospherically cramped interior spaces.

While both halves of this schizophrenic shooter play very differently, they share many of the same general qualities: they're solid, immersive, and pretty, but suffer from a severe lack of originality.

The problem with Quake 4 is that, for the most part, the single player mode suffers from the same simplicity as "Doom 3" - random shooting through a maze of "appeasing-at-first, but-boring-after-the-100th-time" environments.

If fast-paced twitch-styled shooters are your thing, you won't currently find a better game in the genre; however, this Quake 4 lacks that certain depth that you'll find in inherently better FPS games like "Half-Life 2" and "Far Cry."

Quake 4 has set-pieces to knock your jaw off, provides flawless, timeless multiplayer and the Doom 3 engine does the business with the graphics, but the lack variety means the earth won't quite move for you. [GamesMaster]

Call it 2005's answer to "Unreal 2," another game that mashed together a ton of solid sci-fi shooting but never gelled into anything particularly groundbreaking or memorable.

Undeniably a better game then "Doom 3" however as a single-player experience it’s hard to justify against "Half Life 2" and more recently "F.E.A.R." It’s everything you’d expect if you’re a fan of id, however there’s little doubt that you’re left asking for a little bit more.

Good-but-unremarkable, lacking any significant problems, but equally any real innovation.

This game's focus is its singleplayer campaign, and it's an involving, dynamic, astonishing-looking 12-15 hour bloodbath. A good, old-fashioned bloodbath. [Dec 2005, p.94]

It's a little bit difficult to forgive lackluster multiplayer, especially since the single-player will eventually come to an end, leaving only it to carry the game through.

The engine has been put to good use and is a testament to id's engine development skill leaving an intense single-player Quake experience and Quake III's multiplayer only prettier.

Kane and the battle against the Strogg are handled nicely, and there's enough direction placed in the story to accurately host an expansion pack (which you can probably bet will be on its way next year).

The single-player may have all the visual trickery and neat little scripted sequences, but in terms of sheer heart-pounding action, the multiplayer wins hands down. [Dec 2005]

The addition of vehicles to the series is a nice touch even if they are a little too cumbersome to control.

Quake 4 delivers fast, brutal shooting action, and it looks good doing it. Sometimes, that’s all that’s necessary.

Although there are multiplayer options included, just as with Doom 3, you can tell that the focus was definitely on the single player aspect of the game. While the storyline isn't exactly gripping, the gameplay is.

Quake 4 is a fun game to play. The action is beautiful and fast paced, and Raven did a great job creating a foreboding atmosphere. However, it does not belong in the current FPS upper echelon.

Raven took all the good things first person shooters have been doing since Half-Life and Unreal...it works--sort of--but the end result is a bit messy nonetheless.

A no-nonsense, old style first-person shooter – shoot first, think later. In that sense, it's brilliant fun. However, expect any more and you should prepare to be disappointed.

While not the amazing experience we were all expecting, Quake 4 is a worthy successor to the Quake franchise.

Seems comfortable to rest squarely in the warm embrace of the genre that id pioneered a decade ago. Certainly, that’s not a bad place to be.

This old-school shooter suffers from a lack of 21st-century game design. [Nov 2005, p.72]

Feels like an uninspired, by-the-numbers sci-fi B-movie of a game with high production values. It's 'fun', for the nine, ten hours it lasts, but only in the same brainless sense that allows us to enjoy dumb popcorn action movies.

For both better and worse, Quake IV parties like it's still 1999. [Jan 2006, p.40]

Breaks no ground, but good old-school stuff with amazing graphics. [Jan 2005, p.100]

As far as the multiplayer goes, it's nothing much more than Quake 3 with a fresh slap of paint, which is probably the biggest disappointment of all.

The result is more sad than monstrous, a beast you’ll put down not with hate, but pity. You’d be far better served dipping into the likes of F.E.A.R. than treading down this overgrown path again.