by: Dakota Grabowski

December 01, 2005

Compared to DOOM 3, Quake IV is leaps and bounds ahead of it storyline wise. I enjoyed the storyline much more than the slaughter that I endured while playing DOOM 3. There are several enemies you・ll encounter in Quake which is much more diversified than DOOM・s. There are grunts, harvesters, gunners, gladiators, berserkers, scientists and many other different variations of Strogg. I liked the variety of enemies more so than DOOM・s but it pales in comparison to games like Half-Life 2, Chronicles of Riddick and even Halo 2. Quake IV has nothing on those three games in terms of story but everyone should know that Quake is usually a multiplayer oriented title.

The level design is similar to DOOM 3. What・s change a bit is that not all the levels are dark corridors that repeat themselves. You・ll be thrown into small trench warfare, gigantic outside worlds to battle in and even some lighted scientist labs to duke it out in. You・ll recognize the armor and health system that is reused in Quake IV from DOOM 3. I hate comparing the two but Quake IV is essentially what I expected from DOOM 3.



It will take an estimated twelve hours to complete which is one beefy single-player experience. Normally, FPSs as of late range from 6-10 hours and Quake IV antes it up a little. While not amazingly hard, you may want to increase the difficulty to Lieutenant right away. There is health packs scattered all throughout the levels along with armor to keep your health bar rejuvenated at all moments. If that isn・t enough, just make sure to have your squad mates still alive and the medic will inject you with some serum to help you recover.

That・s right, the squad based action is superb. They・ll die without you ever noticing at times. When they die, you・ll be praying for more to come to your aide later on in the mission as they do provide cover fire, medics to give you health, and even demolitions groups help out. What is lacking though is the ability to give your squad any commands. If they could have used the microphone to give voice commands or simple ．D-pad button・ commands, that would have given the game much more depth it direly needed by the last few levels.