Quake 4 is the fourth title in the series of
QuakeThe Quake series is a line of first person shooter computer and video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently: the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its...
first-person shooterFirst-person shooter is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- and projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits...
computer games. The game was developed by
Raven SoftwareRaven Software is an American video game developer.The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them....
and
distributedA distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. and introduced in the...
by
ActivisionActivision, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles. Its first products were cartridges for the Atari 2600...
. Raven Software has collaborated with
id Softwareid Software is an American video game development company from Mesquite, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
, the creators and historical developers of preceding
Quake games. In this case, id Software supervised the development of the game as well as providing the Doom 3 engine, now referred to as 'id Tech 4', upon which it was built.
Quake 4 went gold in early October 2005 and was released on October 18, 2005 for the PC, and later for the
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
and the Apple Macintosh. A special
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
Collectors Edition also exists, including promotional material and the game
Quake IIQuake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to id's difficulties in acquiring a trademark for alternative titles.The soundtrack for...
with its expansions,
The Reckoning and
Ground Zero. The Xbox 360 version of
Quake 4 is based on the Special Collectors Edition, and therefore also includes
Quake II.
Plotwise, the game is a sequel to
Quake IIQuake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to id's difficulties in acquiring a trademark for alternative titles.The soundtrack for...
and takes place during the same war as
Enemy Territory: Quake WarsEnemy Territory: Quake Wars is a first-person shooter video game, and is the follow-up to Quake 4. However, it is set in the same science fiction universe as Quake II and Quake 4, with a minimal back-story serving as a prequel to Quake II. It is the second multiplayer-focused game in the Quake...
. However,
Quake II,
Quake 4, and
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars do not share story lines with
QuakeQuake is a first-person shooter video game that was released by id Software on June 22, 1996. It was the first game in the popular Quake series of video games....
or
Quake III ArenaQuake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter computer and video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
; their only relation is their names and logos. Compared to other titles in the
Quake series,
Quake 4 has an increased emphasis on the single-player portion of the game, however Quake 4 has a multiplayer mode as well.
Story
The
Quake 4 single player mode continues the story of
Quake IIQuake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to id's difficulties in acquiring a trademark for alternative titles.The soundtrack for...
by pitting the player against a
cyborgA cyborg is a cybernetic organism . The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
alienIn popular cultures, life forms —especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin, i.e. not coming from the Earth are referred to collectively as aliens....
race known as the Strogg. The game follows the story of a marine named Matthew Kane who is a member of the fabled Rhino
SquadIn military terminology, a squad is a small military unit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition this organization is referred to as a section...
. Following the success of the protagonist of
Quake II in destroying the Strogg's leader, the Makron, the Rhinos are tasked with spearheading the mission to finally secure the aliens' home planet Stroggos. In the course of the invasion, the squad ship is shot down and crashes in the middle of a battle zone, separating Kane from his companions. Kane eventually rejoins his scattered team members and partakes in the assault against the Strogg.
After performing a number of tasks, such as destroying and capturing Strogg aircraft hangars and defense systems, Kane and his remaining squad members make it to the
USS Hannibal. There they are given their next mission: infiltrating one of the Strogg's central communication hubs, the Tetranode, with an
electromagnetic pulseThe term electromagnetic pulse has the following meanings:# A burst of electromagnetic radiation from an explosion or a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field. The resulting electric and magnetic fields may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage...
bomb in the hope that it will put the main Strogg
NexusA nexus is a connection or the centre of something. Nexus may refer to:- In organizations :* NEXUS International Broadcasting Association, a non-profit association of broadcasters and producers...
in disarray. Kane is tasked with defending the mission convoy, which takes heavy casualties. After many setbacks, including the destruction of the EMP device by a Strogg ambush, Kane is left to complete the mission, assisted only by
PrivateA Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank . The term dates from the Middle Ages, where privates were known as "private soldiers" who were either hired, conscripted, or feudalized into service by a nobleman forming an army...
Johann Strauss and
Lance CorporalLance Corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of Corporal, and is typically the lowest Non-commissioned officer, usually equivalent to the NATO Rank Grade OR-3.- Etymology :The presumed...
Nikolai "Sledge" Slidjonovitch. Strauss figures out a way to destroy the core by shutting down its coolant systems. As Kane reaches the entrance to the Tetranode, however, he is greeted by two rocket-equipped network guardians - as well as the newly constructed Makron. The Makron easily defeats Kane and knocks him unconscious.
When Kane finally awakens, he finds himself strapped to a conveyor belt in the Strogg "Medical Facilities", a structure used for turning those captured and killed by the aliens either into protein food or additional Strogg units. In a long and gruesome first-person cutscene, Kane is taken through this
stroggification process which violently replaces much of his anatomy with bio-mechanical parts. Before the final controlling
neurochipA neurochip is a chip that is designed for the interaction with neuronal cells.- Formation :It is made of silicon that is doped in such a way, that it contains EOSFETs that can sense the electrical activity of the neurons in the above-standing physiological electrolyte solution...
implanted in his brain can be activated, though, Rhino Squad bursts into the facility and rescues Kane. After escaping through the Strogg medical facility and Waste Disposal plant, fighting off zombie-like half-stroggified humans along the way, Kane is forced to combat his former commander,
LieutenantLieutenant is a military, naval, paramilitary, fire service, emergency medical services or police officer rank....
Voss, who has been fully stroggified into a powerful mechanized monster. (Voss nevertheless retains his own consciousness long enough to warn Kane.) After defeating this threat, Kane and the remaining marines finally make it back to the
Hannibal.
The commanders realize that Kane's Strogg physiology has opened up new possibilities for defeating the Strogg, as he can be used to infiltrate locations previously impenetrable to human forces. The new plan is to directly target the Strogg Nexus Core, a huge centralized
brain-likeThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as jellyfish and starfish have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all...
structure which controls the alien forces. Rhino and Raven Squads are tasked with infiltrating the three data processing towers adjacent to the Nexus, a huge data storage and processing tower. There, they will deactivate the Nexus's shield and power up the teleporter used to access the Nexus and send Kane in. Once inside, Kane will travel to the center of the Nexus to destroy the Core Brain and its guardian.
After infiltrating the facility and realigning the data nodes powering the teleporter, and destroying its fearsome "Guardian" creature, Kane finally reaches the Nexus core. There he meets the Makron in a final showdown and kills it. This done, he destroys the Core and returns to the
Hannibal.
Celebrating with Rhino Squad afterward, Kane receives word that he has new orders.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer modes are
DeathmatchDeathmatch is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games. The goal of a deathmatch game is to kill as many other players as possible until a certain condition or limit is reached, commonly being a frag limit or time limit...
, Team Deathmatch, Tourney,
Capture the FlagCapture the flag is a traditional outdoor sport often played by children or sometimes adults where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base", and bring it safely back to their own base...
, Arena CTF and DeadZone. Players at
QuakeConQuakeCon is a bring-your-own-computer computer gaming event with a competitive tournament held every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event, which is named after id Software's game Quake, sees thousands of gamers from all over the world attend every year to celebrate the company's gaming dynasty...
reported the multiplayer gameplay to include elements similar to those in previous
Quake games such as
Strafe-jumpingStrafe-jumping is a form of trickjump used to increase a player's speed in computer games based on the Quake engine and now the Doom 3 engine. The technique is common in Half-Life 2, QuakeWorld, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Quake 4, QuakeLive, Cube, Jedi Knight II, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi...
or
Rocket jumpingIn first-person shooter computer and video games, rocket jumping is the technique of pointing a rocket launcher or other similar explosive weapon at the ground or at a wall then firing and jumping at the same time. The rocket's explosion propels the player to large heights and distances, reaching...
. Notable new additions to play are the ability to send shots through the
teleportersTeleportation is supposed to be the transfer of matter from one point to another, more or less instantaneously, either by paranormal means or through technological means. Teleportation has been widely utilized in works of science fiction...
and the advancement of the game physics provided by the new technology including the ability to bounce grenades and napalm fire off of jump-pads.
Like the previous
Quake games the multiplayer has a client-server architecture. The network code has been altered from
Doom 3, allowing for larger numbers of players on each server (
Doom 3 has a four player restriction, whereas
Quake 4 has a standard 16 player limit). One of the changes to the network code is a move from the per-polygon hit detection system used in
Doom 3 back to using hit-box system like most other online first-person shooters such as other
Quake games and
Half-LifeHalf-Life is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game series which consists of two full games, three episodic games, and three third-party made expansions, as well as a number of demos featuring exclusive content. The series has been ongoing since 1998...
.
Movement
The movement of Quake 4 is similar to Quake 3 and
Quake LiveQuake Live is a FPS video game by id Software designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X or Linux that is downloaded and launched via a web browser plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena...
, but with the additions of ramp jumping, which allows players to gain extra height from jumping off of inclined objects, as well as crouch slides, which gives players the ability to maintain speed by sliding around corners.
Critical response
Reviews of the game were generally favorable for the
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
version of the game, with game databases
MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
and
MobyGamesMobyGames is a website which catalogs computer and video games, both past and present. The site contains an extensive database of video game information...
giving the game aggregate review scores of 79/100 and 81/100 respectively. Websites and magazines such as
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
and
UGOUGO Entertainment is a website providing coverage of online media in entertainment targeting males age 18-34. The company is currently based in New York, New York, United States. On July 24, 2007 it was announced that Hearst Corporation would acquire UGO Entertainment...
praised its single-player campaign, graphics and Hollywood voice-acting, but complained that its multiplayer was too much like
Quake III's.
GamespotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which purchased...
gave Quake 4 an 8.0 and it also said: "The single-player is great fun, but the uninspired multiplayer leaves a lot to be desired."
PC Gamer Magazine gave
Quake 4 a good review for both singleplayer and multiplayer gameplay. A few days after release the majority of reviews gave
Quake 4 scores of 80–90%.
The
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
version of the game fared slightly worse with critics when it was released, scoring only 74/100 on
MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, and 75/100 on
MobyGamesMobyGames is a website which catalogs computer and video games, both past and present. The site contains an extensive database of video game information...
averaged scores.
Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly is an American video game magazine being re-launched by EGM Media, LLC. It was previously published by Ziff Davis as part of the 1UP Network and released 12 issues a year Electronic Gaming Monthly (often abbreviated to EGM) is an American video game magazine being...
gave a mixed rating to the Xbox 360 port, claiming that the single-player campaign was not creative enough to compete with other games such as
Half-Life 2Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the sequel to the highly acclaimed Half-Life. It was developed by Valve Corporation and was released on November 16, 2004, following a protracted five-year, $40 million development cycle during which the game’s source code was...
and that the game ran poorly on the 360.
GamespotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which purchased...
gave it a worse rating than the PC version: 6.6. They also wrote, "There's a good game in
Quake 4, but it's buried under several layers of highly disappointing graphical performance issues."
X-PlayX-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
gave the Xbox 360 version a 3/5 and the PC version a 4/5.
Versions
Quake 4 was released at the launch of the
Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
and is
Xbox LiveXbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
compatible. Due to the fact that
Quake 4 needed to be developed in a short time period in order to meet the launch of the Xbox 360, there have been major issues with framerates for the console adaptation, earning it the award for Most Aggravating Frame Rate/Best Slideshow in the GameSpot.com
Best and Worst of 2005 list. In addition, the Xbox 360 port of
Quake 4 has very long load times and Xbox Live glitches that result in problematic multiplayer experiences, as documented by game review sites as well as on Activision's support pages for the Xbox 360 version. This version was initially priced the same as the PC Special Edition DVD and features the same content. Unlike the PC version, however, as of November 2008 the Xbox 360 version has not received any patches to fix its numerous problems.
Aspyr Media published and released
Quake 4 for
Mac OS XMac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, on April 5, 2006 as a
universal binaryA universal binary is, in Apple parlance, an executable file or application bundle that runs natively on either PowerPC or x86 -based Macintosh computers; it is an implementation of the concept more generally known as a "fat binary"...
, compatible with both
PowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM. Originally intended for personal computers, PowerPC CPUs have since become popular embedded and high-performance processors...
- and
x86The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086. The term derived from the fact that many early processors backward compatible with the 8086 also had names ending in "86". Many additions and extensions have been added to the x86 instruction set over the...
-based Macs.
id Softwareid Software is an American video game development company from Mesquite, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
continued its tradition of supporting
LinuxLinux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed,...
by releasing a Linux version of the
Quake 4 binary executable. The game can be downloaded for free from id's servers, though it requires a licensed copy of
Quake 4 for Windows or Mac in order to run. The Linux installer was made available two days after the release of the game itself.
At the spring 2007 IDF exhibition Intel Corp. demoed
Q4RT, a raytraced version of Quake4, running on a blade server composed of four Core 2 Quad based machines.
External links