Q4. what peeps think?

[Airalith]

ive been knocking around quake 4 since its uk release, just wondering is any1 else finding it a little. well. empty.

I personally havnt enjoyed q4 all that much. its got solid graphics. good animation and does try to get you into the role of a marine, it just doesnt seem to work all that well. They sold the game on the 'epic battle' feel. to me its just about 6 guys fighing the whole war.

Also the Tanks and other driving sections seem tacked on and i didnt find that fun. seemed just an attempt to live up2 the all powerful halflife 2.

Every level seems more or less the same. run through here. do sum niffys set piece. kill this, have big firefight. find friends. friends die. start over again.

Just thought id ask how everyone else thinks this compares to other games out there? and also to tell any1 who is only going to buy one game this month get FEAR. although it has a pants title (how can u be assault AND recon?) its a solid shooter. Tho you have gotta say the AI of your marine m9's is very good for a shooter. they cover doorways and ive never got killed bu them once. which is good to say the least.

And1 else got an opinion on Q4?

[Zephyd]

Agreed on the SP, it seems average at best for me.

I will try out the multiplayer soon - seeing as that is what i bought it for

[DaGaffer]

Very disappointed. SP or MP, its all a bit 'blah'.

[babs]

SP be damned, multiplayer is where it will be, once the mods appear and mature and technology catches up with it. I like the MP in all honesty, some of the CTF maps are good.

[inactionman]

Too short, it arrived monday, played it on medium and completed it last night, that's about 8-10 hours playtime...

Does show off my new computer pretty well though.

[Wij]

Originally Posted by inactionman

Too short, it arrived monday, played it on medium and completed it last night, that's about 8-10 hours playtime...

Does show off my new computer pretty well though.

Show off !

[JBP|]

well i can't really comment on the single player (its not my bag baby).

But as far as multiplayer going then i think its pretty darn good and will only get better.

[Entran]

mm i got it on monday and finished it today. As was said theres only about 10 hours play time..

Whats there is good. but it is a bit repetetive. Its like doom 3 with a few set pieces thrown in. Graphics are amazing though.

Multiplayer.. to me it seems identical to Q3. Even the weapon icons in the HUD are the same.. Its like Q3 with a new GFX engine.

I loved the F.E.A.R SP demo.. might look at buying that.

[~Yuckfou~]

Originally Posted by Entran

I loved the F.E.A.R SP demo.. might look at buying that.

That would be your second gaming purchase mistake in 1 week
Mine will be on Ebay sometime next week, when I can be arsed.

[throdgrain]

Graphics are amazing? I dont think so really. The HL2 Lost Coast thing came out today, in comparison Q4 looks pathetic I think. The game is pretty formulaic in SP, again much worse the HL2.
The MP maps. Err? Am I wrong in saying the Q3 ones look better? It IS Q3 though anyway.
Its convinced me to be honest not to bother buying anymore pc games for a bit .

[DaGaffer]

Originally Posted by throdgrain

Graphics are amazing? I dont think so really. The HL2 Lost Coast thing came out today, in comparison Q4 looks pathetic I think. The game is pretty formulaic in SP, again much worse the HL2.
The MP maps. Err? Am I wrong in saying the Q3 ones look better? It IS Q3 though anyway.
Its convinced me to be honest not to bother buying anymore pc games for a bit .

Its not just me then. Everyone's raving about the graphics but I just don't really see it, and yes I do have a decent graphics card. I think HL2 looked better on my old GF5200 than Q4 looks with my X800pro...

[babs]

In fairness Lost Coast is essentially a tech demo though.

There's an interesting column piece by arQon (CPMA dev) in which he's trying to encourage an 'open' enviroment for mod development, whereby mod teams will share work (as he and Rhea of OSP did), rather than rip it off. If this comes to fruition there could be some truly great stuff released.

Q4 is the same as the other Quakes to me, a slow-burner.

[Kaun_IA]

i enyjoyed the story of q4, but the setting and gfx is just too.....................doom3!! that really disapointed me.

[TdC]

atm Q4SP is Doom3 with more lights imo. as said above, the tank driving feels very much like they tacked it on after the game was done, and the outdoor/tunnel levels weren't exactly stimulating to boot.

indoors there's a bit of a recycling feel to the levels imo. nice cool large halls and things and then running up and down the same corridor for half an hour. I'm also not pleased with how the baddies scale. they're more irritating than tough imo, though handling a couple of bezerkers at the same time is a bit of a challenge right now I estimate I'm about 50% through and have a distinct feeling that the toughness is going to ramp up suddenly.

[ECA]

I have to say I think people are being a bit harsh, the quake series is legendary and if the new game isnt "amazing" then what occurs is this, a lot of trashing.

I distinctly hated half-life, played it through.
Halflife and HL2 were both on the rails
HL1s short 30s "OMG NEED TO LOAD AGAIN, DYNAMIC LOADING, LOVE IT BITCHES" was so overhyped, it was fucking awful. Nice game some good plot but go play it again...

HL2. I loved the first hour or two, then it settled into formulaic crap "activate the thingy to fill the room with water so you can swim through", the initial chase sequence/s were great, but it tailed off so much, especially canal and sand areas.

That and the boss was the single most dissapointing end encounter I have seen, "blow up a few choppers then shoot a side panel".

So now we come to Q4.
Yes it was on the rails, but to no lesser or greater degree than many other FPS out there. I thought there were some nice vehicle sequences that didn't last FOR FUCKING EVER ( HL2 I AM TALKING TO YOU ). I liked the arcade style of the tram, reminded me of a couple of arcade shooters.

The difficulty level was somewhat challenging also, I like playing SP on the hardest setting because anything else is too easy. Very ammo challenging and tough.

The end boss on the hardest setting is also a bit of a bastard, not quite Resident Evil 1 boss stylee but pretty tough.

Anyone who says Q4 is D3 with lights hasn't played it enough.

That said, I did only buy Q4 for the multiplayer and its dissapointing so far.

No brightskins, quiet hitsounds.
They also used all the values of the Q3 weaponry, but didnt compensate for the change in relative unit size, so the rocket for example feels really slow and theres also no "push" on the LG, and a distinct lack of "bounce".

The maps are limited, there are no good 1v1 maps at the moment, and the maps suffer from FPS problems which become infinitely more noticeable in multiplayer than singleplayer.

This is due to the lighting engine, and there are map packs out there to solve it.
Basically the performance version of the maps are monolit throughout, greatly reducing CPU and GPU load, taking me from a 30fps in the midst of battle to a solid 60fps. ( the fps cap ).

The multiplayer weaponry is well balanced ( as you would expect rehashing the Q3 values for the most part ).
You can notice the dfference in unit scaling though, for example q4dm6 is a remake of q3dm17 the large open bouncy space map that was really a rocket physics map.

The Q4 version is considerably smaller, dropping from the mid tier to lower tier causes health loss, and the map doesn't work anymore, its no longer a bouncathon filled with air rocketry.

One good thing is they did no reuse the "classic" Quake 3 maps that many duelers and TDM players would have expected, no PT4, no DM6, but thats a good thing, those maps would not work as straight ports to quake 4, the movement and weaponry mean they would not be as fluid.

What will make Q4 great to play?
The same thing that made Q3 great.
OSP and CPMA.

Also note, install Q3 1.00, and then patch it to 1.32, the difference is massive, its a different game.

Give Q4 MP a while to improve and a few patches and I am sure it will be a whole new ball game.

Also, the physics are interesting.
Ramp jumps are in, unfortunately no double jumps, and limited air control.
That said, hurray for the new physics feature/glitch.
Crouch Sliding allows for some unique new movement.
The technique is relatively simple, as you land at a higher than average speed ( from strafe jumping/circle jump/ pad/whatever ), you crouch and "slide" it maintains your momentum and allows you to change direction and lets you do some funky stuff.

On day 1, people were frustrated at the lack of a double jump allowing for example, the internal YA ( yellow armour ). It meant you have to jump ~4-5 times to reach the YA and were a sitting duck, with crouch sliding a simple circle jump->crouch slide->ramp jump allows you to obtain the YA very very quickly.

Anyway, end of review