Quake 4 Hands-On

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Maybe it's due to the cooler temperatures and the leaves changing color. Perhaps it's because all the kids are back in school, greatly reducing the amount of idiot chatter you'll find while gaming online. Or it could be the wave of big budget games that will wash over us during these autumnal months, quenching our gaming thirst after the long, dry, summer. Riding the crest of that wave is Quake 4 from id software, Raven and published by Activison.

I'm really quite friendly. If you are a Strogg like me.

"Damn, I'm gonna need the big boot!"

Activison was nice enough to fly me out to San Francisco so I could try my hand at Quake 4's single player story, as well as mix things up in the multiplayer side. While they made it quite clear that the build I was playing was not a final build, I saw no problems with either the PC or Xbox 360 versions. On a side note about the 360, I was blown away with the image quality and speed at which the game was running on Microsoft's new console. In fact, if you were to hook the 360 up to a computer monitor and run it side by side with a PC, I am not sure you would be able to tell which was which. It looks and runs that good.

However, since I am a biased, dyed in the wool PC whore, I spent all of my play time with the PC version. (Good man. - 2Lions) We only got to play 4 levels of the single player story and all of those were of the non-Stroggified sort. In case you did not read our preview of Quake 4 from E3, about a third of the way through the game, the player gets violently implanted with biomechanical Strogg technology, adding a new wrinkle to the gameplay. The first two levels of the game follow the player as he makes his way back to his squad after surviving a dropship crash. Part tutorial, part escort mission, I felt my adrenaline kick in almost immediately as I made my way in and out of Strogg facilities trading fire with the enemy. The game alternated between indoor combat to trench warfare in the open spaces separating buildings as I lead a medic back to a platoon with an injured trooper. If the medic went down, that meant my game was over. Thankfully, the A.I. is good enough that the medic I was supposed to be protecting saved my butt a few times on the trip back and not by using his med kit. You'll be joined by A.I. controlled teammates throughout the game so I was relived to see that they were able to help rather than hinder my progress.

As we encountered marines not part our own Rhino Squad, they would help us fight off advancing groups of Strogg, shout words of encouragement when I made a good shot and gave directions on how to get back to my unit. I started the game with a pistol but soon picked up a machine gun that I could use as a sniper in alt fire mode. Both of these weapons featured a flashlight in the stock that could be switched on without having to drop your weapon. (Ok, go ahead and insert the "they should teach that trick to the Doom 3 marines" joke here. Now shut up because everyone is sick of hearing it.)

After finding my squad, I was tasked with disabling an aircraft hanger which Strogg fighters were launching from and then strafing our ground troops. I joined another group of marines and was given a shotgun along with a warning that I would soon put it to good use. We moved as a coordinated team, deep into the Strogg facility, with one person covering the hallway as the others moved forward. Using this technique to leap frog down the hallways and corridors to our goal, we only lost one man in the process. Following a brief but fierce fire fight, we cleared the way to the exit and ended the level.

A save point was loaded and I found myself at the start of another level, but this time, there was a hover tank floating in front of me. I climbed into the driver's seat and tore off over the battlefield. Vulture-like Strogg aircraft swooped down on me, some dropping large metal spheres that bounced and rolled away under their own power, stopping only to reveal hidden guns that took pot shots at me. Meanwhile, the aircraft that dropped the spheres circled around and unleashed a barrage of rockets which had me zigzagging across the map. I had to alternate my fire between my machine gun and main cannon in order to escape the rollie-pollies and the flyers. The combat was fast and furious to the extent that I was actually leaning from side to side in my chair to avoid the incoming fire. Yeah, I looked like a dork, but I was a dork having a great time. That is until a cut scene brought me back to reality. A huge spider-like bot hauled itself out of a crater in the battlefield, spearing two other hover tanks with its javelin like legs as it righted itself. (Oh, so you were actually playing the interactive demo we were shown at the E3. Cool. - 2Lions)

As I approached the thing, it launched a salvo that set off a klaxon warning of missile lock. I threw the tank in reverse and started weaving my way backwards, desperately firing my machine gun at the spider bot. In my panicked retreat, my gun sights swept through the flight path of one of the missiles, blowing it up in mid flight. This was the beginning of a nervous dance that lasted several minutes as I knocked missiles out of the air with my machine gun and then quickly switched to my main gun to pepper the spider with shells. Once I finally brought the mechanical monster down (A little battered and bruised but still standing and anxious for more.), I sped on towards a gate set into the side of the mountain, which turned out to be the exit to the next level.