Quake has always been the standard for FPS games. Obviously, Quake’s original predecessor DOOM truly opened the flood gates for FPS gaming. Quake however took advantage of the oh-so-amazing OpenGL. It created an amazing environment never seen before. It became a phenomenon. To this day Quake has always been the “champ” of 1v1 and TDM games. Games such as Half-Life spawned from the madness created originally by the guys over at id software.

This time they’re attempting to do it once more with their new friends over at Raven. Could they possibly achieve the greatness they did in the first three of the Quake series? Many people will argue to this day that QuakeWorld is still the best FPS game ever, and then there are others that will die with a copy of Quake3 in their coffin. These are the people that probably didn’t have the best impressions of Q4 out of the box. I will try to give my impression as a “hardcore” gamer that has played almost every mainstream FPS that has been used in competition.

I on the other hand had an open mind. I knew when I picked up my pre-ordered copy of Quake4 from GameStop that this game would not be Quake3. I knew it would have many of the same elements from different games combined, but it would not be the same as any game I had played before. Well… I was partially correct.

I was prepared for the 60 frames-per-second (FPS) cap because I had played Doom3. For those of you who are unaware, Q4 is built off the Doom3 engine. Many people think FPS means EVERYTHING, and if they don’t have 100-120 fps, they come to the conclusion that the game is bad. Many people don’t realize that back in the day we had to cap our FPS at 30 if we used dial-up because otherwise our pings would skyrocket. Believe me when I say that once people begin to upgrade their computers and the frames stop dipping, people will not even notice that they are getting 60 fps. When the game is smooth and your monitor has the proper refresh rate set… you won’t notice it’s capped at 60.

The only rants that I have on the game are the lack of maps and the sound issues. Quake games have always been known for great maps for competitions. However, the community in Quake has always helped. Many remember Abuse making their own versions of maps for competitive play. Id later followed suite and created “pro” versions of maps such as pro-q3tourney4 and pro-q3dm6. Will we see the same situation in Quake4? We are already seeing mod and map makers respond to the need.

Many people complain about the sound issues. It’s very hard to hear where your opponent is coming from. Personally, I found it rather easy to adjust once I was used to the maps, however this problem should not exist. OpenAL helps with the sound, but it also kills FPS even on the best machines.

Another hot topic is the rocket speed. If you haven’t noticed the players don’t move that fast. The rocket speed in my opinion is fine. I’ve had no problems hitting mid air rockets or having rocket fights. The rockets definitely are not as slow as they were in Quake 2 or Doom 3, and personally I do not feel the rocket speed needs to be changed.
The Nailgun is also an issue, many people rant about how overpowered this gun is. Moreover, while it may be overpowered there are situations when you should use this gun and when you shouldn’t. If you have someone trapped, or if you know they are going to peak in a certain spot it’s a great spam weapon. So are the goo gun and the flak gun in UT. People will learn how to adjust. However, I do feel they need to tone down the gun, because the splash damage does make the gun rather ridiculous.

Movement in Q4 is very similar to Q3. The only downside is the inability to keep speed up stairs. While some enjoy the gained height when jumping on a ramp, I find it rather annoying. One crazy feature is the slide jump, while I have not yet perfected it totally myself I have seen many videos of crazy YA jumps on the Edge remake and also a few jumps on other maps using jump pads. This could play out to be very interesting to see which trick jumps people can master and perform seamlessly during combat.

One feature I think is very cool are the projectiles from certain guns being able to go through teleports. Many people know how lame it was when people camped teleports in PK, but the reason that people did it was because it was a defensive measure that worked. In Q4 it’s not so easy to do so. Now you can get caught camping a teleport, and even if you do use it you can catch a rocket to your face. In addition, if people want to spam mega on a map like pro doctors, it enables this. It adds a new twist of strategy that I personally enjoy.

We are now officially in a new era of deathmatch. Many people do not realize the significance of Quake 4 and what it brings to pro gaming. One versus one deathmatch is the foundation of professional eSports and to see it make a “return” with Quake 4 is very promising. The CPL World Series in 2006 will mark this new era. Not only will it bring international attention to the very thing we are all so passionate about, but it will unite communities that have been apart for too long. GL HF.