Quake 4 (Xbox 360)

...other game in the series Quake IV has made it onto consoles, with this incarnation running on Microsofts next gen machine. The single player game follows on from the classic Quake II as you play the part of a human space marine in the war against the cybernetic monstrosities that are the Strogg. At the end of the last story the Stroggs leader, the Makron, was defeated and things looked good for humanity, but they just went and built another one. ...
...the Xbox 360s additional power Quake IV easily matches the PC version of the games on the graphics front. The Doom 3 engine is used to much better effect than it was on the original Xbox, with a much smoother framrate and a lot more going on onscreen. Everything looks great too with well detailed character models and scenery, lighting effects are outstanding too with the game being a lot brighter than the dank visuals of Doom 3. Sound sis a match ... more

Like every other game in the series Quake IV has made it onto consoles, with this incarnation running on Microsofts next gen machine. The single player game follows on from the classic Quake II as you play the part of a human space marine in the war against the cybernetic monstrosities that are the Strogg. At the end of the last story the Stroggs leader, the Makron, was defeated and things looked good for humanity, but they just went and built another one. So you have to go and kick his arse all over again.

The story starts with your ship crash landing on the Stroggs homeworld where you meet up with the few survivors and mount your assault on the enemy. You start off with just a pistol, but it's not long before you're picking up some powerful weaponry, rifle, shotgun, grenade and rocket launchers and so on.. By mid-way through the game you'll be one tooled up bad ass, but that's not enough to save you from getting captured by the Strogg and getting rebuilt in their image. Luckily you're rescued before they implant the chip that puts you under their influence. The good news is that although you're now more machine than man you have the ability to access all the Stroggs equipment. And you'll need these extra abilities if you're to survive the mission to destroy the Strogg once and for all.

Thanks to the Xbox 360s additional power Quake IV easily matches the PC version of the games on the graphics front. The Doom 3 engine is used to much better effect than it was on the original Xbox, with a much smoother framrate and a lot more going on onscreen. Everything looks great too with well detailed character models and scenery, lighting effects are outstanding too with the game being a lot brighter than the dank visuals of Doom 3. Sound sis a match for the graphics, with some good voice acting, nice music and atmospheric sound effects. Overall the game is very well presented.

The games multiplayer is not as impressive as the single player though. The visuals have taken a hit from single player for a start, then there's the limited game types. All you get are death match (solo and team), capture the flag and tournament modes. Deathmatch and capture the flag are your standard FPS stuff, but tournament mode is a little different, players battle it out one on one in a series of matches knocking each other out till there's only one left. All this wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the lag, the game is meant to support up to 8 players but in practice once you hit 6 players then you start getting lag with players jumping around all over the place and your own movement being extremely hampered. It's a real shame but it's something that is prevalent with the Doom 3 engine online, with consoles at least.

As a bonus you also get a copy of the aging classic Quake 2. Although it is extremely dated appearance wise it still has some very solid gameplay and it let's you play through the full story of the war on the Strogg if you want to. In the end what you get is a decent single player FPS, with an online mode that you'll probably give a quick go then never play again. It's a must have if you're a fan of the series and enjoy a single player FPS, but if you're looking for an online shooter to play there's a lot better out there. 

...less