Quake 4 Hands-on
- September 16, 2005 10:44 AM PST
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We get some play time with Quake 4 for the Xbox 360.
Us online guys finally got a taste of all the Quake 4 hype on the Xbox 360, and we've come away quite impressed. Indeed, we are pegging it as a must-have launch title. Time wise, the 360 version is trailing about two-weeks behind the PC version, but graphically, you'd hardly know it. In fact, our demo showed it running a little bit brighter on the 360, impressive considering that the first Xbox had some darkening issues with games running in progressive scan mode. Id and Raven were not showing any multiplayer footage, but we did get our hands on a few levels of the single player campaign. Score!
The Story So Far
Quake 4 picks up where Quake II left off, and if you can remember back to the latter, you should know that the Strogg is severely crippled. The Strogg's planetary defenses are down, and an unnamed marine manages to take down the brain behind the entire Strogg operation.
In Quake 4, the Marines are out to finish the job. Earth is launching one final attack, and it's up to Matthew Cane to lead the attack. While Cane begins as a mortal Marine, he is soon captured by the Strogg and sent through a hellish and gruesome Strogg reprogramming facility. Cane is outfitted with enhanced mechanical body parts, and a chip is implanted into his head with which he can be controlled and used by the Strogg forces. But, just before the chip is activated, Cane is timely rescued by a friendly group of Marines. Now Cane is Earth's most vital asset in the war against the Strogg. His transforming has given him Strogg-like abilities that will become incredibly valuable to taking down the Strogg forces once and for all.
As the campaign begins, Cane and a crew of Marines are on a spaceship headed out to battle, when the ship takes fire and crashes on Strogg grounds. Cane wakes up disoriented amidst the brutal war, but manages to find a medic and a pistol. From there, it is quickly off into some Doom 3-like hallways where several different Strogg enemies are intent on making mince meat out of Cane. What follows is a fairly straightforward FPS sequence, and here the 360 really shows off some of its power.
The Doom 3 engine is a quite a massive beast, and the Xbox 360 seems to have no trouble pounding out dynamic lighting and shadows, normal mapping, and some decent anti-aliasing. Frame rate is not quite up to speed, but we were guaranteed that the game would run at 30 frames per second when all is said and done. With a little bit more juicy on-foot combat, we eventually had the chance to wield an auto/scoped single-shot machine gun -- fun for the sniper in you.
How Do You Drive This Thing?
Activision gave us the chance to jump a little further on in the game to hop in a mech vehicle for some rocket-blasting destruction. The gameplay sequence took us through a large outdoor area where Strogg aircrafts dropped stationary guns onto the ground, while other mid-air enemies relentlessly shot rockets and other deadly projectiles our way. The outdoor gameplay makes great use of the game's physics engine as explosions send enemies remains flying every which way.
Comparatively speaking, Quake 4 on the Xbox 360 seems to be shaping up as planned, trailing slightly behind the PC version in development. With a frame rate clean up and a little fine-tuning, it could easily outperform the likes of Doom 3. Either way, Quake 4 still looks to be an Xbox 360 must have, especially considering the probable addictive Xbox Live online multiplayer play.
