ellmo
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Posts: 1195
Registered: 04-03 |
udderdude said:
I'm currently playing through Quake 4. It's starting to get pretty repetitive, so I'm taking a break for now. Hopefully the battles get more interesting later on, but I think it's just bigger enemies, bigger guns, etc.
I take it you haven't met your old buddy from Quake 2 yet? No, my friend, this is not only about bigger and badder guns and stroggs.
I haven't finished Q4 yet, but I think I already have an oppinion about it. It has more entertaining plot than Doom3, especially the one... you know... after meeting an old firend (no spoilers, please) - Doom3 definitely lacked something like that. However the Stroggos atmosphere, that I have gotten used to from Q2, is completely ruined. The enemies' designs are... tacky. For example: Gunners were one of the most characteristic creatures in all FPP games, now they grunt around, and scream like arabian terrorists. Something completely un-stroggish. Something you wouldn't expect from a machine. And that goes to a great majority of ground units. I'd really like much more to see the old Tanks, Gladiators, Gunners, Berserkers and others. In Q2, each unit had it's character, now they all almost act the same, they are all much quicker, shoot a lot of projectiles around, and their sounds are irrecognisable. About 50% of monsters here, would fit better in Mars, than Stroggos.
Weapons are also too generic. Okay, the animations are superb and what-not. But who the hell told those people (and not only them, since this is a mistake, done in many productions) that shotguns are so inacurate? If they were, nobody would use them in combat. Also, what did they do to my lovely Railgun? Why do I have to hit a single Strogg about 2-3 times to kill him? And why do the grenades fly such a short distance? A well trained marine would hand-throw those cans much further, that's for sure. The best weapons in this game (and not only for design, but also their usefulness), are the Blaster, Mgun, Nailgun and RL.
Dunno how this translates into Multiplayer weapons. I think they act different.
Okay, so despite those facts, the game plays well. It just doesn't have the industrial feel of old sweet Stroggos. Think of it as of something new. And this new game, including controlable veicles, the feeling of taking part in a great war (first missions), interactions (it doesn't really matter they are linear and hard-coded) with characters, and finally many various places, also those vast-open canyons and outskirts of Strogg city; this is all well done.
Summing up:
Q4 is much more action oriented, there's a lot of things going on around you, and a few more abilities not met in D3, as it drives you through many different "zones"; but fails it somehow, when it comes to quake2 reference, and weapon designs.
Doom3 is more consistent. Stays with one simple plot, and aims at suspense atmosphere. To say it straight - Doom3 is scary, Quake4 can be brutal and disgusting. Doom3 also handles better it's small closed locations, and you won't experience serious FPS drops (while you can in Q4). Finally, Doom3 has much, much, much better monster designs, and fails it much less in weapon desgins (yeah, the shotgun is again inacurate, and a 60 rounded chaingun?).
Anyway, I must say both those games are realitively enjoyable.
Last edited by ellmo on 11-05-05 at 22:32
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11-05-05 00:49 
