Quake 4: Difference between revisions

Template:Future game

Quake 4
Developer(s)	Raven Software
Publisher(s)	Activision
Engine	Doom 3 engine
Platform(s)	PC (Microsoft Windows, Linux), Xbox 360
Release	October 18, 2005
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Quake 4 is the fourth game in the series of Quake first-person shooter computer and video games. It is being developed by Raven Software and distributed by Activision. Raven Software has collaborated with id Software, the usual developers of Quake games in the past, and for this game, id Software will be supervising the development of the game as well as providing the Doom 3 engine upon which the game is being built. Quake 4 went gold early October 2005 and is due for release on October 18, 2005.

Raven initially announced that Quake 4 was to be oriented towards single-player gameplay, but more recent comments have stated that although it will still contain an in-depth single player portion they have been putting a lot of work into the online multiplayer mode too. The single player game is to be a direct sequel to Quake II and the developers consider the multiplayer to be a logical continuation from the style of Quake III Arena. The story of the series jumps from Quake II to Quake 4 because Quake III had no real plot; it was focused on online multiplayer and a very limited single player mode that was essentially the multiplayer played against computer controlled bots. It is not known at this time whether this game will bridge the continuity gap between the first Quake and Quake II or whether it will also treat the two games as separate titles entirely, though as of now the latter appears more likely.

Template:Spoilers The Quake 4 single player mode continues the story of Quake II pitting the player against a cyborg alien race known as the Strogg. The game follows the story of a marine named Matthew Kane (the first named protagonist in the Quake series) who is a member of a military unit known as Rhino Squad. The marines' mission is to secure the planet Stroggos, homeworld of the Strogg but their ship is shot down and that is when the action begins.

Known gameplay features are vehicle based combat with several vehicles introduced throughout the game and squad based combat on occasions where Rhino Squad fight alongside you. Around the halfway point of the game events lead to Kane becoming captured and being turned into a part-Strogg, this allows for more gameplay changes including the ability to understand Strogg communications as well as advancing the story. The developers say that they are trying to keep the game exciting throughout its duration with these numerous changes to the way the game plays.

Although the game is powered by the Doom 3 engine, official screenshots and videos reveal large outdoor and indoor areas, this has come as something of a surprise to many who thought maps of this size might not possible with Doom 3 technology due to that game being mainly based indoors.

Confirmed multiplayer modes so far are Deathmatch, Team-Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Players at Quakecon reported the multiplayer gameplay to include elements similar to those in previous Quake and Doom games. Notable new additions to play are the ability to send shots through the teleporters and the advancement of the game physics provided by the new technology including the ability to bounce grenades off of the jump-pads.

Like the previous Quake games the multiplayer has a client-server architecture. The network code has been altered from Doom 3, allowing for larger numbers of players on each server (Doom 3 had a 4 player restriction And Quake IV will most likely have 16 player restriction). One of the changes to the network code is a move from the per-polygon hit detection system used in Doom 3 back to using hit-box system like most other online first-person shooters such as other Quake games and Counter-Strike.

The following weapons (except the Dark Matter Gun which is still secret) were included in the Quakecon 2005 build of Quake 4. All of these weapons appear in at least one of the other Quake games and are for the most part similar to their counterparts in those games.

• Note, the blaster was not included in Quakecon, but will appear in the game.

• Gauntlet
• Blaster (Not shown in Quakecon)
• Machine Gun
• Shotgun
• Nailgun
• Grenade Launcher
• Rocket Launcher
• Hyperblaster
• Railgun
• Lightning Gun
• Dark Matter Gun

Official websites:

• id's official Quake 4 site
• Raven's official Quake 4 site
• Activision's official Quake 4 site

Community websites:

• Quake 4 at Ravengames.com
• Quake4World - Wiki-based Quake 4 community.
• Quake4.be — Quake 4 - Esport and Multiplayer.
• Quake 4 Portal — Quake 4 - Fansite.
• Q4Euro.com — European Quake 4 community.
• quake.netkey.hu — Hungarian Quake 4 community.

Information websites:

• Quake 4 at GameSpot.com
• Quake 4 at Release-Dates.Net
• Quake 4 at GameSpy.com
• Quake 4 at doom3.ca

Coverage:

• Interview with djWHEAT an electronic sports commentator who explains what the multiplayer was like at Quakecon.
• Quake 4 - A Competition Perspective — Another post- Quakecon article about Quake 4 multiplayer.

All of these channels can be found on quakenet.

• #quake4.euro - European meetingplace for Quake 4 gamers.
• #q4.wars - Warsearch-channel.
• #q4.se - Swedens official Quake 4 meetingplace.

Use for instance mIRC to be able to connect to quakenet.