![]() ![]() So that means lots of claustrophobic metal corridors and scifi-looking chambers full of machinery of ambiguous purpose. Many levels put you in command bunkers, power generation stations and so on. How clever! Okay, so honestly the metal paneling in these games often gives me the impression of vacuum-formed plastic, but the leap ahead of Quake 3 is undeniable.Īs well as sharing tech, this one has some similarities with Doom 3 in terms of aesthetics and design style. Also specular highlighting which is… putting shiny spots on an object which gives you idea of position relative to a light source. So, erm, apparently one feature is bump mapping, which simulates putting little bumps and wrinkles on an otherwise smooth surface. I’m no expert in 3D wizardry so the best I can do is now scurry to Wikipedia. Quake 4 is powered by id’s Tech 4 engine (if you’re wondering, Tech 1 is Quake 1), first used for Doom 3. Emerging from the wreckage, Kane plunged right into fierce fighting. He’s en route to the surface with his equally macho squadmates, when their Aliens-style dropship is shot down. This is where our new protagonist comes in, burly soldier Matthew Kane. Now a second wave of attacks is being launched, to finally end the threat from these dreadful abominations. Apparently the hero of that game was able to kill their leader and disable planetary defenses. In Quake 2 we saw a desperate attempt to take the fight to the Strogg’s own world, before they could invade our planet. Which, I must say, is dark and grim on a Warhammer 40k level. Not only are the Strogg relentless and merciless, they create more of themselves by fusing nightmarish technolgy with the bodies of captives and the slain. We return to a future where earth is locked in a war for survival against the Strogg, a race of malevolent cybernetic aliens. You might recall how the first two Quakes had totally different settings, whereas the third just threw old iD heroes alongside new characters into arenas. Over the years they had a history of making some pretty great games out of iD engines, often better than iD themselves. Also I realised that, while like the previous Quakes this one runs on an iD graphics engine, the rest of the development work was handled by by Raven. ![]() I was finally prompted to spendmoney when I saw it dip under £10 in a sale. It’s probably because of that ambivalence that the fourth game went on my Steam wishlist several years ago but then languished un-purchased. Especially as I played the hell out of Doom and, well, it’s hard to objectively say what about Quake was inferior to that. ![]() ![]() Also I’ve always a nagging sense that I’m somehow not doing these games justice. Certainly we can’t deny that each one represented a major step forward in graphics the original was one of the first shooters to be truly 3D, and each sequel came with a new, more advanced engine. It felt necessary to have them in my collection, spread across GOG and Steam, along with the likes of Unreal, Duke3D and Half-Life. Yet on the other hand, they have their place in my general nostalgia for the shooters of the 90s. As for Quake 3, I don’t do multiplayer much so that was never going to be of interest. Quake 2 I can’t remember much more of beyond concrete and smoggy orange skies. Nothing much about the first Quake stood out – very standard kind of gameplay for the time and it was all a bit drab, a blur of greens and greys. You see, on the one hand I could never summon that much enthusiasm for these games. I have an odd relationship with the Quake series. ![]()
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