With an old school shooter like Quake 4 you'd think that it would try to really challenge shooter veterans.  However, in actuality that game is not all that difficult to those of you who've played your share of shooters.  Things pick up in the second half of the game after you go through a certain "enhancement", but it is more frantic and not necessarily more challenging.  The excitement is ratcheted up, but the challenge does not increase correspondingly.

The Strogg are not your friendliest of space aliens.

Quake 4 includes a bonus disk that has the complete Quake 2 on it.  Quake 2 was advanced for its time, but, hoo boy, the graphics look pretty clunky and pixelated compared to today's games and doubly so for Quake 4.  The story in Quake 4 is actually a continuation of the storyline from Quake 2, with the star of Quake 2 being the Marine that set the stage for the planetary invasion in Quake 4.  To be honest, the storyline is not really deep in either game, so you'll probably only spend time with Quake 2 if you're looking to score more achievements for your Gamer Tag.

Online Quake 4 provides deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and tournament games.  The tournament mode is basically a series of one on one deathmatches, with the winner advancing to the next match along the tree.  The most popular mode seems to be the good old fashioned deathmatch, which is not too surprising since the Quake 4 multiplayer provides good old fashioned shooter action.  The maps are filled with tight corridors that lead to nexuses, ensuring that players are constantly funneled into choke points and that the action is constant.  There's not much subtlety to the action, the fastest, bunnyhoppingest player will inevitably come out on top.  One thing that is disappointing is that the number of players per game is limited to eight, which is only half as many as the PC version.  There are Xbox 360 launch titles that support more players for online play, so the reason for the smaller games is not entirely clear.

When you get down to it, whether or not you enjoy Quake 4 will depend a lot on what type of gamers that you are.  If you've played the PC version or you look for more story and challenge in your shooters, then Quake 4 is probably not for you.  If you just want to be a gung ho Space Marine and put yourself into the middle of a run and gun shooting gallery, you'll have some good times with the game.  Still unsure?  Well, it's definitely worth a rental as you'll probably make up your mind about the game within the first hour or so of play.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 80%.  Quake 4 looks cutting edge but plays old school.

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