Quake 4 picks up immediately afterwards, with human warships warping in to deliver some righteous ass-kicking to the evil half-machine aliens. in Quake 2, the player finishes the game having not only taken down the defenses of the Strogg homeworld, opening it to a counter-attack, but also having killed their leader, the Makron. The plot hearkens back to the franchise's second game, which pitted the player against the Strogg, a cybernetic alien species which has invaded Earth in a plot to harvest humanity for the creation of an organic power source known as 'stroyent'. Unfortunately, while Quake 4's story has about the same level of complexity as most of id's other titles, it doesn't have good gameplay to fall back on, and it isn't very well-executed or presented to boot.

And that's OK! Some games aren't about the story. The 2016 reboot of DOOM had very little plot, yet it was delivered in a tongue-in-cheek, slightly humorous and campy manner that made it fun and a decent garnish that sufficiently added to the stellar gameplay while never eclipsing it. Obviously, he's not entirely correct, or the Mass Effect trilogy wouldn't have become one of the most popular sagas of all time, but he's not entirely wrong either. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important.'. John Carmack, one of the studio's founders, is known for saying 'Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. Id Software has never been strong in the story department. That way you're more likely to get your money's worth. But I digress Quake 4 is available on Steam for 14.99, though you can generally grab it for much less during QuakeCon season when the annual sale is on. While the developers are to be applauded for trying to step outside the box, the failure of Doom 3 should've served as a clear sign to the team that trying to capitalize on the Quake brand in a way that failed to properly honor the series' roots was a bad, bad idea.

That said, the game still bears the marks of the studio's ill-fated efforts to take its biggest money-makers in a 'more realistic direction', to quote Kevin Cloud in his appearance on the documentary ' Doom Resurrected' by Noclip. Now, to be fair, Quake 4 was not the sole product of id Software, who enlisted the aid of Raven Software to help in production. Quake 4 might've impressed on release, but time has been less than kind to this unfortunate corridor-shooter. Now, with the unfortunate benefit of hindsight, it's accurate to say their hopes were misplaced. The mixed reception of Doom 3 the previous year had left fans in a bit of a sulk, and they were eager for something to take their minds off the failings of the attempted reboot. Back in 2005, crowds cheered wildly at QuakeCon in response to id Software's unveiling of the fourth installment in the Quake franchise, a series that arguably helped birth the modern 3-D first-person shooter.

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