This PC title is a fast-paced first-person shooter that serves as a direct sequel to Quake II, developed by Raven Software using the Doom 3 engine, which really shows since the visuals and the overall design looks, sounds and feels almost identical. The game blends classic arena-style combat with a more structured single-player campaign, focusing on the war between humans and the biomechanical Strogg, though similar to Doom 3, it focuses more on the "tactical" shooting rather than the old school arena mechanics. The gunplay is tight and satisfying, featuring a solid arsenal of futuristic weapons, though some critics felt the level design and AI were uninspired compared to earlier entries.

Visually, it impressed at launch with atmospheric lighting and detailed environments. Overall, Quake 4 is a solid but not groundbreaking entry in the franchise, offering a gritty sci-fi shooter experience for fans of the genre, and while I don't have much to say about it's multiplayer because I only played the campaign, it is one of it's weak points compared to previous entries, while at the same time, it is clear that this was not the focus on this one. It rather decided to focus on a narrative single-player campaign, similar to what Half-Life and Doom 3 was doing at the time, and this is why I liked this one a lot, this is my kind of shooter.

One of the most memorable aspects of the campaign is its tonal shift midway through, where the game leans harder into body horror and a sense of helplessness that wasn’t common in shooters at the time. This moment adds weight to the narrative and helps you better understand the enemy beyond being just another faction to shoot. It’s a bold design choice that reinforces the grim atmosphere and gives the story a personal edge, even if the protagonist himself remains fairly stoic. While the pacing occasionally slows due to scripted sequences, these moments generally succeed in making the conflict feel more oppressive and consequential.

The game also does a great job reinforcing immersion, with heavy industrial sound effects, unsettling ambient noise, and an OST that complements the dark sci-fi setting without becoming intrusive. The controls and movement feel appropriately weighty, emphasizing grounded combat rather than twitch reflexes, which fits the overall design philosophy. Although it may not reach the same iconic status as some of its predecessors, this title stands out as a confident, story-driven shooter from its era. One that trades pure speed for atmosphere and narrative, and does so in a way that still feels satisfying years later.

That ended up causing the Strogg a whole lot of trouble. I hope someone got fired for that blunder.

Quake 4 is a 4/5 game, but there are significant issues that cause it to lose a star. On modern systems the ambient lighting doesn't work. If you switch it on the game goes "Lights? OKAY LIGHTS!" and removes all shadows, making it look awful. For some reason the ambient lighting decided to start working near the last act and I was able to finally understand what the game was going for.

The first half of the game where you're a regular human is supposed to be a tense squad-based shooter that takes after Doom 3, which this game looks almost exactly like. You're supposed to take it slow and soak in the atmosphere, and the game has achingly slow movement speed to force you into it. However, the game’s insistence on being set almost entirely in cramped corridors combined with the broken ambient lighting means that its mostly shadows. You end up having to rely on the flashlight, which is attached to a single good gun limiting weapon viability. What are supposed to be thoughtful ambush sequences and low visibility fights against melee enemies, staples of the shooter genre, just become rushing to the light because you can't see anything. That is not helped by the achingly slow movement speed in the first half. The first half is straight up awful and takes ages.

The second half is where you’re playing Quake, as your movement speed is increased, your health is increased and you’re given the rocket launcher followed by the rest of good guns. It’s a real shame it takes so long to reach here, and I’m convinced the first “half” is supposed to be the first third, but it’s such a drag that it takes longer than it’s supposed to. If I didn’t know anything about Quake and didn’t know who Raven Software was, I would’ve dropped this before it got good.

The second half is excellent, even with the broken lighting. I’m not reliant on a single weapon as I can move faster and take a few more shots. I can use the shotgun effectively by bobbing and weaving like the good old Quakes. I don’t even need proper visibility as I’m not reliant on the assault rifle which requires precision aiming. When the lighting finally decided to work, I was even able to properly distinguish every enemy, determine which were translated from Quake 2, and then adopt my old strategies to beat them. Once everything started working the levels flowed smoothly and I couldn’t put the game down.

Had the lighting never fixed itself I would’ve thought Quake 4 to be a bog-standard FPS with a terrible first half that would’ve been more bearable if you had the upgrades from the very beginning. Only when it started to work did I realize I missed out on the squad-based tactical part of the game. Quake 4 has the same problem as Wolfenstein 2009, also developed by Raven Software and published by Activision and using the same engine. The game has been forced to languish with time as the rights reverted back to Bethesda, and Raven were sent to the COD mines so the only people who could’ve fixed the game in the 20 years since haven’t been able to, and Microsoft now owning both Activision and Bethesda did not result in the revisiting and updating of older games like I thought was going to happen.

A potential remaster of both this and Wolfenstein 2009 that fixes the technical issues of both games could easily score a 4/5 each, but until then Quake 4 gets a 3/5 because it remains broken.