Quake IV - PC

You’ll probably not have heard of a game called Quake. A long time ago, a company called id Software released a game called Quake, in which you single-handedly had to defeat wave upon wave of zombies and demons, with the help of nail guns, rocket launchers and the like. The game picked up where id’s own Doom had left off, further expanding the then newborn first person shooter genre. Quake II arrived a year or so later, with more of the same gory, blasting action. The sequel was further distinguished by its excellent multiplayer mode, in which players could roam maze-like granite environments under swirling orange skies. Even today, first person shooters are shaped by what went on in those early LAN parties, at the birth of rocket jumps, head shots, and mouse and keyboard control.

The blank canvas of Quake II’s multiplayer, and the modding community that grew up around, it gave the game a longevity far greater than any single player content could ever have offered. So much so that when Quake III finally came out, it did not even have a single player mode in the traditional sense. The developers at id simply set out to create as high fidelity an engine as they could, packaged with an assortment of player skins.

Since then, the company has turned its attention back to their earlier Doom creation, with the emphasis on the single player experience. The result was the terrifying and supremely polished Doom 3. They gave the languishing Quake license over to Raven Software. The people at Raven are now releasing their own take on the Quake universe. And using the Doom 3 engine, they’ve taken the franchise back to its single player roots. Don’t expect an amazing multiplayer mode: instead, Quake offers a single player experience much more fast-paced than its psychological horror sister, with more enemies, and hectic gameplay that forces you to live in the moment. It's an interesting development in the history of an FPS legend. more