Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 4150
Joined: June 2003
Posted: Oct. 19 2005,16:14
XP3000+ @ 2.4ghz 1G DDR 6800 GT
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10.19.2005
picked up the limited DVD copy of it today. Will install it and configure it tonight... then also defrag my drive. Then will have to decide whether to play quake4 or f.e.a.r first.
aarrggghhh decisions, decisions!
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
is also coming out! it's based on the stroggos war from quake2 and quake 4.
Will post more tonight on the packaging.
9:45PM.
Finally opened the packaging. Atleast it uses a DVD-Style plastic case! *ahem* F.E.A.R. Still, an aluminium case would be nice. The case itself was sort of oversize for jsut 2 DVDs. The manual wasnt that big! My guess is this is the same casing for the standard CD set.
Inside there are 2 DVDs. The 1st is the game/installer. The second is a bonus DVD. From what I can tell the bonus DVD has trailers, and "the making of..." video and a fully ported version of Quake II for Windows XP!
Some of you were too young to remember QuakeII, but it's a nice bonus. (it doesnt look like there's any CDKEY required to play it).
As far as installation. I got it installed and ran to initial configs. . Got it to go at 1024x768 and boy 1/3 of the time it was choppy. Looks like I'll either have to lower the details and res to 800x600 or look into tweaks. Looks like the doom3 tweak might work.
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10.23.2005
Just finish F.E.A.R should be moving on to this game this week. One thing though, the famous "Dot" cross-hair is in Quake4! Aww sh1t, that aint right, the game's gonna be too easy now. hehehe j/k The first couple trial runs of the first level with the "Dot" cross hair plays almost like UT with bots. When it's not lagged and choppy, headshots got a bit too easy. that already erned atleast an extra STAR in my book! j/k.
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10.24.2005
Took for game for a run. Actually watched the beginning cut-scene, and no I'm not giving away spoilers. But it was pretty good. Just not Halo-good story wise. It's not as dramatic. But there is a lot of action going on.
I took it through first 3 maps. I'd say after you got the shotgun it got a lot easier. So far it feels pretty generic as for as single player mode.
Controls are simple... as simple as UT if not more! you got 1 fire button, there isnt any alternate file. There's a zoom in like farcry, doom3, call of duty, blah blah. There's a crouch, and you're always running, but there is a walk-modifier if you want to walk.
Atleast there isnt an accuracy factor when you jump, or move. Like the other "realistic" games. Quake doesnt purposely throws off your accuracy/aim when you are moving around. It aims and plays just like quake2, quake3, and UT series.
As far as weapons there's the default blaster with unlimited ammo. Its the weakest weapon and you can charge it up and release for a slightly stronger shot. and I got the machine gun and shotgun so far.
They change the flashlight feature from doom3. I dont want to call this an improvement because in doom3 that limitation to toggle between flashlight and your weapon was meant to add a more scary atmosphere.
In Quake4, it appears various weapons has a built in flashlight. The blaster has it, and the machine gun has it. You can turn it on and off. When on, it does not appear to have a time limitation. I've left it on for most of the maps. BUT it's not on every weapon. For example, the shotgun does not have a built in flashlight. When switch to the flashlight, it switches to the last weapon you were using with a flashlight. It could be switching to the strongest weapon that has a flashlight, or simply the last. I have not really tested to see which scenario was true.
The 3rd map was pretty cool. It's an outdoor scene and you see a lot of action and bullets flying all over the sky, explosions, etc There's a war going around you! You're under the trench trying to find your squad. It was a pretty cool representation on what a future war would look like in all it's glory, violence, and gore.
When playing halo2, it didnt really have the same level of violence and gore quake4 has.
So far so good. When I get a chance to play more maps, I'll update.
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10.26.2005
Got a chance to play through some outdoor maps with vehicles. Holy crap some sequences are HARD! It also got a bit choppy to aim accurately (again this is on an XP3000+, 6800GT, 1G ram and 800x600 res at medium detail and 128MB image cache).
One sequence was a bit frustrating... failed mission too often (didnt die) just couldnt bodygaurd a squad member... he always got himself killed and mission was to protect his ass.
Then there was an outdoor battle on a tank against those big spider thingies. It wasnt as bad as I thought. 3-4 shots and it was down. I'm barely half way through the game.
Will try to get another couple hours in tonight.
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10.31.2005
Finally finish the game! That's what I'm talking about and only ID can deliver it old school! While other games has wussies for end-level bosses... if any at all! Quake4 has a boss the size of King Kong, and there's nothing so satisfying!
The only other game I remember with big ass bosses was painfiller.
Some sites gave quake4 4/5 stars, but hell. What other games have you fight a blankadee blank blank.... Woohoooo!
4.9/5 stars for the big ass bosses... and the freaking dark matter gun!
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01.19.2006
I recently replayed some levels of this on a AMD X2 4400+ and 4Gs of ram on Windows x64 with dual 7800GT SLi'd. Holy moly. Once I tweaked the image cache to use 2Gs; all the lag that I previously had on an XP3000+ 1G RAM 6800GT went away. It played silky smooth. although it doesnt really change my ratings, I just thought I add that to those who are interested in hardware purchase and comparison. It honestly played better for me on Windows XP x64, then Windows XP 32bit. It think it's due to being able to use all 4Gs. 32bit only allows me to use 3Gs in extended mode.
