So, I have a bit of a complicated history with Quake.
I started playing Doom when I was 6 years old, and never liked Quake because it looked scarier, and later as an adult because it lacked the automap that Doom had and it was generally harder. Well, now that I'm used to playing games on easy mode, I gave it another shot after years of not even beating the first episode and managed to beat it.
I still hold the opinion that Doom is better in terms of pure action and modding scene, but Quake exudes atmosphere like no other FPS I've played (except maybe Bioshock, but that's another review for another day). It gets hard at times even on Easy, but I only really struggled on the final 2 maps and I eventually beat them with enough patience. The final boss, as per old id software practices, is super easy and somewhat of a joke if you know what to do. Somehow easier than the spider mastermind from Doom 1.
Levels are designed in such a way to where you don't really need a map to get around, so in a way that kinda cancels out an earlier pet peeve for me, but it'd still be nice to have one. Secrets are way better here than in Doom as well, much more thoughtfully placed and more fun to access. Some of them are fairly obvious by today's gaming standards but it's still fun to find them. And they come in handy more often than not!
Gunplay is probably Quake's weakest point. You'll really only end up using the super variants of the nailgun and shotgun once you find them, and likewise for the grenade launcher/rocket launcher unless you really need the 'nades for something specific.
Another thing I liked about this game was the powerups. Quad damage makes you feel like a badass, the pentagram is basically an invincibility sphere from Doom, the ring is like a blursphere but actually GOOD, and on Easy you will hardly go without health, armor, or ammo so it's not too difficult (sans the 2 maps in E4 that I really struggled with).
Not a 100% playthrough as I did not bother with secret exits nor secret maps, just played all 7 maps in all 4 episodes and beat the boss level. Had a good time, safe to say I still prefer Doom though and I'm in no rush to play the expansions when that inevitably happens.
Sidenote: I played this on the updated Unity port that's on Steam, and it was my personal favorite way of playing it. Probably sacrilege to some, but hey, I had fun playing it this way, it was smooth graphically, everything sounded great, no complaints here.
Beaten on 2/22/23.
BEATEN
I started playing Doom when I was 6 years old, and never liked Quake because it looked scarier, and later as an adult because it lacked the automap that Doom had and it was generally harder. Well, now that I'm used to playing games on easy mode, I gave it another shot after years of not even beating the first episode and managed to beat it.
I still hold the opinion that Doom is better in terms of pure action and modding scene, but Quake exudes atmosphere like no other FPS I've played (except maybe Bioshock, but that's another review for another day). It gets hard at times even on Easy, but I only really struggled on the final 2 maps and I eventually beat them with enough patience. The final boss, as per old id software practices, is super easy and somewhat of a joke if you know what to do. Somehow easier than the spider mastermind from Doom 1.
Levels are designed in such a way to where you don't really need a map to get around, so in a way that kinda cancels out an earlier pet peeve for me, but it'd still be nice to have one. Secrets are way better here than in Doom as well, much more thoughtfully placed and more fun to access. Some of them are fairly obvious by today's gaming standards but it's still fun to find them. And they come in handy more often than not!
Gunplay is probably Quake's weakest point. You'll really only end up using the super variants of the nailgun and shotgun once you find them, and likewise for the grenade launcher/rocket launcher unless you really need the 'nades for something specific.
Another thing I liked about this game was the powerups. Quad damage makes you feel like a badass, the pentagram is basically an invincibility sphere from Doom, the ring is like a blursphere but actually GOOD, and on Easy you will hardly go without health, armor, or ammo so it's not too difficult (sans the 2 maps in E4 that I really struggled with).
Not a 100% playthrough as I did not bother with secret exits nor secret maps, just played all 7 maps in all 4 episodes and beat the boss level. Had a good time, safe to say I still prefer Doom though and I'm in no rush to play the expansions when that inevitably happens.
Sidenote: I played this on the updated Unity port that's on Steam, and it was my personal favorite way of playing it. Probably sacrilege to some, but hey, I had fun playing it this way, it was smooth graphically, everything sounded great, no complaints here.
Beaten on 2/22/23.
BEATEN