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Quake IV Details Emerge
1up.com has details as released by Activision and id about the upcoming first person shooter Quake IV. The game, in development by Madison, WI company Raven Software, QIV is going to return to the single-player roots of the second Quake title. From the article: " The Strogg are quickly regrouping. However, with the Strogg's planetary defenses still destroyed, Earth's forces can deliver a full and final assault. This time, you're not alone. You are Matthew Kane, an elite member of Rhino Squad, and part of Earth's next invasion wave. An army of soldiers are fighting with you and an arsenal of weapons and vehicles are at your disposal in this heroic and epic battle between worlds."
The best part about Quake 1 was Coop and team fortress. We don't need team fortess since we technically have plenty of team alternatives like Wolfenstein. But Coop modes are really lacking in today's games.
Rhino Squad? I guess it's official -- there must be no good names for squads left now.
Amongst others.
I enjoy deathmatch, CTF, etc, but they get pretty old after a while. The pace is always the same - full throttle. With single player games you get slower paced exploration and puzzle solving (hopefully not just "find the key" puzzles) interspersed with gunplay. You also get characters with different motivations - no actual human character is going to want to hang around and guard the reactor. Only an NPC will tolerate something so boring. Even if you got a human player to do it, they would be "playing the game" rather than "playing the security guard." The NPC guard is more likely to be looking at his watch than strafing back and forth looking for somebody to snipe.
I guess the sum-up is that I like single player games because they tend to be more immersive. Of course, you could make a multiplayer game with these elements, and maybe such a game exists - but I haven't played it.
[javac] 100 errors
[javac] 100 errors