Quake (PC, Sonys, Xboxes, Switch)

[Dogg Thang]

I respect that! That was no easy task.

[Golgo]

Thanks, but you shouldn't. I was quick-saving after every enemy - it was disgraceful!

[Adam]

Shamblers gave me a hard time til I found out you can get close to them and bait out their melee attack. Some of the encounters with these guys are nuts, there's not much cover to avoid their lightning strike at range, so felt good to figure out the close range strat.

[Dogg Thang]

Oh I didn’t think of that.

[Adam]

Oh oh and apparently they take 50% dmg from explosives (G.Launcher / Rocket), which I found odd. Super Nail gun is best.

[Dogg Thang]

That explains why they take ages to die when I pump them full of rockets.

[Golgo]

Just finished playing through the two main (original Quake-era) mission packs, 'Scourge of Armagon' and 'Dissolution of Eternity'. Scourge starts off not very well, with some horribly convoluted levels that it's easy to get lost in, but by the midpoint it picks up and becomes almost like Doom Eternal in the way it funnels you through an onrush of carnage, with levels of just enough complexity to allow you to feel accomplishment in finding the route through. That quality continues from the get-go with Dissolution and some terrific level design which heaps up the cheesy stereotypes the further you go on (Aztec, Ancient Egypt, etc.). Really enjoyed the way they added more moving parts to the levels even though they occasionally glitched out (I had to re-start one level when a spike trap animation started up into a rhythm/sequence that was literally impassable, and the only way I knew it was impassable - after hitting my head against it for ages - was by watching a video). Some great new enemies in the two expansions as well (Centroids, Wraths, giggling Gremlins that pinch your weapons and use them against you, etc.) but they feel a bit under-used. The continuing over-reliance on Ogres and Death Knights was wearying.

I dipped into the more recent expansions and completed a few levels but wasn't that taken with them. They look fabulous, especially in the lighting and fog effects which are really evocative over the old textures, but they seem to be all about adding difficulty through numbers of annoying enemies, such as locking you in a room with four Vores sending in homing attacks. One of these things is enough, but four is ridiculous. Also, occasionally they add 3D texture to the floors which actually makes it difficult to move about, forcing you to hop over bits of pipe and kerbs and stuff. This really goes against the fast-flowing play-style of Quake when you've got to watch your footing in case you get snagged.

Anyway, somehow I've lost about 25 very enjoyable hours to this remake and its expansions, so I think it's time to give it a rest.

[nonny]

This just got upgraded to support dual sense on PS5 and 4K120 on next gen... All for free.