Quake 4 was an Xbox 360 launch game back in 2005 and, uh, it really shows. It's the most 2005 game I've played in a long, long time. From visuals to mission design to even the discussion around the game, Quake 4 is a time warp back to simpler (dumber) time in the game industry. It's sort of okay-ish to play in 2020, I guess, if you want Doom 3 with a Quake skin on it. Read more and watch gameplay here.
Back when Quake 4 launched, I thought it was all right. It looked like Doom 3 but played like Quake, so it was interesting and fresh compared to previous Quake games. This was back in 2005, though, when standards (mine or the industry in general) weren't quite what they are today. This was back when anything below a 7/10 was considered the shittiest piece of shit on the planet, so only the truly putrid games got anything lower. Thus, Quake 4 has an 80+ Metascore on PC and a 75 on Xbox 360. If it was reviewed today it would be getting straight 4's or 5's. Sorry, we were bad at reviewing stuff back then.
It isn't that Quake 4 is bad, but it has aged terribly even compared to other games that launched with the Xbox 360. Load times. Lots of watching cinematic crap happen. Scripted events where the game doesn't let you do anything until the A.I. characters are in place. Awful level design. Dark gray and brown graphics. Ugly character designs. It just screams "2005" at you. Call of Duty 2 and Perfect Dark Zero hold up much better than this.
I don't think I really explained it all that well. Sorry. You need to play it and feel it and see all the outdated stuff it does for yourself.
I really only bought Quake 4 because I wanted the Quake 2 bonus disc that came with it. Ha!
