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Now that I have played Quake 4 for more than a couple of hours – here is a short first impression:

• The storyline seems consistent. In Quake II, you are a lone marine and that lone marine has just killed the Strogg leader. In this game, you are just a soldier and your name (unless other Quake games, here you actually have a name) is Matthew Kane. This time around your duty is to follow orders towards the bigger goal of ground operation for securing and capturing the planet Strogg.
• So far, the combat have been good. I am playing one level below the hardest one – and the enemy AI is pretty much non-existent. A significant amount of time you will not play alone – you will be accompanied by your fellow marines. They are pretty competent. But so far, I haven’t seen any great teamwork. Also, each teammate looks different, have a different voice and if you click on them (sometimes multiple times) they will usually say something relevant (and funny sometimes).
• Weapons: So far, I have the useless blaster (as you get a machinegun within seconds of starting the game), the machinegun, shotgun, grenade launcher and a nailgun (remembering Quake 1 days). Usually my favorite is the shotgun – but around this time the shotgun is a little disappointing. I am mostly using the machine gun so far.
• Enemies: I have encountered Grunts, Gunners and Berserks – from the original Quake II so far. They are richly modeled and seemingly a little more powerful.
• Gameplay: Pretty good so far. In addition to the usual combat thing, you have escort and protect missions also. Sometimes you need to meet up with your teammates. And once I had to clear an area of turrets from a moving truck. It was fun and challenging.
• Graphics: The atmosphere almost looks and feels the same way as Doom III. But Doom III was much darker and meaner. This one has a light touch on it. So, the graphics is not mind-blowing, but not bad either.
• Sound: I am not qualified to comment as I have been playing this in a laptop with headphones. But I have no complaints. It is quite good (at least for me) actually. You feel the action.
• First Impression Summary: Just another first person shooter. I am a little disappointed – but I am not exactly sure what I was expecting. But sure, it has some sentimental values for me.

Here are some new screenshots: