Small review I made of Quake 4 + FEAR

[JME Fidelity]

Just thought id share with you guys a little review I made about quake 4 and fear.

Link to review

 

[SynthDude2001]

Thanks for the link. Doesn't look like you were too excited about Quake 4, which is unfortunate since I've been planning on buying it. FEAR is almost certainly out of the question for me because IMO it's just too much of a system hog...

 

[JME Fidelity]

hmmm. In multiplayer, FEAR runs a lot smoother than Quake 4 on my PC..

 

[pbaker]

i looked over the should of my suitemate and your review of F.E.A.R. agrees with what i thought of it. i'm yet to play quake and based on your review, probably won't, espeically since i never enjoyed any of the previous quake games. thanks.

 

[SynthDude2001]

I see you have 7800GTX SLI...I somehow doubt those results would apply to me

Edit: In the testing I've done in the demo, I have to turn the resolution down to 1024x768 to get it really playable...and it doesn't look all that great then. I can run everything else at 1680x1050 without too many problems... I've been hearing good things about FEAR's gameplay, so I will pick it up at some point, just not now. Maybe after I upgrade next summer.

 

[JME Fidelity]

Not yet, im actually playing on my old computer. new ones down right now.

Its got a 3.0ghz intel processor and a single 6800GT in AGP. FEAR is faster, in multiplayer at least.

 

[MBentz]

I agree with your review except I do like playing MP in Q4... just for mindless fun though.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: JME Fidelity
Not yet, im actually playing on my old computer. new ones down right now.

Its got a 3.0ghz intel processor and a single 6800GT in AGP. FEAR is faster, in multiplayer at least.

aha, good to hear (especially since I have a 6800GT AGP myself). What settings/resolution are you using and what kind of framerates are you seeing...?

 

[JME Fidelity]

Using all high settings with vsync except for physics, which are set to medium. Resolution is 12**x9** (Im not on my computer right now so I dont know the exact number, will check that later and post screenshots). Im seeing very reasonable framerates. On the average map with 1 player on the screen id say around 45 FPS. It only gets in the 20-30 range with a lot of effects happening on the screen or a lot of players on the screen. Ill get you more specific info later with FRAPS

 

[Conky]

I've got both games too and my opinion is the opposite of yours. I prefer Quake4 hands down over FEAR.

Your review calls the MP in Q4 "laggy" but I think you were just connected to some poor servers. It is not unusual for there to be a lot of very marginal servers running whenever any new game comes out but especially with id games... every kid with a cable connection tries to run a server and they rarely work as good as proper dedicated servers.

I didn't find lag to be an issue in either game but I did not like having to activate health packs in FEAR while I am being shot at. Plus I found spawncamping to be the norm in most FEAR MP matches and this is just plain old lame. I found the FEAR MP to be very unispired and ordinary overall.

And as far as the single player aspects of both games, I feel Quake4 has everything that was wrong with Doom3 fixed now. The lighting is dark but not too dark... and it has a working flashlight that doesn't require you to switch off to use your weapon like with Doom3. There is a bit of a story, similar to Q2, that keeps things moving.

The single player on FEAR is a joke. I think the plot is that you are a security guard who runs through an office park with acid flashbacks of the little girl in "The Ring" once in a while to pretend there is some meaning. Then you run through the office park again. Smarter AI? Both have bots that will hide behind crates so that is highly debatable. The graphics in Fear are not all that either... not for the trade off of having it run bad on decent systems.

In summary, if you don't like Quake type games(and you know who you are) you won't like either game but if you like Quake games then Q4 is a "must have" game.

 

[MBentz]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
The single player on FEAR is a joke. I think the plot is that you are a security guard who runs through an office park with acid flashbacks of the little girl in "The Ring" once in a while to pretend there is some meaning. Then you run through the office park again. Smarter AI? Both have bots that will hide behind crates so that is highly debatable. The graphics in Fear are not all that either... not for the trade off of having it run bad on decent systems.

I don't think you're playing the same FEAR as everyone else.

Oh well, to each his own I guess.

 

[lrad50]

"Surprisingly I found the single player to be pretty fun, but kind of boring"

Contradicting yourself is not a good start.

Good review if you word it a little better.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

I would like to play FEAR, but damn, I HATE SCARY GAMES. I hate the uneasy creepy feeling and shiet. I want to have fun, not get scared the shiet out of me lol.

My system probably can't handle either game anyways, so too bad for me . (has 6600gt, and xp2600 o'ced, 1 gig of pc3200 ram. Even w/ that, I put all settings to low on battlefield2 to just be able to compete in the game. had all settings on somewhat high before, and it was like 5-10 fps madness. Even on moderate settings in DoD Source, i get 30-40 fps max. oh and I MUST HAVE at least 2x AA on at all times. jaggged edges all over the screen makes me very dizzy, that's why i don't own a ps2, since I HATE the damn fuzziness and blurry movement of ps2 games)

 

[meltdown75]

DanTMWTMP: i saved and exited the demo at one point because i got a little freaked out. ehhehe

guys i must be too easy going when it comes to game appearance and performance. the FEAR demo ran fine on my system... all i have is a 9600 pro! :Q ... Ath xp 2800, 1 gig ram...

 

[Homerboy]

They have a forum for this....