Will Quake 4 Run On Your Machine? - 2.5.05

If you had to name some games that helped shape the shooter genre, you'd surely have to include Quake in your list. Three and a half years after Quake 4's announcement at the QuakeCon 2001, id Software are still reluctant to disclose too many facts about the game, so you can only make a wild guess at whether the game will have a similar impact on the genre as its predecessors. ign.com wasn't overly discouraged by id's secrecy policy, however, and was able to glean some interesting details on the game in an interview with Tom Willits, lead designer at id. Willits on Quake 4's gameplay:

Quake 4 has much more of an all-out war feel to the game play, where you'll have to deal with squad mates and buddies, more aggressive enemies, larger scale battles in open areas, vehicle combat, etc. We've also improved the buddy AI and the monster AI greatly. Monsters will be aware of others around them, as well as their surroundings, and will react differently based on how you play. As for the weapons, if you know Doom, you know there's no rail gun, but if you know Quake, you know there's a rail gun (which does return in Quake 4, with some modifications).

And here's what he had to say on the game's system requirements:

If you had a machine that could run Doom 3 decently, it will run Quake 4 decently. If you can run games like Half-Life 2 or EverQuest 2, you should be fine. However, make sure that if you get a computer as a new upgrade, particularly one that's advertised as a gaming machine, that it has a few important features to help your experience. Most computers now would probably want at least 512 megs of RAM, and don't get a video card that has less than 128 megs of RAM - 256 megs is the way to go.

Willis didn't want to say anything about the game's release date, sounding pretty much like George Broussard from 3D Realms when he said "When it's done". This year's E3 might have some more answers for the waiting community.

Read the complete interview at ign.com.

Related info:
id Software
Raven Software
Quake 4: New Details Emerge (18 April)
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