I got Quake 4. I've been playing it single-player. Why? Because if I want to download stuff, which hikes my ping times, and the only thing that makes me stop my downloads is World of Warcraft, which I've been playing a lot of since I quit my job. So I got Quake 4 because I wanted a single-player first-person shooter. Weird, I know. I had actually started playing Half Life 2 again, but since I've beaten it already, I needed something else.

Anyway, Quake 4 doesn't feel so much like you're playing another FPS game, it feels like you're playing an action movie. This game reminds you of what "action" means. I like Half-Life 2 because it made you think a lot. Quake 4 does something different. It makes you think fast. Fortunately, what you have to think about isn't quite so complex.

It's not just how fast you have to think and react that makes it a true action game, but also the elements that make it more movie-like. As far as I have gotten in the game, I have rarely been alone. You're not by yourself out there by any means. You've got an entire fucking army with you. Sometimes you've only got one guy by your side, sometimes you've got as many as five. Wherever you go, you're constantly running into fellow space marines, many willing to help you out. Of course, this isn't new to the genre, neither is what else makes it movie-like. Wherever you go, there's stuff happening. Often, it's not even relevant to what you're doing. You'll hear about what's going on in different parts of the area over your radio. You'll look out the window and see an air strike. However, more often than not, even if it doesn't look like it will, it involves you, pulls you in.

Another thing that makes it movie-like is... and this is the bad part... you can't really go anywhere you want, do anything you want. You've got six doors to the room you're in, and only two are active. You can go back out the way you came, or go where they want you to go. Some people will like this, as they don't want to try to figure out where to go. Also, with the everywhere you go having the same feel as everywhere else you've been, it is kind of hard to figure out where you are, so not having a lot of options in where to go certainly helps in determining a direction.

The game is certainly fun. I can't give it points for orginality, since each thing they've done has been done before, however the fact that they combined so many elements, and selected ones that fit together, it really does make for a good game. They also learned a bit from their many failures in Doom 3, such as with the flashlights. There's a flashlight on your basic pistol and on your machine gun. There's not on other guns, but this adds an interesting element that is selecting your weapon based on the lighting. Granted, I've made such decisions in games before, but never was it so important.

All those who found Doom 3 as disappointing as I did will find that iD software has made up for their mistakes with Quake 4. They even finally figured out that if you load a save game for the level you're already on, you don't have to reload the entire level. That's nice.

On a side note, The Lost Coast for Half-Life 2 is out now. It's Valve's lighting demo. I'm not sure it will warrant a review.

I quit my job a little over a week ago. My last day was October 15. One of the things I was afraid of after losing my job was getting bored. I lined up a lot of things I could do while unemployed. I have actually done some of them, however it doesn't look like I'll be getting bored anytime soon. I'm starting to wonder if shooting for December re-employment is too early. Well, maybe by then I'll have finally gotten bored with everything and maybe done something productive, and if not get a new job. Currently, it doesn't look like it, considering how much I've been procrastinating doing anything on my list. I simply have no motivation.

If they were to re-release the film "All Quiet on the Western Front", news media would call it an anti-Bush movie. Republican news sources would also call it "communist".

"My mind is a swirling miasma of scintilating thoughts and turgid ideas."

- Max
Sam & Max Hit the Road