Metareview: F.E.A.R. versus Quake 4
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Oct 17th 2005 at 12:00PM }
It's a big week for PC gaming, featuring the debut of two highly anticipated FPS titles, F.E.A.R. & Quake 4—old school versus new school. So how do these two giants stack up from a critic's perspective?
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F.E.A.R. (Metacritic: 91/100) - 6 reviews (read: Computer & Video Games, Games Radar UK, IGN, Gamespot, Yahoo! Games)
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Quake 4 (Metacritic: 81/100) - 4 reviews (read: IGN)
It's clear that F.E.A.R. is the early favorite among critics—but keep an eye on the averages as the reviews pour in. Quake 4 sounds like it's plagued with staleness, while F.E.A.R. takes us in a fresh direction. It's new school all the way with the critics, but which game are you more excited about? Do you plan to buy either? Or both? One before the other? Speak your mind.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jimmy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
They should have just sold quake 4 as a Doom 3 Expansion pack, thats exactly what it looks like.
Or they could have just patched doom3 to give all the enemies robot legs.
Paul Gale @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I haven't played Quake 4, but at E3 I got an opportunity to check out FEAR, and it was really impressive.
Paul Gale
Nico @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Id is really failing as of late. After Doom 3 i really dont trust them to make good games anymore.
Of course Q4 is made by Ravensoft, who made the cool Soldier of Fortune games. But still...
Id should stick to making tech, witch is something they are really good at.
Walker @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
To me (and to a lot of people) it really boils down to how these games will turn out in multiplayer functions, something that reviews hardly touch upon (if at all). It will be months before we can really see which has a better online community, better mods, better support, and a bigger network of players.
It sounds like single-player FEAR will be better than single-player Quake4 from the reviews so far, but how many time do you actually plan on playing through the single player campaign?
Chiablo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
So far, I'm really enjoying F.E.A.R. In a world filled with 'me too' games, this is a breath of fresh air.
MUhockey @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
The FEAR demo was great, after I played that, I placed on preorder immediately at my local GameStop. I don't plan on buying Quake 4, for the simple reason that FEAR will have me busy for a while I'm sure.
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"Quake 4 sounds like it’s plagued with staleness"
Well...D'UH!!! I coulda told you that. DOOM 3 had the same problem. Lately it seems all the ID engine games have had no real story and instead are just mindless killing and have no real story.
"Id should stick to making tech, witch is something they are really good at."
Yea...tech that hardly anyone is using anymore. The DOOM 3 engine is FUGLY!!! Yea its nice that its got real time shadows but shadows look more realistic when they are soft b/c it gives them depth. Plus Epic makes it alot easier for people to learn their tools.
On a side note...I've actually played (and beat) FEAR a while back. The single-player story in the game is pretty damn freaky. In one of the reviews on metacritics, they say that the environments are all kind of the same which is true.
I dunno if they did it but my name also might be in the credits under the "Gamespy" section. I dunno for sure tho b/c they arent required to do that but they offered to put our names in it.
DJVO @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Damn these video card crunching developers!
I just bought a video card last year so I could play far cry on decent settings. It did fine with Doom 3 as well so I thought I was OK. Then I played the F.E.A.R. demo which I thought was very impressive but my damn video card can barely handle it. Looks like Im going to have to get another one!
As for which game is which. I'm definitely more excited about FEAR although I thought DOOM3 was not bad. I hope Q4 has a multiplayer and mod community like Q3A did because that would be fantastic. I think I was playing Q3A steady for like 2-3 years.
paralipsis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
The F.E.A.R. demo was enough for me. I had a bit of fun ooohing and ahhhing at the visuals, and I must admit the the AI was pretty slick, but as a game I was unimpressed. I haven't even bothered with Quake 4 at all.
Guess I just have to admit that I no longer enjoy FPSs, it all just seems like more of the same.
Dralt @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
It is more of the same. Better graphics. Better AI. Same gameplay. Very repetitive.
The same goes with war shooters.
This genre has reached saturation.
Peter @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Quake 4 will suck the big one and I won't even bring myself to play through it for a single minute. I still play QuakeWorld and there will always be a special place in my gamer heart for all things Quake, but after the second one things got stale. Q3 Multiplayer totally blows (always did) and now Q4 looks to bring the same thing to the table but in the horrible D3 engine! Don't even pick up Q4 for the mods, because there won't be any... Doom 3 tech has proven to be useless in multiplayer and Quake will fall flat on its face in this area for sure.
If FEARs engine stands up to 16 player matches than it will already have proven itself more useful than Doom 3 tech. I only played the Fear demo and thought it was OK. Lithtech has always 'felt' strange to me.
OTAM @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"I just bought a video card last year so I could play far cry on decent settings. It did fine with Doom 3 as well so I thought I was OK. Then I played the F.E.A.R. demo which I thought was very impressive but my damn video card can barely handle it. Looks like Im going to have to get another one!"
This is the exact reason I don't come within 8 feet of PC gaming.
Psiven @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Yo how is MP in Q4? I didn't even finish HL2, I just play CSS, so thats all I really care about.
Defkkon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"I just bought a video card last year so I could play far cry on decent settings. It did fine with Doom 3 as well so I thought I was OK. Then I played the F.E.A.R. demo which I thought was very impressive but my damn video card can barely handle it. Looks like Im going to have to get another one!"
This is the exact reason I don't come within 8 feet of PC gaming.
Its the reason why I gave up PC gaming two years ago. Freakin' video cards are such a waste of cash. I don't care of my console has the same graphics for the 4 years I own it - at least I don't need to pump more money into it to play.
Ladyfox @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Sad part is that both of these games, Quake 4 especially since it's based on the Doom 3 engine, will make anyone who is prone to motion sickness very ill within the first 10 minutes of gameplay. Sorry guys but, this is one customer that is'nt buying your games until you either fix the issue or ship games with sufficient quantities of motion sickness medication to play.
At this rate, they're slowly pushing me out of PC gaming in general. I mean, what's the use of playing a nice looking FPS like F.E.A.R. if all it's going to do is make you sick no matter what video card you have in your system?
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"The F.E.A.R. demo was enough for me. I had a bit of fun ooohing and ahhhing at the visuals, and I must admit the the AI was pretty slick, but as a game I was unimpressed. I haven't even bothered with Quake 4 at all."
In actuality the demo that was in the single player FEAR demo was different parts of various levels from the full game. Just b/c you played the demo doesn't mean you got the full experience the game has to offer.
Oh yea...if you thought the demo and thought your video card couldn't handle it, the final retail version might run alot better. The guys at Monolith optimized the code and cleaned everything up and it runs alot better.
pspimp @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
#6, me too! I knew right after playing the demo I had to have this game. Great FPS fix.
MosquitoControl @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"It sounds like single-player FEAR will be better than single-player Quake4 from the reviews so far, but how many time do you actually plan on playing through the single player campaign?"
With 90% of games I spend more time with the SP than the multiplayer. I'll try the multiplayer once or twice then go back to my favorite. It doesn't add much resale value unless it is exceptionally good and picked up by a wide community. The need for a wide community means not too many games manage to do this.
I want good single player. Q4 looks terrible, like nearly everything Raven has done recently. FEAR looks like a lot of fun. It looks like it shares a lot of the repetition flaws of Doom 3 yet has varied AI to make up for it. Doom 3 was 100% repetition. FEAR looks to be only partly.
OMGWTFBBQ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I figured alot of you noobs would be bashing Quake4. it's oldschool Deathmatch updated. So all you pussy counterstrike headshot camping homos can just go back to whining while I enjoy the onslaught of great mods like Quake 4 Fortress and Rocket Arena 4 and good ol Fashioned Deathmatch.
One thing all the reviews fail to mention is monoliths lazy ass method for using sound encoding. Thier stupid installer won't even install codecs properly if you have FFDshow (pretty much everyone who watches vids on thier pc) and matrovoski installed. Pure bullshit. They've had this problem since NOLF2. not to say FEAR hasnt been fun but it's a bit overrated.
K u noobs can go back to your stupid camper strike that my grandma can play cuz it's slow like molasses.
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
OMGWTFBBQ: Grow up...no forget that...go back to your mom's basement instead.
nod @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Maybe if they're nice, iD can get J. Romero back... just a thought.
Kevin C. Dorff @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
F.E.A.R. is visually quite stunning and is a big step forward for FPS games. One really cool features is the enemies doen't just sit still and wait for you to kill them, the actually go around back ways to try to flank you -- you really have to watch your back. This game is definately worth checking out.
0/0 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
FEAR is boring. Motion sickness applies here, too. And if you think it's a refreshing take on the fps market, see Doom 3.
Quake 4 will be a bigger game than FEAR. Old habits die hard. Remember all the backlash iD got when Q3A came out. "No single player??? Too cartoony!" They laughed last. They'll be laughing again. Why? Because arcade-style multiplayer fps pwns all other fps games, despite what "critics" (who listens to them anyway?) think now. Deep down we all know how much bigger this game is going to be than FEAR.
Q4 won't surpass CS necessarily, but it won't be far behind.
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
lol wow Kevin...you literally stole the words out of my mouth. I have been telling people the EXACT same thing for a while now...lol...^5
DJVO @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
@OMGWTFBBQ
Not everyone is bashing Q4 bro. People are just concerned with getting some freshness (no I didn't mean to say "fresh meat") in their FPS. I really hope it has the massive support/mod community of Q3. All the best maps were Fan made maps. Can anyone say EXCESSIVE mod? Damn I miss playing excessive in the good ol RUNTFEST map!
Mmmmmm. Tasty.
I will also say I miss the hyper-intensity of a really hot Q3 death match or a 1v1 railfest on Q3DM17. I dont think any FPS has been able to match that type of feeling since.
Eric Bostrom @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I too upgraded my PC for hl2 and doom3, it handles f.e.a.r. just fine as well. p4 2.4c, 1gb pc3200, i865, 7200rpm ide/8mb cache drives and an ati 9800pro.
I had the pro o/c'd which made f.e.a.r. artifacty, but at stock speeds 800x600 autodetect was fine.
I played through the demo yesterday, loved it. freaked me out a few times (coming down the ladder, spooky shadows) and I was playing in the middle of the day.
I'll probably buy this with money, instead of torrent'ing, but I'll wait till it comes down in price a bit.
I might get q4, as I've years of q3 mplayer under my belt. The problem is as I've gotten older, I rarely go to lan parties, which is where the quake series was really fun.
Spong Bo @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"One really cool features is the enemies doen't just sit still and wait for you to kill them, the actually go around back ways to try to flank you -- you really have to watch your back."
WOW! You mean we're all the way back to Descent-class AI, in only 10 years? That's *AMAZING* I'll have to go and buy it now.
FEAR Demo didn't impress me greatly.
QUAKE 4 Trailer put me *right off*, I feel like I've seen the whole plot, and there's nothing even remotely new.
Still, you don't always need new - World War II has a pretty well-known plot, but games usually manage to keep it interesting with their particular twist on it.
On the other hand, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory... that sounds exciting. ET rocked.
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"Still, you don't always need new - World War II has a pretty well-known plot, but games usually manage to keep it interesting with their particular twist on it."
...yet another game plot that has been done to death...*snoore*
Theone @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
FEAR looks like it has some new features. Quake 4
is just the same game that it was before nothing new. Just the Doom 3 engine witch sucked.
FEAR is all new but its built a little bit off an old game you guys might never even herad of it was a game called "Blood" one of the first games Monolith made.
No game is better than the other its all about what your looking for. Q4 all the Quake people will probly play it. People who never played qucke will probly play FEAR
Jago @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Where did you hear that FEAR was built off the Blood engine? I could have sworn that the engine built from scratch.
rayk @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I'd love to play Q4, for it's multiplayer - I've spent many many hours playing Q3, I simply love deathmatch! Railgun, rocket launcher and the good old gauntlet XD
However, since I currently run a Radeon 9550 I don't think I'll be playing it.
After 11 or so years of pc gaming I have finally said farewell. The constant video card upgrades to just get better graphics is very off putting.
Consoles here I come XD - planning to get revolution, ds and probably ps3(maybe ps2 now if there is a price cut, will be a long wait till ps3). Curently just have a psp.
Jez @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I'm not keen on FEAR, maybe I'm just too girly for it but the demo just didn't encourage me. Quake has a special place in my heart and Q4 is on the shopping list, though.
Sagan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
To be honest I liked Doom 3 because of its straight forward action and I didn't like Far Cry because the AI annoyed me to death because they forced you to be super careful about what you do.
Looks like it's going to be somehow similar with FEAR and Quake 4. But I'm still undecided... Guess I'll have to wait for the Quake 4 demo.
Dis @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
The Fear demo was ok, but it was boring tbh. Sure it looked nice and the bits with the girl in were scary, but apart from that it was the same again as all the others.
I actually found Doom3 to be the best fps of the current crop. Halo 2 I didn't finish, just didn't impress me. Half Life 2 was so overrated I only completed it incase I was missing something supposedly great.
I played Q3 online so will get Q4 for online and hope Threewave and other mods come out for it. The fact it looks like a good Doom3 style fps shooter is a huge bonus!
ZeroXcuses @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
Hmm, because we knew about Q4 long before F.E.A.R, and most opinions are based upon Q4 using the Doom 3 engine (while a lot of people, for various reasons, say that they did not like the engine, the game, or both) and F.E.A.R.'s awesome demo and Q4's lack therof.
Personally, I like D3 and Q4's nostalgic style. I grow weary of headshots and other 'revolutionary' features of fps games these days. I would like to return to the old style that D3 (and Q4 will) provides.
Now, F.E.A.R. brings some action game elements (Max Payne) to the fps genre. The slow motion is not new, nor are the shadows or burst fire (Rainbow Six). IMO, F.E.A.R. just brings in a fresh, new story with all the pretty graphcis that we have seen in HL2 and Far Cry and D3.
Technically, both games introduce more of the same (to me). It's just that one is even more old fashioned than the other. I'm buying both, regardless.
ZeroXcuses @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
F.E.A.R. was built on the Jupiter engine, not the Blood engine.
Jon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
. Posted Oct 17, 2005, 1:31 PM ET by Peter
Quake 4 will suck the big one and I won't even bring myself to play through it for a single minute. I still play QuakeWorld and there will always be a special place in my gamer heart for all things Quake, but after the second one things got stale. Q3 Multiplayer totally blows (always did) and now Q4 looks to bring the same thing to the table but in the horrible D3 engine! Don't even pick up Q4 for the mods, because there won't be any... Doom 3 tech has proven to be useless in multiplayer and Quake will fall flat on its face in this area for sure.
If FEARs engine stands up to 16 player matches than it will already have proven itself more useful than Doom 3 tech. I only played the Fear demo and thought it was OK. Lithtech has always 'felt'
STFU your a retard and a half Q3 excessive mod rules!!!
John @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I preferred Quake 4 over F.E.A.R. In my honest opinion Quake 4 had better graphics. I don't understand why everyone is bashing Quake 4, but of course, we are entitled to our own opinions. The reason why I enjoyed Quake 4 over F.E.A.R because of the gameplay, the enemy design and structure was well designed, and the weapons were highly advanced, I guess.
F.E.A.R was also good as well, but both games had its flaws.
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"I figured alot of you noobs would be bashing Quake4. it's oldschool Deathmatch updated. So all you pussy counterstrike headshot camping homos can just go back to whining while I enjoy the onslaught of great mods like Quake 4 Fortress and Rocket Arena 4 and good ol Fashioned Deathmatch.
One thing all the reviews fail to mention is monoliths lazy ass method for using sound encoding. Thier stupid installer won't even install codecs properly if you have FFDshow (pretty much everyone who watches vids on thier pc) and matrovoski installed. Pure bullshit. They've had this problem since NOLF2. not to say FEAR hasnt been fun but it's a bit overrated.
K u noobs can go back to your stupid camper strike that my grandma can play cuz it's slow like molasses."
I could not have said it better myself.
Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
"I figured alot of you noobs would be bashing Quake4. it's oldschool Deathmatch updated. So all you pussy counterstrike headshot camping homos can just go back to whining while I enjoy the onslaught of great mods like Quake 4 Fortress and Rocket Arena 4 and good ol Fashioned Deathmatch.
One thing all the reviews fail to mention is monoliths lazy ass method for using sound encoding. Thier stupid installer won't even install codecs properly if you have FFDshow (pretty much everyone who watches vids on thier pc) and matrovoski installed. Pure bullshit. They've had this problem since NOLF2. not to say FEAR hasnt been fun but it's a bit overrated.
K u noobs can go back to your stupid camper strike that my grandma can play cuz it's slow like molasses."
I could not have said it better myself.
mark @ Dec 18th 2005 10:00PM
I would like to say that doom 3 had some of the most impressive visuals. For some reason wiht fear turned all the way up runs better then doom3 on medium settings. I loved how the characters in doom look really human. The artists of doom3 did their homework. The levels of doom3 look more rounded and rich then in fear. Raven always makes their people look weird. ITs like you're looking at a bug eyed puppet ex. Lt. Voss, and Sgt strauss, rhodes. Corporal Kane looks like a very nice model. quake 4 had some interesting level but they cut some corners in the level design. Fear had some ugly levels. For example the condensers and vents on the rooftops were flat. I know id would have done a better job than that. Gameplay. Fear was just so much fun. I was spoked but not terrified. And killing squads of soldiers is way more fun then lobbing 99 rockets into a 4 story demon. I felt so much freer. doom3 was so scripted and I was paranoid to move around anywhere and really explore the nokes and crannies of the game. I hope that in the next edition of fear should incorporate the halo/far cry style of continuous levels and also allow you to psychic command a team as well as aquire jedi-like mind tricks and scare your enemies. and watch then shoot at mental images that aren't realy there. maybe some extended fight capabilities.
In conclusion, ID software makes technology and engines. They should even lease out their modelers and stuff. Raven should fire someone in their art department or their art director. I hate those polar express-like creepy models. I swear i was more afraid of the marines in quake 4 then the stroggs. And Fear should try to get some better level modelers but they should keep up the good work. i played fear 3 times through and it never gets old.