shootout: Quake4 vs FEAR

exige

over the past days ive seen many threads of people comparing q4 to FEAR on various forums. some torn apart between the two...still undecided. i even had a long arguement with my mate (aka Sandok here) about which is better. so i decided to do an honest shootout between the two, eventhough im leaning towards FEAR. here goes:

Intro: The two are completely different genres of FPS games. FEAR is an urban shooter based on present times while Q4 in the future. yes shooting is involved in the two, but they are at different ends of the spectrum. FEAR has more immersive style of shooting with a bit of wandering involved along with paranormal 'supernatural' scary bits while Q4 is more run n gun shooter similair to Doom3 (tis also based on the doom engine)...but its also very diff. from doom3, its much less darker and there's more varied atmosphtere. there is action on every corner of Q4, but on FEAR its just firefights. FEAR uses slow mo similair to Max Payne, but not exactly the same...

Graphics: You'll adore the FEAR graphics if your favourite shape is square. But if you're a normal human being, you'll find them rather blocky. No doubt the effect particles are spectacular..when you shoot something, each object behaves differently. Glass breaks, floor messes up, blood spatters, smoke is created etc. FEAR has one of THE best firefights you'll see in any game. The whole look of the room changes the instant you fire a gun or throw a nade. However if the whole look of the game wasnt soo blocky, it certainly would get my vote over Q4. But it doesnt. Why? Because Q4 graphics overwhelm that of FEAR. It isnt blocky, the lighting is perfect, the gun models loook varied unlike FEAR which is all grey. The characters are very detailed and omg do the faces look damn good. seems almost lifelike with the dialogue synchronisation. With a high end rig, Q4 showers you with eye candy + it runs better than FEAR and is better optimised.

Sounds: This one goes to FEAR. The music in FEAR is honestly mind blowing.Its dark, moody and fits perfectly to the atmosphere...and rather ironic at times. It sounds oriental, kind of indian (classical) type at times; which can be nerve wrecking. You're going through an empty corridor waiting to be creeped out and its playing in the background...wonderful. Ironic, because the player is in an elevator which jolly and happy music while being flanked by what seems like a 1000 soldiers. On the other hand Q4's music seemed very normal, like every other game...nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion.

As for the weapon sounds, id still go for FEAR. They just sound perfect, the shotgun sounds powerful, the nailgun as if its shooting nails. additionally, Q4 also has great weapon sounds. Music wise FEAR prevails, but as for other sounds, both games are of the same quality.

Gameplay Eventhough they're both shooters...their gameplay differs enormously. FEAR involves lot of wandering through dark passages which increases the element of suprise while Q4 is just run n gun. There is action on every corner of Q4, but in FEAR its less frequent...but when it does happen, it happens with style. The soldiers flank you using proper tactics (nades, guns, cover etc.) while Q4 there are usually less at a time. There is no doub that FEAR AI is spectacualr and this certainly makes the gameplay more enjoyable. You're constantly trying to figure out ways to defeat the enemy + Slow mo is just damn right entertaing. Q4's gameplay is similair to many other games ive played in the past...its nothing different. It sticks to tradtional FPS genre and like FEAR can be quite repetative at times. But i had the tendacy to quit Q4 more than FEAR because FEAR constantly tries to scare you witht that element of suprise and paranormal stuff while Q4 just thorws out enemies of different sizes.

End word Technically Q4 is a better game, because it has better graphics, traditional run n gun gameplay. Its also longer than FEAR and the MP will keep you occupied for a long time since its better than FEAR's. However FEAR tries to be different (ok the slow mo was in Max payne but its quite diff). FEAR is actually freaky to play...sudden faces pop up on the screen and is much more immersive than Q4. Its gameplay is unique, there's lots more thinking involved than Q4. Q4 offers splendid shooting with no lack of action, but if you want to play a different kind of shooter which is actually scary (well sort of) then go for FEAR.

Sandok

Well exige... I must say you favored FEAR a ton in your review.

Let's go back to what I can tell ya:

Graphics:

FEAR has a good engine but badly optimised and very unhuman. I've never seen soooo many squares. And on a crappy system, without all the high end stuff enabled, fear is just hideous unlike Q4 which scales well and also runs well. You also see curves which is a must for todays games. We aren't in the 90s like in HL1. Nothing beats quake here:

Fear: 7/10

Q4: 9.5/10

Sound
Okay, music is more prominent in FEAR but i still find quake very enjoybale. The music isn't memorable in either title so I think it^s more or less even. And the beauty in q4 is that you always have the music of your different weapons (rail gun, launcher, etc) instead.

Fear: 8/10

Quake: 8/10

Gameplay
I'm sorry mate but I disagree. FEAR, though it's fun is just maxpayne in first person perspective. It's nothing new and for me, it's a FPS like any other too. Quake is no different, agreed but at least it VARIES... That's something you forgot mate. I mean, quake has guns, on foot, corridors, outside, tanks, etc.... And i've only played what, 4 hours?! Fear is the same... In and out, nothing new... You compared Doom 3 to Quake. Well Doom 3 and Fear have a lot more in common. Same corridors, dark... Fight... Corridor... Fight.

Fear: 8/10
Quake: 9/10

You forgot to check how long you'll be playing both for. Quake is much better online and longer in singleplayer than FEAR...

But hell, to each his own

exige

hmm sandok have you played FEAR? agreed about the end part though, Q4 has better bang for the buck...

Sandok

Yes I have... The demo mate We need more people to give their point of view

Necrosis

I'm 50/50 on both games myself. However, it's kinda like comparing apples to oranges.

However, Fear really isn't freaking me out that much. I think "The Suffering" did a better job of doing that.

pr0digal jenius

The on thing I'll add, is that the level design and over all atmosphere/tension in FEAR is great enough that I honestly didn't notice the overwhelming "squareness" of the things until yall pointed it out and I actively looked for it.

Sandok

Well PJ I never said FEAR is bad... Both games got their "special" thing.

MIG-31

So far i do rate F.E.A.R quite high......this will be a keeps for me.....gameply is top notch stuff and the graphics is excellent....only complaints may be with the level design....Levels are to square and a little repetative....But i can overlook that.That is more noticable in the first ten mins or so do to no action is within that time.

As for q4 i have only just ordered my copy and am awaiting delivery....so can not comment.

klevo

Quake wins for me. What RAVEN did with the engine is unique. It looks better and runs better than D3 so nearly everyone could enjoy it.

Vikingod

Quake gets points in my book just for being finished. FEAR is a great deal of fun, but some more time should have been put into it (design, tweaking, bug fixes, you name it, it needs it). FEAR is a good game none the less. The AI is far better then Quake, imo. Quake level design is FARRRRRR better than FEAR. Quake is definetly more difficult and action packed, but I don't think FEAR is supposed to be action packed, more suspense that way. FEAR has more eye candy. I dont mean graphics necessarily, but the bullet hole, the gore (call me old fashioned), the particle effects, are all great, and very "next gen", too bad bugs and optomization issues take away from the experience as a whole.

All said and done, I am actually enjoying the games about equally. I have played FEAR more, but just because I have had it longer (even though it took me two days to get the damn thing running). Best buy wise, definetly Quake, at least that game is finished.

Zardon

The level design in F.E.A.R. is great? you mean the "10 hour level"?

F.E.A.R. while enjoyable looks and feels unfinished and the engine still needs tweaking, the level design is bland, repetitive and apart from the first and last 20 minutes is totally forgettable. It is hopefully a sign of good things to come but as a "game" its distinctively stale.

pr0digal jenius

i never said it was varied, but I mean the way it all flows. The transitions from large to small spaces, the placement of little things to hide behind and control movement(guard rails, stairs, benches, bookshelves, etc)

Zardon

Havent you only played the demo though? Seriously, I actually quite enjoyed F.E.A.R. overall but the whole 9 hours in the middle I can remember nothing about, to me that is NOT good level design, and ill be frankly honest, when I reached the end I was glad for it to end, that to me is not a good game. So im torn between it, with the fact, the effects are lovely and while not still finished nor optimised certainly were fun to play. Going into slowmo to take out four or five soldiers while ducking in behind a wall to recover got the heart pounding, but after a few hours I really was waiting for that "special level" which would make my jaw drop and say "damn... this is awesome". but each level was the same, run up stairs, pick a few guys off, pick up packs, press a laptop button, rinse, repeat.

Quake4 is more in the style of a Half Life 2 game, with massively varied levels, vehicles, great voice acting, script and story, it is a much better and more rounded game, with a smoother engine.

I dont honestly see FEAR touching the heels of Quake4 gameplay.

exige

i'll have to agree with zardon on the level design of Q4 being far more superior than FEAR's. FEAR you always seem to be fighting in offices or basement. A bit more variety would've helped the game enormously. to be fair, Q4 was much more repetitive than FEAR because it had more than just shooting...you had to wander looking for stuff (which can be both good and bad) and there's also the element of paranormal incidents.

Sandok

What are you off ur rocker exige? Q4 is far from reptitive. You have different levels designs (different fighting genre), vehicales (again different), and a billion different weapons. Quake is as repetitive as HL2 and farcry. Which means it ain't at all.

exige

the vehicle sequence in the beginning was good...but doing it again in a different slower one was just boring as hell...i waiting for the level to end. now thats repetitive for me

Zardon

well I guess if you like running around the same level for 10 hours you would find it boring. Remind me to get you on our reviewers list, you seem to be very open minded when it comes to games

No_Style

F.E.A.R.'s level design suits situations well. Firefights work really well in the levels F.E.A.R sets out, lots of places to hide and many positions to attack from. Monolith focused on what they wanted and they succeeded in that respect, thus they neglected the overall variation of the game.

Quake 4, much simplistic level design, but they vary a lot. There aren't many ways to attack an enemy in Quake 4. It's pretty linear, and there's not much for the enemies to work with.

On the talk of engines, I've always praised ID Software's work with engines. (I look forward to RTCW2!) F.E.A.R's engine although great with powerful hardware, feels like it needs more time in the tuning factory.

I'd go on, but.. I'm going to finish Quake 4.

exige

meh i sense saracasm...
yes you do the same thing for ten hours, but nonetheless i REALLY enjoyed the firefights and freakyishness, which made it worthwhile. quake4 was just like any other shooter for me...it provided nothing special.

Sandok

Well exige, you know that I know that you favor FEAR alot. YOu preordered and everything and you weren't gonna hate it no matter what. I was enthousiastic about FEAR when I first saw the vids but the MP sucks, the SP demo was boring and all in all I was disapointed.

Quake on the other hand had the opposite effect. I mean, I wasn't looking forward to Quake at all (since I'm a UT fan and never really liked the other quakes games I had tried) but Quake 4 grew on me.

And about the vehicales, now if you can't drive them, that might explain why you dislike em

Necrosis

Ha,ha hopefully some one will come up with a F.E.A.R. mod for Quake 4!!

exige

i can drive em quite well thank you. im not saying Q4 is a bad game..in fact it exceeded my expectations..it turned out to be great. i enjoyed playing it no doubt. all im saying is that i prefer FEAR because its gameplay imho was better than that of Quake. you should play FEAR before criticisng it; other's opinions can easily influence one...

Sandok

I played the demo... You loved the demo's gameplay, I hated it... Remeber?

PS: Nobody really cares about my opinions anyways

Zardon

The mod scene for Quake is normally good, im sure we will see loads of tasty addon's for 4.