WTF !! How can this screenshot colors be so ugly ?? 

whoever is responisble for the nexus core arena fight (on skill 2) should be dismissed at once! this really was the most annoying thing i've played for a VERY long time. the only reason i didn't cheat was because i had no idea how to bring down the console (duh).
in retrospecive it probably wasn't that hard, but as i played it those stupid flying homing-missles shooting fatsos sucked big time - two would have been fine, four were shit. i don't know how long it took me to get past this area, but i guess some 30 tries at least...

compared to that (and in general, too) the final fight was ridicously easy. this fact actually also reminded me of q2, where the player not only had the bfg and lots of ammo, but also quads and pents en masse, so the macron became a joke.
the final fight should always be the ultimate challenge, hard but at the same time not annoying. unfortunately, very few newer games manage to fulfill this principle.

anyway, despite all the nitpicks i mentioned, i really enjoyed playing q4 - great graphics, details, sounds, awesome-looking monsters (and nice porting from q2), cool environments, great overall atmosphere -> excellent game!

(now, i only hope nightmare is not as bleh as in doom3...) 

what nexus core, remind me?

yeha final was too easy, especially the makaron itself - ~10 seconds! 

near the end - in the last map before the finale.
hall with some columns, four runner-martial-arts-strogg, four flying fatsos, two spiders... remember? 

I don't remember fighting the Makron...I am pretty sure that after I destroyed that big brain thing it went straight into the ending cinematic.

I either have a faulty memory or somehow skipped the entire Makron fight! 

Makron is before the Brain in the same arena 

yeah, that was actually challenging bit, but I liked it. Reminded me of the typical q1 custom sp finale.
several 'flying fatsos' at once are hard - the blue rocket kills in one hit and has huge splash 

esp ravens ex employee comments

http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12669&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 

have you found any easter eggs? because i haven't, at least not that i could recall...
but there have to be some - it wouldn't be quake without? 

none.
some stashed supplies only 

Was a good fun game. Good enough gameplay and nice maps, and a fairly good atmosphere. Not as good as it should have, too linear and some obvious weakness, and not very progressive, but it's useful to have straightforward fun FPSs as well as proper innovative ones.

Likes:

Good general designs.
Decent amount of monsters.
Stroggos setting.
Any monsters that are strogg-like.
Outdoor bits.
Other marines and proper missions feel.
Nice GFX effects.
Gladiator rail effect.
Stroggification.

Dislikes:

Vehicles (often artificial and silly).
Too linear, on rails the whole time.
Arenas (also silly and artificial).
Not enough proper Strogg monsters (too many pseudo-humans).
Ending boring.
Should have had more Q2-like enviroments.

That'll do. 

Overall, I really liked it, enough to have gone back and played through again this weekend anyway. Seemed solid, felt Quakey, Strogg look fairly Stroggish. Might be imagining things but it sometimes seemed like enemies had different particle FX (blood/sparks etc.) depending whereabouts you hit them. Weapon upgrades work well, taking a weapon that is already good and making it better is the way to go (as opposed to say, Pariah, where most weapons are fucking useless until at least one upgrade has been applied). A more engaging and exciting game than Doom 3 I think.

Where are the parasites? They were my favourite Q2 enemy, I guess there is a creature that looks a bit like one but really isn't the same thing at all. Definitely would have liked some monstrous monsters.

The worst thing about the tank and mech levels is the way the regenerating shields are implemented. It's like the designers saw the regenerating player shield in Halo, but failed to grasp what it was that made that game mechanic fun. In Halo, you get beaten up and the hide in a corner shitting yourself, hoping that the shield regenerates before you are found by the enemy. Once you've been in the clear for a few seconds, the shield charges in a snap. In Quake 4 you fight a bunch of enemies in an arena and your ride gets shot up a bit, but unless you're really trying to get fucked over it's probably still OK. Still, better wait for the shields to recharge though... about a month later the shield starts to charge, another couple of weeks charging follows that and eventually you're good to go! Basically, shield depeletion is only a threat to you if you are impatient enough to proceed without waiting for a recharge. Thus Quake 4's version of shield regeneration serves only to artificially slow your progress through the level.

The grenade launcher's blast radius seems to be about 5 miles. This is both a good and a bad thing.

I like the multiplayer, although it seems like the pure server system still has the same stupid problems for custom maps that Doom 3 did. For goodness sake, just make it work like Quake 3 did! Also, needs more player models. 

http://ucguides.savagehelp.com/Quake4/enemies.htm 

Could they possibly use the word "unrelenting" any more?

The "Putrafication Processing Slave" idea is pretty neat though, I've never seen anything like that... 

Could they possibly use the word "unrelenting" any more?

Yeah, but they're also "brutal" and "devastating" :P

I've never seen anything like that

What, you mean a big blobby boss monster you can't kill with your guns, and instead have to work your way around the perimeter of the room to activate a feature that kills it? 

looks like mancubi. that's a good thing. ^_^ 

What, you mean a big blobby boss monster you can't kill with your guns, and instead have to work your way around the perimeter of the room to activate a feature that kills it?

No. From what I read the impression I got is you can ride the monster or you interact with some part of it's interface to control/kill it. 

That's not how I read it. Interesting.
Is this the case? Can someone who's completed the game confirm..? 

From the list: none of your weapons will destroy the Processing Slave, you simply avoid its attacks while working your way round to the control console situated on the left hand side of it's body. Once the control console is activated the Processing Slave will smash the glass and a door will open to its left.

Ok so you can't ride it, I surmised that from the screenshot of it (looked like you could hop on top of it), but otherwise kinda interesting. 

It's just a stationary mini-boss monster. You run past it avoiding instant-death attacks (on hard skill), and then press a button which kills it. Looks cool but not really the epitomy of exciting gameplay *_* 

defecation slave was a neat one actually
def better than makoron

oh, and you were not supposed to look at it unless you played the game! 

actually, i wasn't planning on getting it soon, but those monsters actually look pretty neat, so i might pick it up now. ;) 

No. From what I read the impression I got is you can ride the monster or you interact with some part of it's interface to control/kill it.

Needs more Shadow of the Colossus.

^_~ 

I like how they call the rollerball enemy a "convoy." The entity name is monster_strogg_convoy because it's the monster in the convoy missions. :P