Way back in college (circa 1997), I lived on a short "24 hour quiet" hallway but you'd never know it based on the loud explosions and bursts of laughter. Although there were a couple of jocks that the college had placed there (who were appropriately paired together), the rest of us were largely antisocial, that is, until we fired up our PCs, N64s. and PSOnes. We were all gamers back when calling yourself that could make a man feel unclean, but within the confines of our ridiculously small dorm rooms we blasted one another to smithereens and reveled in the experiences. The game of choice was id Software's legendary first person shooter, Quake. My computer (a Toshiba laptop that could barely run Doom) wasn't up to code for this mammoth game so I couldn't participate in these epic contests, but I understood the game's significance. Flash forward eight years, and you and I stand upon the threshold of Quake 4. This time, however, I'll be ready.

Quake's history is one of change, a series of games that share a common thread but are different in several ways. The original is a full 3D FPS that is by and large a Doom clone with a heavy multiplayer focus. The inevitable sequel was more single-player driven, and the third entry was pretty much all about the multiplayer. Once again, this new Quake, which is being developed by Raven Software under the watchful eyes of id, will march to its own beat, though it shares some similarities with Quake 2 in that it, much like Doom 3, is mostly about the single-player experience, and if you consider yourself a Quake veteran, it's unlike anything that you've seen before.

Quake 4 picks up right after the conclusion of Quake 2. That second title in the series ended with you, as an unnamed soldier, beating the living hell out of Macron, the alien leader of our bitter enemies, the Strogg. Assuming that the aliens would be too weak to mobilize, Earth chilled for a bit and watched them from afar, and unfortunately for us, the Strogg didn't feel like collapsing. Instead it banded together and began to rebuild its forces. Shocked by their fortitude (as well as the $#$%$^& nerve of these disgusting creatures), we decide to return to the planet Stroggos (because where else would things known as Stroggs reside), launch a major offensive the likes of which the galaxy probably hasn't seen, and instead of crippling our enemies we would deliver one gigantic death blow that would in theory wipe these sons of $#$%$#* from the universe like a piece of Bounty absorbs spilt milk on a counter. The Stroggs would be gone, caput, hunted into their unholy extinction.

Unfortunately, and much like in the films Aliens and Starship Troopers, these monstrosities were more prepared than we first thought. There's a whole bunch of these suckers and this includes things we probably haven't seen before, so what was supposed to be a quick strike has evolved into a full blown war, but unlike in the previous Quake's, you won't be alone.

Actually, I'm getting a little ahead of myself, because first I need to inform you of who you'll be playing as. For the first time in the series the main character will actually have a name, that being Matthew Kane, but this tough-as-nails one man army doesn't have a title just for the hell of it. He actually comes with baggage, a personality as well as a history that'll get dug up because fighting alongside you will be fellow space soldiers who will sound and react differently from one another.

In the opening sequence you're "dropped in" with your squad (known as the Rhinos). You're basically the team that's sent in before the military fully knows what the Strogg are up to, so you think that you're the one who's going to deliver this final climactic blow to your opponents; the strike that would just annihilate them. However, your ship is shot down and you crash land onto Stroggos, but since the Strogg assume that you and your buddies were killed upon impact you're left for dead. When you come to and step out of your pod you come to the realization that things aren't as they seem, and that unleashing this supposed last strike is going to be extremely difficult, but as I said, you're going to have a lot of help.

That's another huge change in the Quake series as well as for id in general. In previous games you're a one man wrecking crew who's armed to the teeth and doesn't need anyone's help. However, in Quake 4 you still have access to a $#%^load of awesome weapons including the rail gun, the nail gun (which can supposedly be used to ascend walls), a grenade launcher, a shotgun, a rocket launcher, as well as some new toys that the game's developers aren't commenting on), but you'll be accompanied by some fellow soldiers who'll watch your back. I'm not sure whether they'll accompany you throughout the entire game (I'm guessing they won't because of one special gameplay feature, which I'll get to in a moment), but this will no doubt give the game a unique feel all it's own as far as Quake titles are concerned.

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