It is all done so handily and with a level of respect that is often missing from other remasters that I have played, and it all contributes to that all essential game feel that Quake would be nothing without. The enemies and locales get the typical facelift treatment with smoothed and enhanced models, but you could easily change it back to the blocky originals or add new effects like motion blur and enhanced lighting to bring the game into the modern age. Every tweak, every improvement can be dialled back or increased to your liking, letting you as the player tailor the experience to your liking. Furthermore, you have the added benefit of customisation. Hidden in the add-on section also, is the ability to play the N64 version of the game, complete with glaring omissions and grimy CRT filter. What makes this remaster so special is not only the fact that you have the core Quake experience, with all episodes intact and resolution pushed to the highest current fidelity on PS4, but this also includes all the additional expansion content from the nineties and additional episodes made this year by Machine Games. I am glad to say that Nightdive have continued this beautifully with Quake and I couldn’t be happier. With each of their many remasters taking everything that is loved about the games that they resurrect, but with modernisations that make them more playable than ever, all without losing the look and feel of the original. What is great about Night Dive is that they ‘get it’. I swear, without these guys the likes of Turok, Doom 64 and Shadowman would have been lost to time. That is until now of course, thanks to the efforts of the ever-impressive Night Dive Studios and their affinity with retro shooters. While there have been a few expansions and a healthy modding community for the game since its inception, there has not been a true rerelease for the game since the N64 port came out in 1998. However, despite all the praise I want to heap into this game, Quake is one that has unfortunately fallen by the wayside over the past twenty-five years. While Doom was influential and made FPS games popular, Quake was the first time an FPS made our jaws hit the floor, especially when you consider that this game came out in the same year as Duke Nukem 3D. When now you see awkwardly vertical pointed pencil shaped weapons, we saw an arsenal that empowered us against the hordes of horrors that we had to face. Instead of the muddled polygons that make up the enemies, we saw terrifying machinations of the flesh that made our skin crawl. Where now you may see muddy textures, back then we saw highly detailed gothic architecture. Back in 1996, we had not seen anything like this. When looking at the screenshots in the context of today, it may be difficult to see how a game that looks like this, could have been considered such a technical achievement, but it was. Let’s not forget also, that Quake was the game that popularised the concept of a deathmatch, speedrunning and even machinima. With the result being Quake and the engine powering it becoming a key component for most first-person shooters that would dominate the late nineties, with gems such as Half-Life, Call of Duty and Soldier of Fortune all being built using a form of the Quake engine. Nobody seemed to want to take things further, until Romero, Carmack and other Id crew decided to propel this sort of action into true 3D for the first time. After Id had previously shown everyone how it was supposed to be done with Doom, there were a stream of clones, but few would venture further from the run and frag gameplay, set in pseudo 3D corridors that changed dependent on the theme of the game title. Back in 1996, the first-person shooter was in danger of becoming somewhat stagnant. However, to accept this position for the series is to deny its importance and impact on the gaming industry as a whole. As part of the Id Software legacy, it is often overshadowed by its forebears, whether that be Wolfenstein or Doom, with them getting all the love with their fancy alternative World War 2 narratives or bombastic demon slaying gunplay. While it should need no introduction, Quake is one of those games that tends to be forgotten in this day and age. Augin PS4 / Reviews tagged doom / id software / ps4 / quake / Remastered / review / wolfenstein by Grizz
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