The Quake series has always been a schizophrenic one, with the odd numbered games being primarily multiplayer affairs and the even numbered ones being focused on single player with very little connection between the two. As maths fans will have already realised that means that Quake 4 picks up from the ending of Quake II and once again chronicles the battle between humanity and the alien Strogg. Although it is not developed by Id Software themselves, but by Soldier of … mehrFortune creators Raven Software, Quake 4 does use the Doom 3 graphics engine. In fact if theres one early criticism of the game it is that it looks altogether too much like Doom 3, with very similar art design and darkened levels - and little of the orange hues and angular architecture of Quake II. In gameplay terms an early plot twist has you being captured by the Strogg and assimilated as one of their nasty looking cyborgs. The process is interrupted just before the end though, allowing you to retain your human mind (phew!) and yet also make use of various new superpowers, which, along with your weapons, can also be upgraded as the game goes on. With some pilotable weapons, including a nifty looking mech, this looks set to be an explosive, if unoriginal, first person shoot em-up. The nature of the multiplayer mode has yet to be revealed but fans will certainly be interested in the multiplayer only spin-off Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, which if anything looks even better than this. -- Harrison DentThis preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game. weniger