The engine is Doom 3, but like one review said, they make it do things you never expected. It's as if id had spent another year on Doom 3, Quake 4 is uber polished. Also...you're not fighting &*!%@&%^
imps all the time! W00t! Fewer dark hallways, several vehicle levels, and the stroggification scene is UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU'VE EVER SEEN. It was so gory, it makes the end rail scenes in HL2 when you're in the metal coffin look like a walk in through the land of my little pony. It was probably worth the $50 by itself...I laughed so hard.
A lot of people cry "Doom 3," but they forget that Quake 4 has none of the annoyances.
No monster closets, no PDAs, the machine gun has a flashlight, no dark hallways, story begins quickly(no shooting zombies with the handgun for 20 minutes), the in game cutscenes are 1000X better, and the guns are powerful.
It keeps all the things I loved about Doom 3, like the walk-up-and-click door buttons and interfaces. High poly environments and character models with ridiculously detailed textures. Physics, ragdoll, and particle effects are all top notch.
Then it adds vehicles, better story telling, better looking NPCs, squadmates (medic and tech can heal your health/armor to full), and AI that gives you a run for your money. I think Doom 3 is great, but from the first minute playing Quake 4 it was obviously a better game.
Best shirt texture since Kyle Katarn's shirt in Jedi Knight 2.
