Quake4iPhone v0.5.0-2 | Published by
ZodTTD | Via built-in ZodTTD Cydia Repo | FREE
Overview
One of the original PC shooters in all of its blood and gore was ported to the original iPhone as a “proof of concept” when the first 1.0.2 jailbreak became available. Now it’s a fully playable, captivating version that is sure to waste away hours of my free time.
Gameplay
Quake4iPhone starts for the first time with a screen asking you to consider donating. Most apps provided by the jailbreak community are offered for free, though the developers put in just as much time, if not more, than those that are being purchased in the App Store. This message will only appear on the first load of the game, and has a simple 'OK' button to close.
After passing the 'Please donate screen' you’re presented with the main menu. Most of you will want to just choose the ‘Play!’ button at the top left of the screen, but for the hardcore gamers a CmdLine option is available to enter custom settings. For the purposes of this review we’ll use the default settings, and the default shareware map pak.
Once you hit play, the game goes into the demo mode, which in itself can be used to amaze your friends. To bring up the standard game menu you can hit the '1' button on the right side of the screen. The controls for the game are intuitive -- they are displayed as a transparent overlay on the screen that allows you to hold the phone like an old Nintendo controller to play.
The main menu has options for ‘Single Player’ and ‘Multiplayer’ gaming, however Multiplayer is not yet functioning properly (though is on the to-do list of the
developer's page). There is also a menu item for ‘Options’ where various settings can be changed. Screen Size, Brightness, Mouse Speed, Music Volume, Sound FX Volume, Always Run, Invert Mouse, etc..
NOTE: I have not found a way to go back to the main menu from the options menu other than hitting the home button and starting the game from the beginning. It is in the to-do list on the developer’s page (“Add a key to go back from the menu.”).
Single player gameplay:
You can select from starting a ‘New Game’, or ‘Load’ing a saved game. We haven’t tested saving a game yet, so we’ll just start a new game here.
The game starts at the familiar cavern with 3 corridors containing doors at the far end of each. Take the opportunity here to play with the controls, shoot a few rounds off the trusty shotgun, and walk around a little.
Button1 = Jump
Button2 = Shoot / Swing Axe
Arrows to move
The corridors represent the 3 difficulty levels you can choose from when playing the game:
Left Corridor: Easy
Middle Corridor: Normal
Right Corridor: Hard (requires a jump to reach the door)
I’m a wimp, so I’ll opt for Easy.
After picking our difficulty level you are presented with another 4 doors, each one representing a different episode. Shareware users are limited to the first episode, so we’ll proceed through the left door to the gate.
Now the killing begins.
Walk through the map and you'll be greeted by odd looking zombie men, ugly monsters, and possessed dobermans. You start with the shotgun and a limited number of shells. As you progress through the level you will pick up extra ammo, different levels of armor, and alternative weapons.
There are even secret passages to find (though I haven’t found any yet, I remember them on the original PC game that I used to play when it came out in 1997).
At the end of each level you are presented with a screen that summarizes how you did.
It lists the time it took you to complete the level (I was busy taking screenshots or I could probably have done a little better), the amount of secrets you found (told you I couldn’t remember where they were), and the number of kills you got in comparison to the number of baddies that were on the level.
Throughout the game there are challenges that require finding objects (such as pressing all the red blinking diamonds to open a door or pathway), jumping dangers (such as the sludge pools seen in the screenshots), and of course shooting loads and loads of ugly evil bad guys.
Review
The moment you see the demo playing on the screen it gets you excited. I think of 1997 when I got a copy of the game without my parents knowing. There was no way they would let me play something so bloody and disturbing.
The menus and options are as you expect, and everything is fairly straightforward. The way you pick your skill / difficulty level, and which episode you want to play, is creative and easy to follow.
The excitement of seeing the demo alone though is not grounds for a good review. This game falls short when it comes to playability.
The game crashes constantly. While writing this review I had to restart the game a minimum of 10 times. It would just pop back to the Springboard in the middle of shooting a monster or looking at the wall (apparently, I spend a lot of time staring at the walls for some reason).
The movement and gameplay is very smooth; there’s not a lot of jerkiness and the controls respond to touch well. However, for me the game is not very playable due to the fact that the controls are not multitouch.
If you are running forward you have to release the up button before you can press the jump button. Likewise you have to stop to shoot. It makes it difficult to continue on an action game. Though a great start, and definitely much more playable than the ‘Proof of Concept’ we saw as an original release, this game is still pretty much just for awing your friends and geeking out.
With that said, I was still able to complete a few levels and kill a ton of wrong-doers. After playing for a bit longer the lack of multitouch seemed to be less of a headache and might have actually added a level of enjoyment to the game. Certain tasks are harder to complete and therefore present a level of challenge that wasn’t present in the original PC release.
Summary
This game is great for being a total nerd. You can say to all your computer savvy friends, “I can play quake on my iPhone!" However, with the crashing and limited movement controls, there’s no possibility of advancing in the game far enough to make it fun. You would literally have to save every 5 seconds to make sure you could get back to where you were before it crashed.
I'll keep the game on my phone and watch for updates in hopes that some of the problems get fixed, but for now it won’t take up much of my free time.
Usability: 1 / 5
Value: 4 / 5 (saying I can play Quake on my iPhone is awesome!)
Utility: 3 / 5
Aesthetics: 5 / 5
Overall Rating: 3.25 / 5
