HardQore review - Quake 4 Game

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A while back, I had the pleasure of interviewing the folks behind the HardQore mod for Quake 4, to gain a better insight into a mod that had consistently managed to inspire my interest. Now, just a few months later, their first playable demo is available and those who play it are in for a real treat.

Despite the obvious limitations, HardQore's art and style are extremely immersive

Let's just get something straight from the beginning: this is not the Taj Mahal of mods. It is not a massively ambitious feat of masterful engineering and this--ironically though it may seem--turns out to be one of its greatest strengths. HardQore is a mod built upon simplicity: a focused design and gameplay discipline which does exactly what it set out to do.

HardQore starts by engulfing the player in utter carnage. One second, you're waiting patiently for the mod to begin. The next thing you know there's an explosion, the sound of a dirty guitar riff pummelling your ears and an absolute warzone awaiting the inevitable pile of dead bodies that you are about to create.

The actual gameplay is extremely simple and reminiscent of old school side-scrollers like Duke Nukem and Metal Slug, with the character being moved from left to right across the screen, firing round after round of ammunition into the face of suicidal enemies. This mechanic will make it or break it for most players. You'll either find the retro nature of the mod to be endearing, addictive and above all fun, or monotonous, overly simplistic and above all dull.

Simplicity is often seen as a lack of talent or ability on the part of the creators. But if you look a little deeper into HardQore, you'll notice that there is a level of care, understanding and effort that has been put into its' creation. This is best witnessed through the immersive atmosphere.

If you get off on this sort of thing you should probably book into therapy... it's doing wonders for me

Moments after you begin, the first wave of Strogg approach. These are very weak soldiers that can be gunned to pieces before they get close enough to cause real damage. As you pass through the environments, you'll come across different enemies where your tactics may deviate slightly to ensure their demise and your own progression. Admittedly, this only really extends to jumping, shooting nicely placed explosive barrels, aiming in a slightly different place and running back a bit to allow yourself a safe place to shoot from. These slight variations are plenty enough to keep you playing until the last scene.

What surprised me was the actual variety of environments shown and their level of detail. You won't see anything here that you didn't see in Quake 4, but the atmosphere is every bit as consuming and suffocating while still emphasizing the concept that you are in the middle of a massive war. Ships fly overhead in the background, buildings erupt in flames and blow to pieces, constantly reminding you that the world exists beyond just your player.

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View Ship In Background *insert generic female driving joke here*

At times, though, the brilliant little touches give way to some rushed design decisions. The are a few odd instances that hinder your progress through the game, such as lifts becoming stuck or simply failing to work. Sometimes, while jumping over objects, your character will become stuck in midair, frozen and unable to move.

There also, really, isn't anything new here. The game remains true to the Quake 4 universe and doesn't add in a bunch of characters or weapons that aren't part of the Quake story cannon. But, by doing that, the creators have decided to forgo the appeal of non-Quake fans. Numerous times I found myself just begging for weapons better suited to this kind of gameplay, like the Ripperjack from Unreal, or to be fighting an enemy that knew how to use his terrain, rather than just running into my gunfire blindly. The mod doesn't suffer from these absences, but you do get the feeling that the creators forced everything to adapt to this style of gameplay, rather than tailor-making elements that felt more natural.

Control is also really detrimental to HardQore. The mod is just too old school for its own good here. You can aim the gun wherever you want, but only in the direction that you are facing. Let's say you are being chased by and enemy and need to retreat. You can't run away and shoot them at the same time. You have to run, turn around, then shoot, which is really annoying if you are playing on a higher difficulty level. There is also no cursor to inform you of exactly where you are targeting, which would have been really helpful as at least an option that could be toggled on or off.

The strangest case of conjoined twins to have ever been seen

It's clear playing HardQore that the design team was fully aware of the limitations their chosen gameplay mechanics would place upon them, which have been built accordingly. I was originally concerned that there would be a clear definition between the gameplay styles of this and Quake 4 itself, but I was fairly surprised by how out of context HardQore doesn't feel. It is a very old school type of game, but the flow and timing keeps things smooth and consistent throughout.

Even if you don't dig the gameplay, respect is due for the level of competence with which the Atomic Armadihlo team has handled it. At the moment, HardQore is only a demo and I wonder if what we have seen can be expanded into a full-length mod without becoming tiring and redundant. That said, the team has proven that they understand the 2D genre very well and the final product is definitely worthy of a place in the Quake Universe.

(+) Non-stop action that rarely lets up
(+) Genuine "old school game" feeling
(+) Great attention to detail
(+) Retains a good, consistent use of Quake 4 elements...

(-) ...but there is no actual "new" content beyond these
(-) A bit too simplistic at times
(-) Little replay value beyond harder difficulty settings
(-) Rare, but significant graphical / design glitches