Quake 4 is a direct sequel to Quake 2 and as Q2 followed the generic space marine genre, so did Q4 follow the generic modern space marine genre. The multiplayer component has descended into its spiritual successor Quake Champions. The only rival at the time was Unreal Tournament and so if you're into these kinds of things, go for it. Quake 3 is also a milestone shooter as it popularized the 'Arena FPS' genre that turned FFA multiplayer into an entire campaign. It came out with 2 expansions, one of them unofficial and terrible.

That is to say, I still dig the heavy metal aesthetic and if there's one reason to play this it would be the soundtrack by Sonic Mayhem. I personally grew up with this so I have a bit of a bias but many will agree that this is your average single-man-vs-aliens game and was the first FPS that had 'Mission Goals' instead of just 'find the key and run to the exit'. It was suppose to be an entirely different game but put the Quake title on the last minute in order to draw people. Quake 2 was IDs attempt at striking out on their own. I know that basically describes DOOM, but this is a 3D game with jumping and traps and monsters on ledges.

Gameplay is all about getting from point a to point b without getting shredded all to hell. The enemies are fast, they hurt hard, but are dumb as bricks. Things that you might take for granted going in. Rocketjumping, bunnyhopping, frantic gameplay, etc. Quake 1 popularized many things in the FPS genre.

Quake series