Makron

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The Makron is the final boss of the first-person shooter computer games Quake II and Quake 4. It should be noted, however, that the two Makrons are different entities, as the title reflects a position rather than a name.

[edit] Quake II

The Quake II Makron

The Makron is the supreme leader of the Strogg, a hostile cybernetic race that invades Earth in the future. Strogg society is ruled by a number of warlords, and the Makron arises from amongst these warlords by a combination of peer selection and brute force. The ultimate goal of Quake II's single-player game is to penetrate the Strogg capital city on their homeworld, and assassinate the Makron. This will cause havoc in the Strogg society, as the remaining warlords (those not killed in the human assault) squabble for power.

The Strogg are infamous for extensively replacing their body parts with cybernetic augmentations. The Makron is the most extreme example of this, being nothing more than an organic brain housed inside the stomach-located case of a robotic suit, much like Krang of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Although not particularly imposing (being only slightly taller than the average human), the Makron's robotic body is built for extreme combat; it has a railgun for a head, a hyperblaster for its right arm, and a BFG10K for its left arm. The Makron's body is also extremely durable, having approximately 3,000 hit points, but it can be easily knocked down onto its back by powerful weapons fire, such as from a rocket launcher or railgun. The Makron is also very slow, and it is quite easy to pop in and out of cover and shoot it to death with the rocket launcher or railgun.

Not one to fight fair, the Makron always enters battle piloting a cyber-organic Jorg battle suit, which must be destroyed before the Makron itself can be confronted one-on-one. When the Makron dies, it activates a self-destruct mechanism in its space station, and continues to laugh menacingly, very similar to the Predator from the movie of the same name. Interestingly, as well as laughing in a human-like fashion, the Makron also speaks in English to the player; notably it says "Follow me, human" as it teleports to the space station. When it is knocked down by gun fire, it will usually reply with "Not good enough!" or "Weakling!" though it is difficult to determine exactly what it says due to its robotic, distorted voice.

[edit] Jorg

The Jorg (minus Makron)

The Jorg is a battle-mech style sub-boss monster, and the main attack vessel of the Makron. The Jorg has roughly 3000 HP, and possesses twin chaingun-cannons in its arms. In addition, the Makron can fire his BFG10K from the Jorg. Once the Jorg dies, the Makron will disengage from it and fight the player one on one.

The Jorg made another appearance in Quake 4 as a hologram during a mission briefing. Rhino Squad mistook it for the actual previous Makron.

On a trivial note, the strange spines extending from the rear of the Jorg are stylistically consistent with both a number of Strogg motifs that appear in Quake II, as well as the game's Invulnerability powerup. These spines are flexed forwards as the machine moves.

[edit] Quake 4

Makron. Notice the human torso in the middle, possibly powering the machine.

The Makron in Quake 4 is a different entity, more powerful, larger and stronger than the original. Seemingly possessing an entirely robotic body (with the exception of its face and some organic matter that is visible around the human torso on its midsection and arms) it moves around on mechanical, crablike legs. The beast can hover if these are destroyed. According to the Quake 4 manual, this Makron was built during the events of Quake 4 instead of selected through competitive fighting like its predecessor was. However, this is not mentioned in the game.

The first contact with this Makron was by Matthew Kane, during a mission to destroy a key Strogg building. Inflicting minor damage to the beast, Kane is nonetheless captured by the Makron himself and stroggified. One could suppose that Kane's later acceptance of his somewhat gruelling missions deep into Strogg territory is motivated by his desire to exact revenge on the Makron.

Makron, final phase. In the bottom-left corner of the picture, the top of the beast's original legs can be seen.

The Makron and Kane do indeed meet again, while the latter is attacking the central Strogg command center, the Nexus. While attempting to access the center (Kane alone could enter without triggering the security systems), the Makron attempted to stop him. This head-to-head ends with Kane destroying the Makron's legs and then the rest of its body.

The Makron is equipped with a Dark Matter Gun (the most powerful weapon in Quake 4) on his right arm and a mechanical claw on his left which sends out beams of dark matter, causing major damage. He sends out small grenade-like balls which spawn/teleport various types of Strogg enemies to aid him against the player. The player then fights the Nexus Core, something only the Makron itself had ever seen.

There is a possibility that the Makron is not dead, as the final scene of the game implies that Kane — himself partially Strogg — can hear the Makron laugh. If this is true, this could lead to another sequel or an expansion pack. The Makron in Quake 4 has a distinct human-like evil laugh (audio sample) (help·info), unlike other Strogg who simply growl in the Strogg language in the presence of invaders. The Makron also appears to know how to speak English, as when it fires its Dark Matter beam weapon, it can be heard to say, "Die, human!". This happens on both occasions in which the player fights the monster.

[edit] Phrases

• "Die, human!" — When using the Dark Matter beam
• "You will fail!" — When attacking with shock waves
• "Pitiful!" — Said during Kane's second encounter
• "Don't tell me!" (?) — Rant said during battle
• "Make way!" — Rant said during battle
• "You cannot win!"
• "You challenge me?"

It is interesting to note that none of the other Strogg are heard speaking English, only after Kane is stroggified. Also, the PA announcements and the text on the GUIs are translated to English.

[edit] Weapons

• Triple Blaster: Fires out three consecutive red energy bolts. Most common attack. Fired from his left arm. Strafe back and forth to evade.
• Dark Matter Gun: This weapon is identical to Kane's own Dark Matter Gun. Second most common attack. Fired from his right arm. Circle-strafe in one direction to evade.
• Dark Matter Beams: Fires out two purple beams of dark matter very similar to the Lightning Gun. Rare attack. Fired from his left arm. Strafe to one side and jump over one of the beams. Circle-strafe behind the Makron to evade.
• Stomp: The Makron leans backward on his hind legs and then slams the ground with his front legs. Jump to avoid the resulting shockwave. Loses this ability when airborne.
• Hyperblaster: Fires out large, orange-white energy bolts rapidly that bounce off surfaces like the Hyperblaster with the bounce mod. The rate of fire is much slower but each individual bolt is larger and inflicts more damage per shot. Rare attack. Fired fom his right arm. Circle-strafe in one direction to evade.
• Dark Matter Grenades: Multiple small balls (about 4-5) of contained dark matter energy fired upwards and then travel in an arc towards Kane before landing and quickly detonating. Rare attack. Fired from his right arm. Watch them as they fall and move away to reduce Splash Damage.
• Tele-Drop Grenade: Fires out a single, red grenade upwards that travels in an arc. When it lands it spawns an enemy Strogg, most commonly a Berserker, Light Tank or Gladiator, to aid the Makron. Rare attack. Fired upwards from his right arm. Move out of the Makron's view using the pillars and deal with the enemy before continiung to fire upon the Makron.

The Makron also possesses a slew of highly damaging mêlée attacks, but it will not commonly use them. Nevertheless, it is best to keep a safe distance between Kane and the Makron.