Makron
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The Makron is the final boss of the first-person shooter computer game Quake II and Quake 4. It should be noted, however, that the two Makrons are (possibly) different entities, as the title reflects a position rather than a name.
Makron in Quake II
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 Stroggs 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 chest cavity of a robot-like 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; he has a railgun for a head, a hyperblaster for his right arm, and a BFG10K for his left arm. The Makron's body is also extremely durable, having approximately 3000 hit points, but it has one weakness in that 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's quite easy to pop in and out of cover and shoot him to death with the rocket launcher or railgun.
Not one to fight fair, the Makron always enters battle riding 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. Interestingly, as well as laughing in a humanlike fashion, the Makron also speaks in English to the player; notably he says "Follow me, human" as he is teleported to his space station. When he is knocked down by gun fire, he will usually reply with "Not good enough!" or "Weakling!" though it's hard to tell exactly what he says due to his robotic, distorted voice.
Makron in Quake 4
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) 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 so how this Makron came about is largely unknown.
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. A player can believe that Kane is accomplishing all his tasks to take revenge on the Makron for being the reason he was turned into a Strogg.
The Makron and Kane meet later, while the latter was attacking the central Strogg command center, the Nexus. While attempting to access the center (as Kane alone could enter without triggering the center's security), the Makron prevented him.
The two finally met face-to-face in the core of the Nexus, with Kane destroying the Makron's legs and then the rest of its body. He 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)] , unlike all the rest of the Stroggs who simply growl in the Strogg language in the presence of invaders. The Makron also appears to knows how to speak English, as when it fires its Dark Matter weapon, it can be heard to say, "Die, human!". This happens on both occasions in which the player fights the monster.
Phrases that the Makron is heard to curse at Kane (among others):
- "Die, human!" - When using the Dark Matter beam
- "You will fail!" - When attacking with shock waves
- "Pitiful!" - Said during Kane's second encounter with it
- "Don't tell me!" (?) - Rant said during battle
- "Make way!" - Rant said during battle
- "You cannot win!"
- "You challenge me?"
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