PLATFORM

PC

DEVELOPER

Splash Damage, id Software

PUBLISHER

Activision

GENRE

First Person Shooter

# OF PLAYERS

1, with Online Multiplayer

Rating

T

U.S. RELEASE DATE

October 2nd, 2007

MSRP

$49.99

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

OVERVIEW

The Strogg have arrived on Earth, and want to bleed it dry. It is up to the humans to stop them!

REVIEW

Seems like a ton of FPSs have arrived on the market at the same time, and with The Orange Box hitting at around the same time this one came out, you might wonder why I picked up Quake Wars first. Simple - I was already hooked on it.

Several weeks ago, a playable demo was made available for free, and I downloaded it with the intent of writing a quick and dirty review. Trouble was, whenever I thought about writing the review, I decided to play instead. Sure, we were playing the same level over and over again, but it was a great deal of fun. It also didn’t hurt that I knew other people who were already playing it - a good FPS is even more fun when you have people to play with, so on that note, this game fit the bill.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is kind of a mishmash of the old Castle Wolfenstein Enemy Territory game and previous incarnations of Quake. The gameplay is about the same as it was in the previous Enemy Territory game, only you can actually drive the vehicles, and the team make-ups are changed to reflect the Quake Universe instead of WWII Earth. Naturally, the technology is a little better in the way of graphics and map size, and there are bots, so you don’t have to worry about finding a server with a lot of players. Naturally, playing real people is far better, but the AI on the bots is good enough at any level that the game remains challenging (and you are not frustrated by your synthetic teammates).

The story is pretty much window dressing. You have the basic idea that the Strogg have invaded Earth and intend to harvest its resources. You pick a side, pick a class, and you are set loose in the mission.

All of the missions are set up in a standard attack/defend arrangement. Either you are set to complete an objective (capture something, stop something, blow something up) or you are defending. The maps are fairly big, so throughout the course of the game some of your side-missions involve capturing forward spawn points and opening up alternate access routes which come into play as the lines push forward. This also allows the defenders to, in a sense, push back the enemy, and gives the offense new lines of attack. This and the placement of powerful vehicles really encourages varied defensive strategies and helps to keep the game from getting too repetitive.

Overall, the control scheme is very good. There is a bit of a learning curve because there is a lot you can do - so much so that console FPS players might be put off when picking this game up on the PC for the first time (there are planned versions in development for PS3 and XBOX360). The basics are easy enough - standard mouse/keyboard controls, but different tools and weapons have to be implemented different ways. It isn’t too difficult to figure out, and a few rounds of single player and you should have everything figured out. At least well enough to be competitive in a live game.

The vehicles are generally fun, but the control-scheme for the aircraft is a total mess. They are impossible for most average players to control effectively. I suppose if you spent a few hours practicing, you could actually use them in combat, but most gamers would rather spend their time doing something else. The air vehicles are better left in the hands of bots who seem to be able to control them with no difficulty (so don’t waste your time). The ground vehicles are varied and very useful. You have everything from 4-wheeled ATVs to Hum-Vees, tanks, and mechs, along with their alien counterparts. Some of the vehicles have a separate weapon turret allowing one player to drive, while the other fires a secondary weapon. This is especially useful for the humans when your mission involves moving the MCP (a giant armored vehicle armed with a tactical missile) to a launch point. Having other vehicles on hand to draw fire from Anti-Vehicle turrets and to provide cover for engineers trying to keep the MCP repaired makes for an intense and fun experience.

Graphics and sound - really, what can you say. There isn’t much about this game that makes it stand apart, but that can be a blessing in disguise. We have reached something of a pinnacle in effective graphic rendering (sure, we could get better, but would it really make any difference?), and the look of this game is about as good as it can get. The maps are detailed and logical, and have a decent flow to them. I can’t say that I was ever blown away by the landscape, but it was functional and varied. You know what mission you are on immediately upon entering the map, but the real focus is where it should be - killing your opponent.

There are a ton of weapons. And some of them take some getting used to. Some of the long-range weaponry like the sniper rifle and the rail gun have a serious kick to them, and the heavy weapons slow your run rate when selected, and have a long recharge time. There are a lot of miscellaneous tools, like summonable deployables, proximity mines, attack drones, hacking and repair tools, and even a tool that allows you to disguise yourself as a fallen enemy. The wide array of weapons and abilities really adds diversity to the different classes you can select. Each have a pretty unique role on the field, and while it can be frustrating sometimes to have to change your class because your team needs an engineer and there isn’t one on the field, the class variety encourages team play even more.

BOTTOM LINE

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is fun. That really is all you need to know about it. If you enjoy objective-based First Person Shooters, you will have a blast with this game. If you like more arena-style “just get as many kills as possible” shooters, this might not be the game for you, but if you ask me, Arena FPS games get boring real fast. I expect I will be playing this game for a long time before I get tired of it.

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