Our thoughts after several hours with the retail build.
If you're thinking of picking up Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, don't expect anything like Quake III Arena. Although it is a fast paced game bearing the Quake name, this is in no way a frenzied arena shooter where twitch skills reign supreme. Teamwork is the focus here, as Quake Wars requires different classes of players on Strogg and Global Defense Force sides to use their varying skills to attack and defend objectives. Anyone who played the Enemy Territory free expansion for Return to Castle Wolfenstein will be instantly familiar with this game, as it's made by the same people, Splash Damage, and retains a very similar feel and style of play. It's also highly entertaining in its own right.
We can't review this product yet since we've only been participating in a few press sessions held earlier in the week. In the last two days more and more servers have been popping up so we'll have the full review next week after we get a chance to mingle with the multitudes continuing to sign on in increasing numbers.
Quake Wars is part FPS, part RTS. You'll be using your guns and grenades quite frequently to blast away the opposition, but also find yourself destroying enemy structures and defenses, as well as constructing your own. Before starting play you create a user profile, the name of which can be colored using an easy in-game editor, instead of having to find out the codes yourself. Next comes server selection, where you pick a campaign to hop in and start earning experience.
Each campaign, of which there are four, is divided into three separate maps, each of which has numerous objectives. Ideally you'd want to join a campaign near the beginning of its three-map cycle, as you'll gain experience to unlock additional class and general skills that last until the cycle's end. You don't have to do it this way - you could just join a single-map game or play one map in a campaign and bail out, but it's much more fun to invest the hour or so it takes to plow through a full map cycle. Upgrades, such as increased health reserves, faster sprints, special items, and better weapons, are isolated to the campaign. This means it's not such a good idea to dive into a server running the third map of a campaign, as all the players will likely have advanced upgrades, whereas you'll have to start from square one. Your actions on the battlefield are not forgotten entirely upon a campaign's completion, as Quake Wars uses an extremely detailed persistent statistics system to track all your accomplishments.
Getting back to the game itself, Quake Wars manages to stand out by requiring players to work together to win, something that's accomplished in few different ways. Every class has unique abilities that either directly complete a map objective, like Strogg Aggressors being the only ones capable of planting dynamite to blow up a structure, or to sustain an assault, like GDC Engineers repairing your team's anti-vehicle turrets or Medics reviving Soldiers on the front lines. There are side quests as well, which dynamically become available depending on the course of battle, and, when completed, net you experience bonuses. These include capturing additional spawn points, reviving teammates if you're a Medic, planting trip or proximity mines if you're an Engineer, destroying enemy turrets if you're a Field Ops, or calling down radar towers as a Covert Ops.
If the goal is for Covert Ops to hack a computer terminal located indoors, it's a good idea to send in some Medics with them for revives / healing, and a Soldier or two for fire support and to blow open additional assault paths. When the battle moves outside, Field Ops and Engineers become more useful. Both can deploy stationary turrets, though with varying effects. Field Ops can call in artillery and other long-range armaments, and can paint targets with a handheld laser device. Bombing runs, or orbital laser strikes in the Stroggs' case, can be initiated by Field Ops as well, making them ideal for wiping out entrenched enemy defenses. Engineers are better for holding territory, as they can set up anti-infantry and anti-vehicle turrets, place mines, and call in interceptor turrets that negate the effects of Field Ops' targeted barrages.
Considering the emphasis on teamwork, it's surprising to see Splash Damage did not include integrated voice chat support. If players want to talk to each other, they'll instead need to use external voice chat programs like Ventrilo or Team Speak. What is present in the game is a detailed chat system, letting players broadcast their positions, call out targets, issue commands, and the like, but it can't compare to the amount of information capable of being communicated with voice chat.
When the beta went live a while back, many complained about the graphics. It's not that they were bad, they're not, but when compared to some of the early screenshots released from Quake Wars, they just didn't and still don't match up. The much-hyped mega-texturing allows for some varied ground textures, but the model animations are still stiff and, in general, the look of the game isn't very inspired. The sound is somewhat disappointing as well, as many of the effects just fall flat. They're still recognizable and distinct, but they lack that elusive element that something like Halo's Needler or Unreal Tournament's Flak Cannon posses. Quake Wars' weapons, in general, just don't sound powerful enough. Then there are the chat commands, which often initiate a voice response. While it's often hilarious to hear GDF soldiers call out "Hi" in an absurdly enthusiastic tone, or their "Yeah yeah…no no no," it's rather jarring to hear "owned" screamed out in a gruff, Stroggish cadence.
That being said, we're still having a lot of fun with the game. You won't be disappointed with the engaging team-oriented gameplay, and the detailed stat-tracking is a nice bonus.
©2007-09-28, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Half Quake, half Enemy Territory, this Splash Damage team shooter is an unmissable choice for action fans. Find out why.
With Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, developer Splash Damage is finally following up on Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, one of the finest team-based Nazi killing shooters you could play. This time, they've taken id's gorgeous Doom 3 engine and used it to create vast intricate playgrounds for fast and frantic battles between humans and cybernetic alien invaders. Quake Wars are on!
As far as team-based shooters go, this is one of the more frenetic. Don't get too attached to any given situation. It's going to change. Like Quake itself, Quake Wars is hyperkinetic, deadly, and nimble. There's always a vehicle to hop into, the respawns come every thirty seconds, and the location of the fighting is liable to shift in the blink of an eye. This is a game that barely gives you time to breathe. Don't even think about trying to scratch your nose, much less get up and grab a drink from the kitchen.
That's not to say there isn't a lot of strategy in Quake Wars. Each class has a variety of functions, and none of them are at the back of the battle (in fact, accomplishing many objectives requires a particular class to come forward). Unlike the Battlefield series, important functions like radar and artillery are associated with a class rather than a commander. Engineers make a huge difference in terms of building and maintaining defenses, as well as laying mines. The covert ops radar is a must, and their ability to assume disguises makes for some delicious backstabbing. Classes and loadouts are flexible enough to fight in a number of different ways. The mission system keeps everyone informed about what needs doing, as well as what tasks your class can contribute at any time. Quake Wars does a great job of not being confusing.
It's disappointing that the maps don't have more variety. At first blush, they seem distinct, but the more you play, the more the maps blend together. One city or one indoor area feels like any other, and the sci-fi gobbledygook objectives don't add much character. There's room to maneuver around the battlefield, but not to roam or stray. At any point in a match, there's always one attacker and one defender, almost always squaring off over a single location. While this does a great job of giving the gameplay focus, you can't help but sometimes feel a little hemmed in. This is a game about being on the front lines of battle, and not about sneaking around in the enemy's rear to wreak havoc.
In a way, it's hard to believe this is the Doom 3 engine. Using some sort of id-created wizardry called "megatextures", Splash Damage has created huge maps with long viewing distances, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what Doom 3 was. Everything still has a shiny plastic look, but it fits the sci-fi theme well. The special effects are spectacular and the level of destruction gets incredibly crazy. There's nothing quite like watching the amount of gunfire and explosives poured onto one target during the missions that require one team to escort a mobile base while the other tries their hardest to stop it. At times, Quake Wars grinds to an almost oppressive halt when the defenders get dug in, but a simple orbital bombardment or hammer missile can change all that.
There are a lot of little tricks to learn in Quake Wars. For instance, the aliens can spawn out of dead human bodies to instantly get back into the fight. They have a lot of options to move to areas the human side can't reach. The humans, on the other hand, can be resurrected instantly, and they have better weapons. The aliens can swap health for ammo, or vice versa. The basics for both sides are the same, but there are enough important differences that each feels unique. This makes for a gentle learning curve as you pick up the nuances of the gameplay.
To learn these subtleties and to practice, you can play against bots. These bots make Quake Wars stand out among these kinds of games, because they give players an opportunity to get familiar with the game without constantly being picked off by better players (Halo 3 anyone?). In fact, because the AI's difficulty level is adjustable, Quake Wars offers plenty of fun without ever having to go online. It's a rare team-based shooter that can also be played as a single-player game.
There have been plenty of these types of games, ranging from the seminal TRIBES to the underappreciated Planetside to the immensely popular Battlefield series. So it's refreshing to see a team based shooter with a pace and style all its own. Come for the fantastic explosions, interesting weapons, smart AI opponents, and breathless pacing; stay for the in-depth strategy and online matches. Either way, this is a team shooter you won't want to miss.
This massive outdoor multiplayer shooter from id Software and Splash Damage gives the Battlefield a run for its money.
A few years ago, a new developer called Splash Damage -- comprised mainly of mod makers from the Quake community -- was signed by Activision to create a team-based multiplayer component for what was ultimately a cancelled Return to Castle Wolfenstein expansion pack. In a stroke of genius, Activision released the multiplayer portion -- dubbed Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory -- for free to the public, and it became a huge hit. So it seemed like a no-brainer when a full-blown sequel -- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars -- was announced. The result is a game that's far bigger and deeper than its predecessor, more Battlefield than Quake. There's a learning curve involved, but if you hang in there, you'll be rewarded with one of the deeper multiplayer shooters in recent years.
At least in spirit, ETQW is both a sequel to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and a prequel to the Quake series. Like the first Enemy Territory, teams are split up into offense and defense, except instead of playing as Axis or Allies, you're playing as Earth's Global Defense Force (GDF) or the invading alien Strogg (the villains of Quake II and Quake IV). Each of the game's twelve maps portrays a "historical" scenario from the early days of the Earth-Strogg conflict, such as the GDF attempting to destroy a Strogg harvesting refinery or stealing a data disc containing information on the Strogg slipgate technology.
Each of the maps generally has three or four major objectives for the attackers to achieve in sequence, often requiring the services of a particular character class. For instance, on "Canyon," engineers are required to build a bridge, covert ops are needed to hack a shield generator, and then soldiers are needed to place explosives at the site of an improved Stroggification device.
On "Ark," the tables are turned, as the Strogg go on the offensive and need to destroy a jamming generator, construct a mining laser to break into a GDF facility and blow up a bioscanner they're using to examine the Strogg. Many of these objectives are repeated in several maps, although there are several unique scenarios like "Quarry," where the Strogg need to deliver three power modules to a downed ship so they can activate a self-destruct device.
All told, there are five classes in ETQW: soldier, engineer, covert ops, medic and field ops. There's a lot of depth within each class: each gets a choice of several default weapons to play with (the soldier, for example, has both a rocket launcher and assault rifle among his choices), and usually has several special abilities. Engineers can place anti-personnel or anti-vehicle turrets, Medics can revive fallen players and hand out medpacks, and Field Ops players can set up artillery launchers and call in devastating airstrikes. In fact, this barely scratches the surface of the character abilities and is not even counting the Strogg counterparts -- which aren't quite carbon copies of the GDF, but basically fall into five similar roles.
As if the character classes didn't have enough toys to start with, ETQW is also loaded up with numerous vehicles on each side. I won't bother with the actual names, but there are tanks, jeeps, APCs, choppers, one-man buggies and even boats. The Strogg generally have their own versions of these, with two exceptions: the Icarus flightpack, which lets any Strogg get airborne and opens the door to all sorts of interesting offensive and defensive strategies, and the Goliath mech walker, which can send GDF players scrambling for cover when it stomps into town (unless you've got an engineer with an EMP handy). Not completely unlike the Battlefield series, some of the air vehicles can take some time to get the hang of, but can be devastating when handled properly. Thankfully, there are options to change the camera view from first- to third-person as well as unlocking it while driving, making life easier all around.
In direct contrast to the just-released Team Fortress 2, the stars of ETQW aren't the classes, but the maps. In TF2, the maps are so small that there's rarely any learning curve -- for most classes, once you know how your class works, you can just follow your team and do your thing. But ETQW's maps play out in stages, and are more like three or four scenarios in one; a surplus of covert ops might not be particularly useful for one objective, but crucial to the next. Learning the ins and outs of each map -- which are all huge -- will take some time, which provides a great deal of depth and replayability, but at the same time might scare off some players looking for a more casual experience.
The reason for that is something that was also a problem with the Battlefield games: spawn camping and constant out-of-the-blue deaths. Because of the size of the maps, it's easy for snipers to set up camp and pick players off as they spawn. It's also possible to set up artillery barrages and camp spawn points, leading to the frustrating scenario where you've barely taken two steps before you're dead and staring down a thirty-second respawn time. Even if you manage to get out of your spawn area, it's easy to get stuck without a vehicle, and it's possible to spend a minute running on foot before getting picked off by an unseen enemy halfway across the map. It's a shame that in shifting from an intimate, infantry-focused game like Wolf: ET to the larger setting of ETQW, the same problems that plagued the Battlefield games appear here as well.
Graphically, Quake Wars uses a revised version of id Software's DOOM technology, with all the benefits and baggage that come along with it. Aesthetically, the game looks solid, looking its best when rendering massive outdoor valleys; few games look as amazing as ETQW when staring across a huge valley and realizing those pixels way off in the distance are actually a tank headed your way. Player models and characters animations also look solid, although the Strogg sometimes look a little goofy.
Interior areas don't fare that well, often feeling somewhat bland both in terms of layout and texturing, but these areas tend to be the exception in Quake Wars rather than the rule. While you won't need a bleeding-edge PC to run ETQW, it won't hurt if you want to crank up all the details; if you're a generation or two behind in the video card department, expect to do a little tweaking to keep the framerate above 30FPS.
One really nice feature of Quake Wars is the addition of computer-controlled bots that allow you to play offline or fill out matches in need of extra players. Creating bots that can understand the subtleties of ETQW's complex maps is a gargantuan task, but the bots put on a good show, even if it becomes obvious over time that some behaviors are scripted for particular maps and eventually become predictable to a degree. If nothing else, it's a great way to learn the ins and outs of the levels so you don't feel like a complete n00b when you go online.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a great multiplayer game with a ton of depth: you could spend months learning all the ins and outs of all the maps, the classes on both sides, and all the weapons and vehicles. In many ways, it out-Battlefield's the Battlefield series. And yet, with a few issues like the learning curve, spawn camping and frustrating "gotcha!" deaths, we can't help wondering if maybe it's six months too late: with Team Fortress 2 here and other multiplayer heavies like Unreal Tournament 3, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War and Crysis on the way, it'll be way too easy for players to get distracted and move on to something else. With any luck, that's a fate Quake Wars will avoid.
©2007-10-11, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved