Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Preview

From humble beginnings as a set of Wolfenstein 3D multiplayer maps, Enemy Territory has really taken off and achieved a life of its own. The first official game of the series will be a take off of the struggle between human and Strogg forces. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is an online shooter with heavy team-based elements. At a press event, Activision presented a playable near-beta build of the game, displaying the class balance and mission structure of the upcoming FPS. All in all, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is shaping up to be an intense multiplayer experience that no FPS fan is going to want to miss.

The recent Activision press event showcased three maps for the upcoming game. The first map was the Valley map, which had the GDF team trying to build a bridge over a valley to infiltrate the Strogg and the Strogg was forced to defend their position. The second was the Sewer Map, a blitzkrieg on a Japanese waste facility meant to quell a Strogg invasion from underground. Finally the third map was Area 22, a desert map at a hidden military complex. The maps were varied and showcased a great variety of mission objectives for both sides of the conflict. You’d have to blast open (or prevent the blasting open of) doors in order to get to your main objective points to ensure your victory, or build structures like bridges to get to where you need to be and so on. It’s a constant back and forth between holding your ground and taking your enemy’s, and can be a pretty exciting experience.

Additionally, the preview build presented a good grasp on the class system in the game. Similar to other multiplayer-focused shooters, ET: QW will present players with several focused classes each with unique abilities to aide their comrades on the field. These are unique to whichever side the player happens to be on. For example, whereas the GDF will have Medics on the field armed with defibrillators to revive unconscious teammates, the Strogg will have “Technicians” for mostly the same purpose, although they also have the ability to turn fallen enemies into spawning points.

You will also have access to a fair amount of vehicles throughout the game’s maps. The GDF will have access to futuristic tanks, four-wheelers and other vehicles, whereas the Strogg will have more fantastical fare, like bipedal mechs, hovering ships and short burst rocket packs to take on their foes. Certain classes will also be able to summon stationary weaponry as well, capable of taking out tanks, airborne vehicles and footsoldiers automatically.

Battlefield skill will be measured through XP. You gain XP by completing main quests as well as secondary ones (which are comprised of capturing spawning points across the map), as well as performing actions unique to your role on your team. Medics will gain more XP for healing teammates and Engineers will gain XP for repairing vehicles, for example.

Graphically, ET: QW uses a modified version of the Doom 3 engine, and is a pretty gorgeous thing to behold. The character models look phenomenal, and the megatextured environments are detailed and move along very smoothly with some far draw distances. The game also has some great special effects, like some excellent explosions, and the pixilated effect when you look through a scoped Strogg weapon. The game will be pretty adaptive, meaning that it should be able to work for many computers and still look pretty decent.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is becoming a tour de force with addicting gameplay, great maps, and balanced classes ensuring that everyone has a distinct role on the field. Fans of any shooter, not just the Quake series, should keep an eye out for this one.