Enemy territory: Quake Wars Preview

March 20, 2008 - Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake.
Three consecutive releases for a company, three unique intellectual
properties, and each will benchmark in the history of the first-person
shooter genre. Nearly twelve years after the release of the original,
Quake is coming back for another round of Strogg-killin' with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
The game was originally released back in October of last year on PC to
solid reviews and a sizeable online following, as is consistent with
everything that John Carmack touches. While id Software still maintains
the "it'll be done when it's done" release date for Quake Wars, we've
seen it up and running with our own eyes and can report that things are
already moving at a smooth clip.

It's only natural when a game is ported from PC to consoles for people
to expect additional content to justify the delayed release. So what's
new for Quake Wars? Well, to be perfectly frank, nothing. There are no
content differences between the PC version and the console. You'll
still find 12 maps under the hood, five character classes, the same
campaign mode structure, and the same objectives across the maps. What
id Software and the folks at Nerve Software are hoping is to translate
the fast and furious squad-based gameplay that so many were able to
enjoy on their PCs.


Boom.


For those who aren't familiar with the structure of Quake Wars, here's
a brief introduction. There are three main modes: multiplayer, campaign
mode and instant action. The campaign mode is presented as three maps
per set with three sets in all. Complete a set of maps and the
overarching goals and objectives reset. Understand that when id
Software says "campaign" they aren't talking about a story-driven
thrill ride. Essentially you'll be completing different objectives and
advancing the frontline of battle the same as you do in multiplayer,
but against bots instead of real people. The bot AI is one thing that
Nerve Software has spent some time improving from PC to console and is
now said to be more "player focused" with squad members paying more
attention to your needs and what you're up to on the map.

Next there's multiplayer and instant action, with the latter being a
skirmish mode for players to hone their skills. Multiplayer is the real
meat of the game as it's the place where you and 15 friends can meet up
and blow each other to smithereens. There are five classes in Quake
Wars. The covert op who carries a sniper rifle and can disguise himself
as an enemy Strogg soldier; the engineer can repair vehicles and disarm
bombs; the soldier class hefts a rocket launcher and heavy machinegun;
the medic can revive dead players; and the field ops officer deploys
artillery turrets and missile emplacements around the map.


Get wet.


Nerve and id aren't skimping on the small details that can make or
break a shooter of this nature. Little things like including a lobby
system for players to convene after a game and full stat tracking for
each map, both in-game and on a website which will house hundreds of
statistics. There are also awards that are handed out after each match
so you and your pals can ratchet up the smack talking. There are also
small details in the game, like during a bot match the AI players who
are coming to help you out display a specific icon, which helps
identify them from teammates.

The version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars that we saw was admittedly
early but the action remained at a steady clip and looked to mimic the
best aspects of the PC iteration with relative ease. Squad-based
first-person shooters based around the classic capture point mechanic
seem to be all the rage these days, but only time will tell whether
there's enough room for another online FPSer to add to the mix.

Interesting, sounds good!