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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
April 21, 2008 | 11:45 AM PST
This past Tuesday, Kombo (and by extension I) was invited to the top floor of the Marriott Hotel located in the heart of downtown San Francisco in order to try out an as-of-yet unreleased game, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. To be honest, I went into the event with only a very basic grasp of the game (Wikipedia is your friend) despite it seeing a release on the PC over half a year ago. What I came out of the event with, however, was a firm idea on what the game is about, how it plays, and why it should prove to be a worthy purchase on its May 27th release date.
Let's start off with the basics: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a strategic first-person shooter that depicts the battle between a team of fighting humans, the Global Defense Force (or GDF), and the cybernetic alien race that's invading Earth – the Strogg. Set before the events of both Quake II and Quake 4, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars gives you the option to fight as both of these teams, who each offer noticeable differences in gameplay. Generally, the goal of each match revolves around either capturing enemy territory through achieving various objectives (blowing up key structures, etc.) or stopping the opposing team from doing so by defending said structures. These objectives are fairly straight-forward, but each player can help to achieve them in a different way through use of the game's class system.
A huge part of where Quake Wars' status as a strategic shooter comes from is its class system. Both teams have five different classes to choose from, each one closely corresponding to its counterpart on the other side. The basic class you'll play as is Soldier (for the GDF team)/Aggressor (for the Strogg team). Simply put, this is your warrior class and the damage dealer of the five classes. Soldiers/Aggressors are given the biggest variety of weapons to use along with a nice health bonus. Some objectives that require the specific use of a Soldier/Aggressor are generally the ones that call for destroying an object, but these classes are great for defense objectives or supporting other classes in the process of achieving objectives as well.
Medics/Technicians are the healers of the bunch. Armed with the ability to heal other players and revive them if need be, Medics/Technicians also give all members of the team a slight health boost, providing multiple ways to help keep the team alive. Like the Soldiers/Aggressors, Medics/Technicians are used more as support classes who aid the other classes in achieving objectives. I didn't spend much time as a Medic/Technician, but the classes seemed pretty solid. The opportunity to actually revive a teammate doesn't come as often as one would like, though – many players just opt to respawn at the closest spawn point and just be on their way.
Engineers/Constructors are what I'd consider to be two of the main classes in the game as there's so many offensive objectives geared towards them. Engineers/Constructors have the ability to repair damaged vehicles, which definitely comes in handy since the various vehicles in the game prove to be really effective in many different situations. Additionally, Engineers/Constructors are able to deploy a few different kinds of turrets, from anti-air to anti-artillery to anti-personnel along with proximity/trip mines. I spent most of my time playing as an Engineer/Constructor, and the classes proved to be very versatile and an integral contributor to victory.
Next up are Covert Ops/Infiltrators. These two classes definitely give off a sort of rogue feel as you'll be spending most of your time sneaking around in the shadows of the battle in order to do your thing. Covert Ops/Infiltrators have the ability to hack certain objects, which is required for some of the offensive objectives in the game. Aside from that, however, these classes can also temporarily disable vehicles and turrets, which is a great defensive ability. While these are all fine and dandy skills, the truly distinguishing feature of the Covert Ops/Infiltrator classes is their ability to steal the name and appearance of fallen enemies and use a powerful backstab technique to take out opponents. The only time I really got to try out the Covert Ops/Infiltrator was in the console version exclusive training mission, which pretty much gave a small run-through of each GDF class and demonstrated some of their abilities.
The final class duo is the Field Ops/Oppressors, which I unfortunately never got around to testing. From what I noticed, however, it seems like these classes are used as a major support class, just like the Medics/Technicians – namely, there aren't any objectives where you're required to be a Field Ops/Oppressor. Instead, Fields Ops/Oppressors use their various abilities mainly to provide supporting fire and protect their teammates. Just like the Engineers/Constructors, Field Ops/Oppressors have the ability to deploy different kinds of turrets, though these turrets are geared towards long-range use and the player must actually select a target. On top of this, Field Ops/Oppressors are able to launch air strikes against the opposing team. Lastly, Field Ops are able to hand out ammo packs for teammates while Oppressors are able to deploy a temporary shield to protect teammates from enemy fire – just one of the differences between the two teams.
Okay, so maybe that was explanation was a little lengthier than I expected. Nevertheless, that's the basic gist of how Enemy Territory: Quake Wars works. Now for my impressions.
When I first got to the event, I was put in front of a television with an Xbox 360. I selected the training mission as was suggested and began to play. The training mission was fairly easy (as it should be) and it explained the basics of the game – enough to enable your survival in an actual multiplayer match, at least. You start off as a GDF Soldier at what seems to be a base located in the mountains somewhere tasked with the mission to eradicate the Strogg from the base. To do this, you complete various objectives and switch classes after completing each one, giving you a basic understanding of how each class works. I was delightfully surprised to find out that you're able to switch classes pretty much on the fly – the only repercussions are that you have to wait until the next respawn sweep (which I think goes at intervals of 30 seconds or so) and you don't retain the experience gained for that class when switching to other classes (though I never got the chance to examine the experience system in-depth, so I'm not sure how big of a downside this is).
After the training mission, I moved to a machine on the main table, where all of the 360s were linked up. Figuring that I got a good enough feel of the GDF in the training mission, I opted to play as the Strogg. Luckily, the game doesn't really care much about uneven teams as it just balances things out with bots anyways. Once everyone was ready, the host started the game. From what I noticed as I went through more and more matches, the team that was given the offensive objectives won most often as the other team couldn't hold them off for the whole time. I'm not afraid to chalk that up to the fact that I and probably many more of the players were vastly inexperienced at the game, so effective methods of defense were tough to find.
Despite the minor advantage that playing on offense has, I still had a blast on defense as well. I loved playing as a Constructor and experimenting with the turrets and mines. The vehicles were pretty fun to fool around with, too. It's hard to match the power you feel when you're behind the wheel of a Cyclops, a Metal Gear-esque two-legged Strogg vehicle armed with plasma cannons. The only other vehicle I tried out was an Icarus, which is sort of a Strogg jetpack that lets you fire small bombs with a delayed explosion detonation. Other than those two vehicles, I saw tanks and planes on both teams making their way around the battlefield and wreaking havoc.
Graphically, the game leaves a little something to desire in quality, but it makes up for it with a good amount of variety in the maps. There isn't much to be said about the sound either, although I must admit I liked how you're either scolded or praised with a quick one-liner at the end of every match ala Gears of War.
There are only a few minor differences between the console versions of the game and the PC version. Executive producer Kevin Cloud explained that the vehicle controls had to be tweaked for console controllers (though I think they could use a bit more tweaking) and the mines in the console version are auto-armed, easier to spot, and you're able to carry less of them at a time.
Overall, I was quite impressed with what I saw of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. For me, it'll probably be a much-needed breath of fresh air from the slightly repetitive action of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Lastly, I'd like to mention that my views on the game may differ from the final product, as what I played was just a preview build. Nevertheless, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a game worth looking forward to if you own a PS3 or 360.
Let's start off with the basics: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a strategic first-person shooter that depicts the battle between a team of fighting humans, the Global Defense Force (or GDF), and the cybernetic alien race that's invading Earth – the Strogg. Set before the events of both Quake II and Quake 4, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars gives you the option to fight as both of these teams, who each offer noticeable differences in gameplay. Generally, the goal of each match revolves around either capturing enemy territory through achieving various objectives (blowing up key structures, etc.) or stopping the opposing team from doing so by defending said structures. These objectives are fairly straight-forward, but each player can help to achieve them in a different way through use of the game's class system.
A huge part of where Quake Wars' status as a strategic shooter comes from is its class system. Both teams have five different classes to choose from, each one closely corresponding to its counterpart on the other side. The basic class you'll play as is Soldier (for the GDF team)/Aggressor (for the Strogg team). Simply put, this is your warrior class and the damage dealer of the five classes. Soldiers/Aggressors are given the biggest variety of weapons to use along with a nice health bonus. Some objectives that require the specific use of a Soldier/Aggressor are generally the ones that call for destroying an object, but these classes are great for defense objectives or supporting other classes in the process of achieving objectives as well.
Medics/Technicians are the healers of the bunch. Armed with the ability to heal other players and revive them if need be, Medics/Technicians also give all members of the team a slight health boost, providing multiple ways to help keep the team alive. Like the Soldiers/Aggressors, Medics/Technicians are used more as support classes who aid the other classes in achieving objectives. I didn't spend much time as a Medic/Technician, but the classes seemed pretty solid. The opportunity to actually revive a teammate doesn't come as often as one would like, though – many players just opt to respawn at the closest spawn point and just be on their way.
Engineers/Constructors are what I'd consider to be two of the main classes in the game as there's so many offensive objectives geared towards them. Engineers/Constructors have the ability to repair damaged vehicles, which definitely comes in handy since the various vehicles in the game prove to be really effective in many different situations. Additionally, Engineers/Constructors are able to deploy a few different kinds of turrets, from anti-air to anti-artillery to anti-personnel along with proximity/trip mines. I spent most of my time playing as an Engineer/Constructor, and the classes proved to be very versatile and an integral contributor to victory.
Next up are Covert Ops/Infiltrators. These two classes definitely give off a sort of rogue feel as you'll be spending most of your time sneaking around in the shadows of the battle in order to do your thing. Covert Ops/Infiltrators have the ability to hack certain objects, which is required for some of the offensive objectives in the game. Aside from that, however, these classes can also temporarily disable vehicles and turrets, which is a great defensive ability. While these are all fine and dandy skills, the truly distinguishing feature of the Covert Ops/Infiltrator classes is their ability to steal the name and appearance of fallen enemies and use a powerful backstab technique to take out opponents. The only time I really got to try out the Covert Ops/Infiltrator was in the console version exclusive training mission, which pretty much gave a small run-through of each GDF class and demonstrated some of their abilities.
The final class duo is the Field Ops/Oppressors, which I unfortunately never got around to testing. From what I noticed, however, it seems like these classes are used as a major support class, just like the Medics/Technicians – namely, there aren't any objectives where you're required to be a Field Ops/Oppressor. Instead, Fields Ops/Oppressors use their various abilities mainly to provide supporting fire and protect their teammates. Just like the Engineers/Constructors, Field Ops/Oppressors have the ability to deploy different kinds of turrets, though these turrets are geared towards long-range use and the player must actually select a target. On top of this, Field Ops/Oppressors are able to launch air strikes against the opposing team. Lastly, Field Ops are able to hand out ammo packs for teammates while Oppressors are able to deploy a temporary shield to protect teammates from enemy fire – just one of the differences between the two teams.
Okay, so maybe that was explanation was a little lengthier than I expected. Nevertheless, that's the basic gist of how Enemy Territory: Quake Wars works. Now for my impressions.
When I first got to the event, I was put in front of a television with an Xbox 360. I selected the training mission as was suggested and began to play. The training mission was fairly easy (as it should be) and it explained the basics of the game – enough to enable your survival in an actual multiplayer match, at least. You start off as a GDF Soldier at what seems to be a base located in the mountains somewhere tasked with the mission to eradicate the Strogg from the base. To do this, you complete various objectives and switch classes after completing each one, giving you a basic understanding of how each class works. I was delightfully surprised to find out that you're able to switch classes pretty much on the fly – the only repercussions are that you have to wait until the next respawn sweep (which I think goes at intervals of 30 seconds or so) and you don't retain the experience gained for that class when switching to other classes (though I never got the chance to examine the experience system in-depth, so I'm not sure how big of a downside this is).
After the training mission, I moved to a machine on the main table, where all of the 360s were linked up. Figuring that I got a good enough feel of the GDF in the training mission, I opted to play as the Strogg. Luckily, the game doesn't really care much about uneven teams as it just balances things out with bots anyways. Once everyone was ready, the host started the game. From what I noticed as I went through more and more matches, the team that was given the offensive objectives won most often as the other team couldn't hold them off for the whole time. I'm not afraid to chalk that up to the fact that I and probably many more of the players were vastly inexperienced at the game, so effective methods of defense were tough to find.
Despite the minor advantage that playing on offense has, I still had a blast on defense as well. I loved playing as a Constructor and experimenting with the turrets and mines. The vehicles were pretty fun to fool around with, too. It's hard to match the power you feel when you're behind the wheel of a Cyclops, a Metal Gear-esque two-legged Strogg vehicle armed with plasma cannons. The only other vehicle I tried out was an Icarus, which is sort of a Strogg jetpack that lets you fire small bombs with a delayed explosion detonation. Other than those two vehicles, I saw tanks and planes on both teams making their way around the battlefield and wreaking havoc.
Graphically, the game leaves a little something to desire in quality, but it makes up for it with a good amount of variety in the maps. There isn't much to be said about the sound either, although I must admit I liked how you're either scolded or praised with a quick one-liner at the end of every match ala Gears of War.
There are only a few minor differences between the console versions of the game and the PC version. Executive producer Kevin Cloud explained that the vehicle controls had to be tweaked for console controllers (though I think they could use a bit more tweaking) and the mines in the console version are auto-armed, easier to spot, and you're able to carry less of them at a time.
Overall, I was quite impressed with what I saw of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. For me, it'll probably be a much-needed breath of fresh air from the slightly repetitive action of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Lastly, I'd like to mention that my views on the game may differ from the final product, as what I played was just a preview build. Nevertheless, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a game worth looking forward to if you own a PS3 or 360.
February 8, 2010
