Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Preview
Will it live up to it's PC counterpart?
by Liquid306
previewed on X360
WAR
Quake was one of the first First Person Shooter games to come out over 10 years ago for the PC and it has had an unprecedented following ever since. Last year the minds over at id Software and Splash Damage decided to take a decade of resources and make a full fledged Battlefield style combat game centered around the Quake universe. Using the feedback from Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory the game was eaten up by fanboys and action fans alike. Now, a year later, those same minds want to port the PC hit to the 360 and PS3 for the console Quake fans that might have missed it. With a bunch of small tweaks and adjustments – along with a totally revamped matchmaking system – this should be the Quake Wars we always wanted.
Single player
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is an online centered First Person Shooter. The game takes place in the same universe as Quake II and Quake 4 with a back story serving as a prequel to Quake II. In terms of a single player campaign, you can play on each of the twelve maps with up to fifteen bots.
The maps in the game are huge with varying terrain and design. All of them are large enough to accommodate many of the flying vehicles in the game. MegaTextures, a technology developed by John Carmack, and the Id Tech 4 engine are used to develop them. What this technology can do is create maps that don’t repeat terrain tiles. So you won’t see the same 15x15 foot "muddy grass" tile repeated for 1000ft to cover a hill. It allows for extremely large areas to be rendered with a single texture for the ground while still providing distinct details such as bullet and tire marks.
Those twelve maps are divided into four campaigns, each consisting of three maps. The single player campaigns are mostly for getting used to the maps before you go online or for those people who do not have access to the internet. To get the full experience of this game though you have to take it online and play with real people.
Multi player
The online multiplayer of Quake Wars is the bread and butter of this game. Its gameplay is a class based system divided up into two factions: the Global Defence Force (GDF) and the Strogg. The GDF is a human force and the Strogg are the alien race. Each faction is divided into five classes that are essentially the same across both factions with minor tweaks and variations for humans and aliens respectively. The GDF classes are Soldier, Medic, Engineer, Field Ops and Covert Ops. The corresponding Strogg classes are Aggressor, Technician, Constructor, Oppressor, and Infiltrator. Every class specializes in one thing or the other. For example, the soldier is much better at combat than the Engineer and visa-versa. There are also 13 vehicles between the two sides and they all feel unique to their own. Ranging from quick but weak quads that can get you from point A to B in a flash, to the slow but powerful mech style Cyclops that can tear you apart with its on board arsenal or just stomp the life out of you.
