Iain offends plumbers and the Strogg, but probably not Jimmy Carr.
Online first-person shooting is quite popular apparently, and although this won't be the most objective of statements coming from someone like me, who spent the best part of their latter teenage years up to the eyeballs in newly dead (or alternatively, as was usually the case, waiting to respawn) it's easy to see why. Unfortunately, despite new shooters coming along by the metric shedload, very few of them ever stick, with the old classics Counter-Strike, the Battlefield series and the now four year old freebie, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory regularly clocking in more man hours than a stadium full of plumbers at a "How to Add VAT to Everything" conference.
And now the developers of one of the most popular online shooters ever have been let loose on the franchise that for many people, started it all. That's a hell of a pedigree.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is set before the events of Quake II, with the Strogg forces attempting to invade Earth, which is being bravely defended by the Global Defence Initiative (GDF). Stripped down to it's very basics, robbed of any nuance or points of difference, you play a troop on one side attempting to kill the troops on the other and complete an assortment of different objectives across a variety of maps set all over the planet.
It's not quite that simple though (it never is, is it,) now to apply the points of difference. First of all, the teams are not the same. I don't just mean visually either (which, as one team is a human-flesh-wearing, mechanised alien race and the other bears a disturbing resemblance to Jimmy Carr wearing body armour at a paintball event, should be a no-brainer.) No, the teams play very differently to each other as well, yet from what we've seen they maintain the all-important element of balance, as each team has a series of strategies, foils, counter-foils etc open to them at any one time. It's classic rock, paper, scissors gameplay where if the scissors aren't careful they could find themselves on the receiving end of a nasty paper cut.
Classic rock, paper, scissors gameplay where if the scissors aren't careful they could find themselves on the receiving end of a nasty paper cut.
Now for the maps and the objectives. Other online shooters aren’t always that friendly towards new players (newbies, newbs, noobs, n00bs, nubs etc), and team-based games with specific objectives are even less accessible for the nubs, often just dumping you on a team and telling you to capture some distant arrow on your HUD and pointing you in the general direction of the enemy with the gentle advice that getting shot in the face isn't going to win the war. This will inevitably lead to a certain amount of getting shot in the face repeatedly while running in the wrong direction, blowing yourself up, and getting called nasty names by a 13 year old. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars manages to alleviate this very deftly through the mission system.
At all times you will have at least one main objective to complete as a team, be that blowing up a power generator to disable the enemy shields or activating a mining laser to blow the doors off a hangar (blowing something up usually features quite heavily), each map has it's own series of unique objectives. However, with a simple press of the M key, you will be assigned a smaller, more minor mission that is tailored specifically to your character class. For example the GDF Covert Ops class can construct radar towers which will locate and display nearby enemies for you team to see on their compass. Hit M, bring out your placement tool, find a suitable spot, construct radar, job done, mission accomplished.
This simple device makes it really easy for new players to find out exactly what they’re supposed to be doing and be useful to their team with a minimum of headless-chickening. And hopefully avoid the angry 13 year old. That may be too much to hope for though. This is not to say it's been dumbed down at all though. These accessibility features are completely optional, and of course, there is plenty here for the hardcore player as well.
With all this in mind, it's clear that Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has the pedigree, the looks, the accessibility, the depth and the heavy ordnance to be the "next big thing" in online first person shooters. Time, as they say, will tell.
Review by: Iain Thomas
Review Published: 29.06.07