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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

To the Sewers, Batman!

Level design is another question mark at this point - the beta only has a single level, "Sewers". Strogg invaders have dug in at a sewage plant, and GDF needs to fight their way in and hack the Sewer controls before the time runs out.

Respawning by parachute to the entrance of the sewer plant.

Dash to the first objective as tank gunner.

To reach their objective, GDF forces must complete several tasks; first they must reach the midpoint of the map and construct an EMP disruptor to take out the Strogg shields protecting the Sewage plant (an Engineer is required for this task). After this has been completed, respawns move to the EMP disruptor site. The next goal is to blow open the gates to the sewer system, calling for a Soldier to deploy and arm explosives. GDF troops must then protect the explosives until they detonate. Once they have access to the sewer system, the final goal is to reach a control station and hack that using the Covert Ops class - and as the hacking takes quite a while and the place is a maze, the firefights to cover hacking attempts can get very messy here.

The objective-based approach is very similar to the original Assault mode of Unreal Tournament, with the extra twist of requiring specific classes to proceed. As the battle lines move and objectives shift, priorities change rapidly, but there is none of the BF2-style flag dance where both teams race between capture points on the map and nobody bothers to defend much. Here defense is the only option for the Strogg.

Building the EMP Disruptor as Engineer.

Combat experience and completion of certain goals is the way towards promotions and medals.

Combat style also changes depending on the current objective. Early on, vehicles and anti-vehicle weapons are important as the combat happens outdoors, but once the sewer gates are blown, it's close quarters fighting in the maze of the sewer plant. The map feels fairly well balanced, if a bit cluttered at times. Public beta servers are currently too chaotic to fully assess how it plays with proper teams and voice communications, but there is plenty of promise here with multiple paths of advancement coupled with juicy bottlenecks to fight over.

Must... get... experience...

Collecting XP across battles came to first person shooters with Battlefield 2 and just like it, ET: Quake Wars sports persistent statistics. When playing on ranked servers, you accumulate experience points and levels for each class. Experience unlocks further abilities and achievements - very similar to the medals and unlockables of Battlefield 2, but there seems to be a larger selection of goals to work towards.

But this isn't just a BF2 clone. One thing that is immediately apparent is the speed of the game. It feels like Battlefield 2 on steroids; Quake series have always been fast-paced, but in this case the speed feels just slightly over the top. Slower movement speed breeds actual tactics as you can't just dash across open spaces without getting killed.

Things can get messy when the fighting moves indoors.

Tanks patrolling close to the Strogg base.

Currently in ET: Quake Wars rush-with-guns-blazing is actually a working tactic, making things very hectic. Fast respawns (usually around 15-20 seconds in the single map available in the beta) also breed rush tactics. Overall speed and respawn parameters are those things that can be tuned even at late stages of development to get the feel just right, so it's far too early to condemn ET: Quake Wars on this.

Page 1: Introduction and UnitsPage 2: Gameplay and ExperiencePage 3: Graphics and Hardware

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