Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars

User Rating:

ESRB: Blood,Language - Mild,Violence
Publisher: Activision
Genre(s): Action, Shooting
Home Page: http://www.enemyterritory.com/

Game index

System Requirements

Review

Preview

Screenshots

Downloads

By: Antti Summala Oct 10, 2007

Balancing: we're not that different on the inside

Getting the balance right between two asymmetrical sides is a major challenge for any online game. The Strogg are far more advanced technologically, and their cybernetic implants are supposed to give them much better physical abilities than humans have. However, both sides run at the same speed, have similar sprint distances, and can sustain the same amount of damage. Compared to other online FPS games, you can sprint for quite a while before getting winded; weapons, on the other hand, are just as lethal as in Battlefield games - and different between the GDF and Strogg forces.

Looking through the GDF sniper rifle's sights. Quake Wars has an impressively long draw distance, which benefits snipers in open areas

All Strogg weapons have cybernetic sights with an alien look. The Rail Gun can zoom in very far, but muzzle movement makes hitting difficult at extreme distances

ET:QW takes a page out of Battlefield 2's big book of guns, as both sides have the same weapon types available to the same unit classes, but the weapons themselves differ both superficially and in their functionality. The Strogg have "Lacerators" as their basic small arms, whereas the GDF rely on futuristic Assault Rifles. The different firing sounds and muzzle flashes of each weapon are instantly recognizable, which helps make sense of the confusion of battle.

The Lacerator can fire much longer without reloading than the Assault Rifle, but it can also overheat; the Strogg have more advanced sights on their weapons, effectively peering through the barrel with their cybernetic eye, but switching to that view takes a bit longer than looking through the GDF rifle's red dot sight. The same trend continues throughout the game's arsenal - Strogg weapons have menacing names like Obliterator and Violator, but they perform very similarly to the GDF's Rocket Launcher and Vampire Airstrike.

In contrast to Battlefield games, neither side can steal the other's vehicles or equipment. This makes sense story-wise, but only as far as humans not being able to use the Strogg's advanced weaponry. The Strogg are supposed to be masters of adaptation and assimilation - they can take a person and use them to create a cybernetic monstrosity, but they can't figure out how to pull a trigger or drive a car? Fine - giving the Strogg access to both sides' equipment would make the game unbalanced, but players can't even pick up the gear of their fallen comrades.

That means you can't just pick up a gun when you run out of ammunition. The Field Ops (GDF) and Technician (Strogg) classes can resupply teammates with ammo, but that's not going to help if you happen to be fighting alone. Most of the time the Field Ops are busy placing deployables and designating targets, and so running dry is a fairly common occurrence in Quake Wars, especially when playing GDF. The Strogg Technician hands out healing and ammunition in one resource, Stroylent, which is often easier to come by.

Caught in the Strogg Orbital Violator beam

Splash Damage has done a decent job modeling the interior of vehicles, but you'll rarely have time to admire all the detail

If individual weapons are rather similar between the GDF and Strogg forces, vehicles are another story. Strogg vehicles are significantly more powerful and versatile than the GDF counterparts. The Icarus GravPack is perhaps the biggest advantage the Strogg have over GDF, as it gives an individual player freedom of movement both horizontally and vertically, and it's armed - unlike the Husky buggy, GDF's one-person ground transport. The Strogg Desecrator hovertank and Cyclops walker can hunch down to a siege mode to get a defensive bonus when protecting objectives. This advantage in vehicles can be negated by the GDF team's Constructor class players, whose anti-vehicle turrets are deadly against all enemy vehicles.

There don't seem to be any major balancing issues in the Quake Wars - however, much of this is achieved by making the player units' capabilities very similar on either side, with most gameplay-affecting differences in secondary features like vehicles.