Entering Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Published July 13, 2007
That Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was in development for Xbox 360™ was well known, but after a forty-five minute private demo from id Software, gameplay details for this multiplayer shooter are coming clearly into focus.
Class-Based and Then Some
Like Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Battlefield 2: Modern Combat™ before it, Enemy Territory utilizes a class-based system. Engineers, medics, soldiers, and covert operatives all have unique class abilities that are used to accomplish your objectives and assist your teammates.
Each class brings absolutely vital abilities to the table as certain map-specific objectives can only be completed by a specific class. Whatever your class, you can be assured that your services are very much required.
Prepare for war.
Do Your Job
In objective-based multiplayer shooters gone by, the end goal was really the only required objective, so players would typically follow team strategy only loosely, as they focused more on netting kills to boost their leaderboard position.
Not so with Enemy Territory. The game rewards players primarily for playing their class appropriately. Play a medic for example, and experience points are awarded for dropping ammo and health packs, as well as reviving teammates. Those experience points are then used to unlock more powerful abilities and weaponry throughout the course of the multiplayer campaign.
Campaign Online
Speaking of the campaign, EnemyTerritory embraces a larger view of multiplayer matches that extends well beyond the endless rotation of quick, ten-minute rounds. Team up with friends and embark on an epic, three-map campaign of online, attack and defend warfare.
Yay for Party System
Like Halo® 2 and Shadowrun™, Enemy Territory uses a party-based system to more easily group teams together. Instead of waiting in a lobby for friends to appear, and then hoping that you'll end up on the same team, the party system allows you to search together as a dedicated team. Also, the game will analyze each player's connection to ensure that whoever has the best bandwidth will host the match.
Strogg look brutal, and play brutal, too.
Vehicle Use
The use of armored personnel carriers, tanks and other vehicles are present and accounted for, and they suffer exquisitely rendered damage that looks sweet, and impacts handling and overall performance.
Megatextures
This series has always been known for its outstanding visuals, and the Doom 3 engine has been largely hailed as the most impressive of its time, but with id Software's new megatexturing technique, insane detail over immense landscapes are now possible without fitting together individual texture tiles. What you see is simply one immense, non-repeated texture.
EnemyTerritory: Quake Wars has taken the best of large-scale multiplayer shooters and unmercifully stripped away their shortcomings and common frustrations. What's left is a team-based shooter that not only requires communication and tactics, but rewards them properly as well. It's drop dead gorgeous to boot. Look for more detailed coverage as Enemy Territory: Quake Wars nears release.
Article by Ryan Treit
