 Review By: Nick Arvites |
Developer: | Nerve Software |
| Publisher: | Activision | |
| Genre: | Shooter | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1-16 | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | Xbox Live (online play) | |
| Buy Now: |   |
The Quake franchise was instrumental in pioneering online multiplayer games. The original Quake introduced many people to online multiplayer in general, and the series went through two true sequels and an online only title. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars acts as a sequel to both the Quake universe and the Enemy Territory series. Enemy Territory was the baby of developer Splash Damage. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was an online game released for free in 2003, and it brought a class-based multiplayer system that had been largely missing from gaming due to Team Fortress II’s lengthy development time. Spash Damage was subsequently tapped by id Software to follow up Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory by developing a similar title set in the Quake universe, which is now on Xbox 360 via a port by Nerve Software.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a worthy follow up to its predecessors. Players choose between the Strogg and Human forces, and can then select one of five classes (medic, soldier, commander, engineer, and covert ops). A new feature to the Enemy Territory series is the addition of vehicles, which range from single-person fast transport vehicles to heavy tanks. Certain classes can also call in support devices (turrets, radars, artillery).
The classes provide different ways to play, though most are simply support units to soldiers. They all play critical roles in accomplishing objectives. The Covert Ops character, for example, is the only one with a hacking ability. Soldiers are required to blow up certain objectives, and engineers are required to rebuild certain objectives. Medics are around to make sure the team doesn’t die by providing health packs and reviving recently downed allies. Finally, commanders can call in artillery strikes, which can disrupt enemy movement.
Enemy Territory is primarily an online game, though an offline campaign is also present. The campaign mode simply runs you through three missions in a particular region of the world. Teams are balanced out by bots, and the AI ranges from relatively easy to challenging. Missions are objective based, but focus on one objective at a time. For example, a mission might require you to move your mobile command post to a particular zone, then hack a generator, and then blow up a refining facility. You have to do the tasks in order, which puts the focus of the combat on one area at a time.
The multiplayer mode consists of ranked and unranked games, and supports up to 16 players over Xbox Live. The game performance is acceptable. I had a few rounds where I hit some lag, but I adjusted to it and it wasn’t any more noticeable than any other game. The modes are fun, and I really didn’t have a bad game experience over Xbox Live.
The largest problem facing this port however is the lack of a community. The problem with porting a primarily online PC game to a console is that you can’t guarantee the same experience. While the console edition attempts to get around the player cap by allowing bots, there is not much a developer can do to bring the amount of players a successful PC title has to the console version. That’s the case with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. No matter the time of day, I had long wait times while searching for games. There is a lack of players actually playing Quake Wars period, and this ultimately kills the game. I rarely found an 8v8 room, and more often than not found rooms that would top out at 9 or 10 people total. This isn’t anything that the developers can help, but it is something that should and does affect the way I review this almost-online only title. If there isn’t a thriving community, there’s no point to playing the game at all. I often found myself just backing out after a few minutes of waiting for a match and booting up another title that allows me to instantly find a game.
The lack of a community really is a shame, since this game is fundamentally great. I’ve always been a fan of games like Enemy Territory and Team Fortress, so I enjoy the class-based setup, enjoy the objective-based missions, and enjoy the vehicle combat. However, without other people to play with, I simply can’t enjoy the game.
Bottom Line:
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars isn’t a bad title. Sure, you don’t get the massive amounts of players that PC servers can support, but the game provides enough options and bots to keep rooms relatively filled. The style is fun, and the offline mode acts as training wheels for the online battles. This is the rare title where the score is not effected by anything the developers did, as the core problem with this port is the lack of a community of players to regularly fill up games. As a result, if you’re interested in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, I recommend the PC version. There are numerous servers that are consistently full, and you can always find a match. Here, the simple lack of players defeats the purpose of an online game.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 7.0 |
Posted: 2008-07-29 18:44:10 PST