Given the large scale of each map, it would take you quite some time to get from one objective to the next if you had to hoof it all the time. Thankfully, Quake Wars comes fully stacked with a wide array of vehicles to choose from for that ease of travel and added annihilation of enemy forces. The GDF have traditional military style vehicles like tanks, jeeps, boats, helicopters and jets while the Strogg have more futuristic style vehicles like hover tanks, single unit Gravpacks and Cyclops – mech style walkers - that have superior firepower and can foot stomp anything that comes close them. Vehicles will play a large role in stopping enemy forces from advancing as well as allowing your team to advance quicker across the map, keeping the pace of the game fast and voracious.
Unlike some other team based combat games on the market, getting a vehicle isn’t detrimental to participating in the game. Whether you have a vehicle or not, you can still make it to your objective without having to hike it across the map for ten minutes only to get killed as soon as you reach your destination. In the version we were playing, the sprinting was unlimited, but it remains to be seen if it will remain that way, but it was quite useful not having to stop walk after running for twenty seconds. With the mission based game play, spawn points at each mission point will progress your team further and further towards the final goal. Also even though maps are massive in size, they are not sparse of details and provide plenty of cover. Much more detail then a broken wall here and there or a rock plopped down in the middle of no where, for when you do feel like taking the heel-toe express to the next objective.
After we finished up on Valley, we moved on to Sewer, another creatively named map, in which the Strogg have taken over a sewage filtration plant in Kanagawa Japan for the purpose of leading an underground assault. In this map, the main objective is to get to the sewer controls and clear out the Strogg before they can launch their attack. Unlike Valley, this map takes a more straight forward approach from beginning to end and control of key points can win or lose the fight very easily.
After getting our feet wet in Sewer, pun intended, we were off to a frigid Northern European land in a map entitled Ark. In this map, the Strogg must try to infiltrate the Ark bio research station with a mining laser and then enter it and destroy the GDF’s samples that could lead to the eradication of the Strogg race. The environment was a harsh wasteland of snow and desolation and it looked so beautiful and dreary at the same time. Having a mission where you need to fend off the Strogg while they tried to complete their mission was a nice switch of pace to bring the event to a close and it was reassuring to see that the missions and maps in the game are switched up from time to time to keep the battle fresh.
The action was intense and invigorating on all three maps we were able to play and it was immense fun the entire time. The gameplay is definitely a notch above any other team based combat game out there and the graphics are leaps and bounds past most games in the genre or not. While the DOOM 3 engine is not known for its great multiplayer performance, it’s nice to see that Splash Damage and id Software have found a way to optimize it and allow up to 24-32 players on a server at time, even with the large outdoor arenas and not having performance issues with systems that are up to the task. What that task is exactly still remains to be seen however since the system requirements are still under wraps. They were kind enough to let everyone know however that you will need a 3D enabled video card. Ba-dum. Without a set system requirement or a set release date, there seems to be many things still up in the air with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, but one thing is for sure. When the game is finally released it will be a major accomplishment and will be a huge hit with gamers everywhere.
