Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Review
11 out of 15
The core of the game shows up on the console but there’s more than a few things lost in the translation.
Date: Friday, June 20, 2008
Author: Jeff McAllister

  • Game: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
  • Platform: Xbox 360
  • Publisher: Activision
  • Developer: Nerve Software/ Splash Damage
  • ESRB: Teen
  • Genre: Immense ass-kickery with cyborgs!
  • Players: 1-16


  • What's hot: Huge gorgeous battlefields, great gameplay, it’s Quake
  • What's not: Weak vehicles, cheap upgrades, annoying bots



  • Released late last year for the PC, the team based, objective oriented Enemy Territory: Quake Wars continued the never ending battle between Earth and the cybernetic alien race known as the Strogg. Taking place before the events of Quake II, the game focuses on the invasion of the Strogg on Earth’s surface as the aliens try to take over the planet for its resources and use them for their own gains. As great as the game was for the PC, there has been more than a few things lost in the translation to the Xbox 360.

    The main focus is to play a part of an eight man team and fulfill the objectives that are needed to complete the goals for each of the three to four missions found in each of the game’s four theatres. The missions range from defending, building and destroying targets and while they don’t extend much past that in variety, each mission has plenty of side missions that allow players to help out their team aside from the main goal objectives.

    While the majority of players may be escorting the MCP to its destination to fire off a missile, other players can head off to other markers to set up towers or take over spawn points to help the team out. The main thing that players will soon realize is that if you don’t play as a team, you will lose and you will lose quickly. Taking the lone gunman approach won’t help your team and you will find yourself on your back crying for a medic more often than not.

    Like many other large scale battle games such as the Battlefield series and Frontlines, players fill a role on their team and need to complete certain goals to help propel the team toward victory. Players have the choice of one of five classes, on both the GDF team and the Strogg team, and although the teams have similar classes, they are different in as many ways as they are the same. Engineers for the Global Defence Force have the ability to call in for artillery support as well as fix vehicles, while on the flipside the Constructors for the Strogg have similar abilities with different weapons and secondary items. Each of the five classes has their own special abilities, such as Covert Ops ability to hack computers or Soldiers ability to set charges on objects, and there will be a point in each theatre where each of those classes will need to step up to the plate and fulfill their duties.

    Players won’t only need to rely on one another or their unique skills but also on the many vehicles that are scattered about the war zone. Both teams have plenty of vehicles to choose from and although they allow you to get from fort to fight a lot faster than the heel-toe express, they can also be your coffin if you aren’t too careful.

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