The Scoreboard #11

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

We need to implement a law on this planet. This law would forbid game developers from putting Achievements in games with poor how-to-get descriptions. Also, Achievements that are not retroactive (i.e., unlocking the Achievement for beating “hard” doesn’t unlock the Achievement for “medium” and “easy”) should be punishable by stoning. Sci-fi FPS Enemy Territory: Quake Wars features both of these flaws, but in exchange for terrible Achievements, the game offers easy-to-earn Gamerscore. If you don’t have an eternity, however, don’t plan on becoming the master of Quake Wars’ Achievements.

Best Achievement: Victory (50 pts.) Complete Every Campaign. There are few things outstanding about the Victory Achievement, but after three hours of campaign play, it comes in tandem with the complete-the-final-mission Achievement. As another bonus, you can get this 50 point-er while playing Easy mode; as mentioned, its simplicity will insults the intelligence of infants.

Worst Achievement: Commander (30 pts.) 25 Stars in Every Class on Strogg or GDF 300 Total Stars. This is a “pick your poison” dilemma. As Strogg, you can shave off time by going for 25 Stars (awarded after earning XP), but you’re more likely to rack up ‘em up faster as a GDF soldier due to their offensive-based objectives. Regardless of how you approach this one, it’s going to take more time than Quake Wars is worth. That’s saying a lot, because our 7.5 rating is nothing to scoff at – the game is definitely good, but it’s one hell of a grind.

Easiest Achievement: Complete the _____ Campaign Easy Difficulty (4 @ 10 pts.) Each of the four single player campaigns (North America, Africa, Northern Europe and Pacific) have gamers playing three 20 minute maps, and when playing on Easy, “play” is relative. If you want to make it even easier, you can drain Quake Wars of 40 Gamerscore by simply starting up a campaign and walking away. Easy objectives that demand your team to defend can be completed by literally putting the controller down for the entire 20 minutes of the map, while offensive missions can be accomplished in five minutes or less. Enjoy.

Hardest Achievement: Complete the _____ Campaign Easy Difficulty (4 @ 10 pts.) It’s a cop-out to use “Hard mode” for the “Hard Achievement, but before you judge, try it. The default difficulty is moderately challenging at points, but the ruthless AI in Hard wants your blood, and will stop at nothing to get it. Snipers are magic behind the scope, tanks will put a halt to any aerial antics with perfect shell blasts, and your face will be the new home of many a bullet. You might stand a fighting chance with a mouse, but that’s a write-off.

Time Investment vs. Payoff: 2 (out of ten) Quake Wars is a tight fisted, greedy SOB of a game. Unless you want to play the campaign, online, and Instant Action game modes across nine maps multiple times, and boost the stats of every class (for both sides) you might want to take a walk.

Overall: 4 (out of ten) The time investment required, as you just read, is a harsh requirement for the 50 Achievements in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. As if it weren’t enough to bust your ass for hours upon hours, the Gamerscore-holding goodies are just plain boring. Upgrade your soldier, win this, win that, get a bunch of kills...Haven’t we passed the days of crummy, unoriginal Achievements?

PREV1234NEXT