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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Seven months after Enemy Territory: Quake Wars’ well-received PC debut, the good news is that Nerve Software didn’t break anything while moving the big-battle, multiplayer-driven fragfest over to Xbox 360. It’s a mechanically solid first-person shooter with excellent bot work, a smooth framerate, and steady online play. Before going in, though, you should know that you have to be willing and ready to endure plenty of antiquated Quake-series mannerisms to enjoy it.
With almost no story to speak of, Quake Wars offers five playable classes — the demolition-ing soldier, hacking covert op, repairing engineer, healing medic, and ammo-toting field op — across two playable factions (the human GDF and alien Strogg). You get 12 total missions divided into four three-level campaigns on different continents. The maps are refreshingly huge, and each has three or four varying objectives that can be accomplished only by specific classes, from blowing something up to hacking a shield generator to building a bridge to escorting your mobile base to a certain location.
The catch is that each mission has a time limit (usually 20 minutes), and some task you with simply defending objectives from the invading opposing force for the duration of that time. Those tense levels are some of Quake Wars’ finest.
Delightfully, the action is a lot of fun, and we tip our cap to the impressive bot A.I., which is smart — by which we don’t mean that they cheat and shoot you between the eyes from across the map, but rather they do smart (if annoying) things that human players would do, like plant proximity mines in hidden areas near objectives that you’re trying to hack. Better still, the bots will fill out any human multiplayer game so that you always have a full 8-on-8 match.
Unfortunately, decade-old Quake-isms notch down the fun a bit. The gameplay is very arcade-y, meaning you run at 40mph and jump just one foot in the air. Also, the vehicles don’t control very well, while the graphics do everything to not knock your socks off. Remember — it’s Quake, so everything is coated in various shades of brown.
Since the Xbox 360 hasn’t had a big-battle, objective-based multiplayer game like this in a while, we’re glad to see Quake Wars finally hit the console. Whether its quirks annoy you more than its strengths entertain you, though, all boils down to how much of a Quake fan you are.
ON Xbox 360
+ Bots that play well — tactically!
+ Double-sided campaign.
- The usual archaic Quake-isms persist.
? Is brown the only color Quake games are capable of rendering?
7.5
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Chemical Pingu
June 02, 2008 at 8:15am
I Have This Game And It Is Really Really Fun Although I Dont Know What Makes It Fun When Being A Constructor Is Just Pressing X When Aiming At A Vehicle But Is Very Intense Because All You Hear Is Explosions
Alex GREAT 75
June 01, 2008 at 2:39pm
Marshall109 you had a good point but I believe Quake Wars if "different". Yes Frontlines, TF2, and a lot of other games have ojective based gameplay but Quake Wars involves more than just capturing controll points. Building a bridge or escorting vehicles online with your friends is just a blast.
Marshall109
May 30, 2008 at 3:51pm
"the Xbox 360 hasn’t had a big-battle, objective-based multiplayer game like this in a while" Wow where is the love for Frontlines?!
Alex GREAT 75
May 28, 2008 at 5:40pm
LOL Maybe we should check Ryan's past reviews for more picture titles.
Alex GREAT 75
May 28, 2008 at 5:40pm
LOL Maybe we should check Ryan's past reviews for more picture titles.
Aeshir
May 28, 2008 at 8:46am
@PaperLantern No, really, rick click the images and select "image properties" or whatever it is in your browser. Some of them are like "o-shit" and "pwnd by bot" xD
GameTrialzdotcom
May 28, 2008 at 8:11am
I have not yet played this and I am going to because it looks like a game that could be intersting.
l3ullhead
May 28, 2008 at 12:34am
I think I will give this one a try. I come from playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory on the pc for about 3 years. So the transition should be easy.
Aeshir
May 27, 2008 at 1:28pm
Haha, nice image names, Ryan. Are the characters super soldiers, like in Halo? That's why you can jump so high in those games; you're not a normal human (not wearing normal armor either, it amplifies your strength, speed, etc.). Call of Duty 4 has a lot of browns, too. I didn't know this was coming to 360.
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