Written by Jeff Buckland, 6/21/2007
It's getting close, folks. id Software and Splash Damage have opened up a semi-public beta test for their new first person shooter, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. While the game has been seen at shows like E3 and was playable to the public at last year's Quakecon, this is the first time regular gamers are getting the chance to play in their own homes. And after a few hours playing the beta, I can say with certainty that this game will be very popular with online FPS fans.
Quake Wars takes the Earth vs Strogg conflict seen in the second and fourth Quake games and fills out the backstory. While those previous games had you taking on the Strogg on their own planet, this one goes back to when the Strogg first invaded Earth. Now, for the first time, you'll play as a full-on Strogg soldier or as a GDF defender and will battle it out for control of the planet.
The pedigree
The game is being created by UK developer Splash Damage under the watchful eye of id Software; previously, Splash Damage was simply a mod team, but later on they got the chance put together the multiplayer mode for Return to Castle Wolfenstein and then created the very popular free online shooter Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. If you've played the latter game, then you know what you're in store for with Quake Wars. You see, unlike most multiplayer FPS games, Splash Damage hates the idea of having the exact same gameplay on every single map. Instead, every map has a different story and a completely unique set of objectives where one side is on offense and another is on defense.
And this is a fundamental difference here between Quake Wars and what will surely be its closest competitor, Battlefield 2142. Every map is like a new gameplay mode, and the development team has seem to have spent most of the last year creating new maps and then carefully tuning them so that each side is balanced, but is nowhere near a mirror image of each other. Not only are each side's objectives unique, but their vehicles, classes, gadgets, and weapon loadouts are wholly different as well. Getting used to one side and then switching to the other is almost like playing a totally new game.
Not your daddy's Quake
And speaking of a different game, I want to mention here that while Quake Wars is still technically an id Software game, this is not like the old days of one-on-one deathmatches or controlling the power-ups on a tight indoor map. This game is open and large with vehicles, where teamplay is going to be necessary in order to win. Each side chooses from five classes, each vaguely similar to the other side's but with usually one or two key differences. For example, the GDF Medic can toss down health packs for his buddies to come and pick up when they need them, but the Strogg Technician instead heals his buddies by actually going over and literally stabbing them to fill them up with their wacky biological "fuel", Stroyent. Both can resurrect freshly killed teammates (as long as the killing blow wasn't particularly nasty), and both have similar weapon loadouts they can choose from, but the differences between them are enough that it still feels like a different game when you switch teams.
The armaments are totally different between the two sides as well. While the GDF generally use ballistic and rocket weapons along with helicopters and wheeled or tracked vehicles, the Strogg use plasma weapons (which don't usually have ammo but instead can overheat), hovercraft, and jet propulsors that allow their flying vehicles to move quickly from side to side in the air. Both sides' engineers are able to deploy things like turrets and artillery, which at certain points are almost must-haves for victory. This means you can't have everyone on your team trying to kill people with sniper rifles and railguns, even if those classes are nice to have in moderation.
Jumping into the game
The single map included in this beta test is called Sewer. No, it's not a stereotypical FPS sewer level with goop monsters and a bunch of confusing maze-like passages. Most of the map takes place above ground as the Strogg are defending the sewer system they need to take over Kanagawa, Japan. The GDF have come in to take it back and must disable the Strogg shield, get inside, bust open a wall, and then hack the controls to the sewer system to bring it back under Earth's control. The whole time the Strogg will have to try and thwart them by disabling explosives and just flat out killing the enemy as they assault.
And this is an important point to mention: as the attacking force progresses, the front line moves and spawn points will often adjust based on it. What's important here is that there is an actual front line, unlike the Battlefield games where the best way to win was to use smaller squads to capture or hold different points all around a big map. The Titan gameplay mode in BF2142 was a good way of breaking it up and creating a new point of offense and defense where people would congregate, but let's face it, folks; Battlefield was a better game outdoors anyway. With Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, the indoor gunplay and outdoor, longer-range action both seem more exciting, and with what feels like much more solid network code and more solid-feeling player movement, this feels a lot more like Battlefield-done-right. Sure, it's still Quake, but that larger feeling of aircraft, vehicles, and on-foot forces all clashing together is definitely the most important thing.
For now, the beta servers all have a 24-player limit at most. This is not a hard-coded limit and can eventually be lifted, but for now that's the official, supported maximum number of players. I think you'll find that with the objective system and once players eventually learn the maps, that having a battle between twelve to fifteen players will be pretty common. Considering that many 48-player Battlefield servers would only see a fight of this size once in a while, I definitely prefer the style of game given to us in Quake Wars.
