Quakecon 2007
Written by Jeff Buckland, 8/5/2007
This might be AtomicGamer's third preview of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars from id Software and Splash Damage, but to hell with it. I love this damn game. At QuakeCon 2007 id Software has released a new beta build of Quake Wars which includes a single new map called Valley. This beta version is a big improvement over the first limited public beta, and while this one will have a larger version of the same style of beta, id Software's Todd Hollenshead has promised to give all Quakecon attendees access to the ongoing beta test as well.
This time around, the beta includes plenty of new features along with the new, larger (and more complex!) map. Now we get the ability to run our own dedicated servers, play LAN games, and even play against AI-controlled bots (which also work online as well). A new mode that is being dubbed "Hero Mode" is being thrown in with the bots where your teammates will not actually finish critical map objectives. Instead, they'll try and protect you as you are the one-man force doing everything vital to win. But for the more authentic online-style experience, I recommend going normal so that you can also have fun in supporting the bots.
More maps!
Valley is a much better map in my opinion than the first beta's map. That map, called Sewer, only had aircraft on the Strogg side and the objectives are a little more simplistic; a few good players with headsets and good teamwork can easily dominate Sewer whether it's a highly populated server or not. On Valley, more players will be needed to win. And like the last beta, the GDF is on the attack again with the Strogg mostly just putting up defenses and shooting down incoming GDF advances. This is the map that was on display for the public to see at Quakecon last year, and the change in the experience is vast. The interface is cleaned up even further from the first beta, the Strogg's zoomed view is less pixellated, and weapons and vehicles have been further balanced.
Valley is a much better map in my opinion than the first beta's map. That map, called Sewer, only had aircraft on the Strogg side and the objectives are a little more simplistic; a few good players with headsets and good teamwork can easily dominate Sewer whether it's a highly populated server or not. On Valley, more players will be needed to win. And like the last beta, the GDF is on the attack again with the Strogg mostly just putting up defenses and shooting down incoming GDF advances. This is the map that was on display for the public to see at Quakecon last year, and the change in the experience is vast. The interface is cleaned up even further from the first beta, the Strogg's zoomed view is less pixellated, and weapons and vehicles have been further balanced.
Getting XP
Now let's get back to campaigns for a second. When you jump onto a server, you'll be participating in one of the campaigns and can gain XP that leads to some really interesting perks like stat boosts, nice bonuses, and even extra weapons and tools. When a campaign is over, the XP gets reset and everyone starts over with no perks. And while kills do give XP when you do them in certain ways, just running around owning people with the basic Assault Rifle or Lacerator is not really productive in most cases, so you aren't directly rewarded for this. In this way, Quake Wars gives short-term benefits to people who participate well in teamwork, but doesn't reward long-term play. This became an issue in games like Battlefield 2142 where players who had been playing every day for months had access to the game's coolest toys while the new players were getting smoked constantly without even basic gadgets like grenades. While there are merits to both ways of doing it, I think Quake Wars is the better way to go.
More missions!
When it comes to online action games, there hasn't been a lot of innovation recently, so it's nice to see when a game developer does come up with some fresh ideas. One of these is Quake Wars' Mission system, which has recently been improved quite a bit. This is a complex game where both changing maps and changing sides result in a different set of goals, and so new players will find themselves often overwhelmed without a simple answer to the question "what do I do to help the team?" Quake Wars tries to answer that question by giving all players smaller, more manageable objectives that still help the team win.
With the Mission system, a little box on the top-left corner of the screen the game will assign you something to do that your character class (one of five on each side) can complete. If you don't like that mission, you can choose from others to be displayed, although you'll find that even contributing to the completion of a mission you don't have selected (or didn't even know you had) will get you credit and some XP.
