Because the weapons themselves used by each of the different player classes are not very different the unique nature comes into play with the abilities and/or equipment. When a fallen soldier is down a medic can come to their aid, the covert ops class is much faster on foot than the others, and so on. Time and time again we were surprised to watch how a battle would unfold. There are major differences between the Strogg and the GDC so the game features a good amount of variety in gameplay tactics, even if the player gets overly confident with one side or the other. Multiple modes and insanely smart bots round off a strong overall multiplayer experience and help push Enemy Territory: Quake Wars into that category of shooter that will continue to be a joy months after release.
The other thing that was surprisingly addictive during a match was the vehicles and their part in combat. Our personal favorite was the all-terrain vehicle (four wheeler) but there is a good mix of hummers, helicopters, boats, and more. The sheer amount of options available in Quake Wars is what really made it keep me interested during gameplay. There is nothing more satisfying then pushing a flaming tank to max speed and then bailing out at the last minute, causing it to barrel into a group of charging soldiers like an exploding bat out of hell.
Graphically Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is still a work in progress (even though the build was near complete) so we will wait for the final review to comment too much on that aspect of the game. There is no doubt that the game is running on an outdated engine and gamers looking for the next Gears of War in terms of visuals will be sorely disappointed. Still, there were parts of the game that looked really good and the lack of amazing graphics never once took away from the enjoyable experience we were having. With only a little over a month before Quake Wars ships to store shelves we don’t have much time to wait. Overall we were happy to have a chance to go hands-on with the game and are curious to see how the final version’s multiplayer will flesh out; hopefully some of the major issues will be ironed out.
