No Surrender, No Retreat (Enemy Territory: Quake Wars)

I’VE BEEN HANDS ON with this PC game now for about a week so I think it’s time to put down in words what I’ve only been able to do in actions for the last few nights, and believe me there have been many late nights with this one.

For anyone who has been living under a rock for the past few years, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ET:QW) is the offspring of two excellent, but totally different games. The concept was to take the speed and backstory of the Quake universe (with their associated Strogg bad guys, weaponary etc.) and merge it with the teamplay, tactical variety and map design of Enemy Territory, originally a World War II Allies versus Nazis game. Personally I was never much of a Quake fan because I found the lack of team work and endless one-on-one score whoring a bit boring after a while; for my sins however I was a huge Enemy Territory fan becuase of the teamwork it demanded and the thinking it required in order to master it. Having said that I’d been waiting for the release of ET:QW and following it’s development with great interest because I was very curious to see where the developers were going to take the concept next; and they didn’t dissappoint when they decided to marry ET with Quake.

The bastard offspring of this union is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and while it’s not a direct descendant of either of it’s two parents I think it’s fair to say that it has managed to surpass both in the way that the developers have brought together the two previous incarnations into one hugely entertaining and breakneck paced tactical squad and objective based sci-fi orientated shooter. This is an entirely online multiplayer game – although it does provide a “play versus computer” mode which allows you to practice all the maps against computer controlled (bots) opponents – and believe me you will need the practice before you go online with this puppy, because you will get your ass handed to you again and again until you are familiar with all the new bells and whistles, no matter which pedigree you hail from (e.g. Quake or ET).

That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s problems, but the news is the good far outweighs the bad in this department, and there’s not too much ugly around either; but more on that later. Let’s get into the details… Read more