Guest Author - James Shea

A literal prequel to Quake 2 and Quake 4, and a spiritual successor to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars" is a team-and-class-based first person shooter.

The game revolves around the GDF - the human Global Defense Force - defending Earth against the Strogg, the murderous aliens encountered as enemies in Quake 2 and 4. Fighting in locations all over the world, the GDF must hold the Strogg back. Gameplay can be online or with bots, and usually takes place as a "campaign": three battles in similar locations (for example the "European" campaign or the "African" campaign.

There are five classes in the game. Soldiers carry explosives, and also have the widest choice of weapons in the game - regular assault rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers, as well as a stronger pistol than normal. Field Ops can deploy artillery pieces and call in artillery (from the deployed weapon) and airstrikes. Furthermore, GDF Field Ops can give ammo to their fellow soldiers, while "Oppressors", the Strogg equivalent, can deploy tactical shields. Engineers can build automated turrets - either anti-personnel, anti-vehicle, or anti-artillery (shooting down incoming shells) - as well as repair vehicles. Finally, Covert Ops act as the sneaks and snipers of the game. With access to gadgets like radar stations, smoke grenades, and mini-radar devices (for the GDF) and teleporters and remote drones (for the Strogg), the Covert Ops is more based on stealth and intelligence. In addition, there are many vehicles

Objectives are both map and class-based. For example, on one map an engineer might be required to rebuild a bridge so the unit can advance. Later, a cover ops might need to disable a shield generator. More mundane objectives are also available; things like building or destroying deployables (depending on which class you are) rewards the player with experience basically for playing his class right. The maps have a lot of variety, and they cover the whole world - from African valleys to European plains to Japanese sewer systems. Their objectives tend to be simple, but require the coordinated efforts of the team and all its members. Each of the classes gets experience from completing objectives and destroying enemies that carries over a three-level campaign. Leveling up gets you new weapons, increases your class abilities, and your general stats.

The graphics are decent, but even turned up all the way, they're not extraordinary. The sound is less impressive, and sounds really unprofessional. Neither is really a bonus for the game, but they're not really bad enough to distract, either. As a whole, this game has some neat ideas and gameplay, but there are a few little things that drag it down.

8/10.