Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Preview

I have just seen Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and it is good. It's not done yet, but even in this Alpha phase it still looks like it's going to kick some serious tail. Ok wait. Let me back up a little bit and explain. Last week I was sitting in the post Christmas blitz funk that all gamers have to face this time of year, when I got a call from the good folks at Activison, asking if I would like to come out and take a peek at Splash Damage's latest multiplayer opus. My mind flashed back to last year's E3 with the all too brief demo video of the class-based strategic shooter. It had sparked my curiosity enough back then watching as Strogg and Humans (known as the Earth Defense Force or EDF) fought, constructed, healed, infiltrated and piloted vehicles on and over a vast, beautifully rendered battlefield as their roles dictated. That video, coupled with the amazing screenshots which had slowly been trickling out since last May forced me to pause and consider for a time before I answered. I asked myself 'Is it really worth it to travel all the way to southern California to watch (not play mind you, merely watch) a game that was still in Alpha phase?' Did I really want to see the game that is effectively a prequel to Quake and Quake 4 that gives us insights and back stories of the evil Strogg and Earth Defense Force as they slug things out? It took me all of a second to reply with an emphatic 'Hell yes'!

With my finger on the trigger, baby

Keep it together, men!

So I came to LA. I went to the Activison offices and I got to sit for several hours with key members of the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ETQW) development team while they showed us their progress so far and told us of what they hope to accomplish before the game ships sometime in 2006. The developers who ran the demo for us, Splash Damage's Paul 'Locki' Wedgewood and id Software's Kevin Cloud, are clearly excited about this project, even though they have been working on ETQW for the past 2 years. On top of development time, the team has also been meeting with members of the press off and on for the last two months, they still have to finish play balancing both sides and finish off other aspects of the game, but that doesn't diminish their excitement about this game in any way.

The first thing that caught my eye was obviously the graphics. Using a modified version of the Doom 3 engine, the game looks good. Very, very good. Each class animation was created using motion capture so when a character runs across an open field then dives into a prone position, the action is smooth and fluid. The team also wanted to make sure that each and every action that was preformed by the player was graphically duplicated to those watching the player. When you reload your weapon, your team will know that you are unable to cover them because they will see your character remove the empty clip, pop in a fresh one and then move the firearm back into ready position. One big reason for this real time portrayal of action is for better group coordination. Anyone who has played a squad-based shooter knows that the key to victory lies in each member of the group working together. Just by looking at your team members you will be able to tell what weapons they currently have equipped and which way they are facing and who they are covering.

Speaking of animations, both the Strogg and EDF have unique animations that provide a visual cue as you watch other players scamper around the map. While the EDF will either clutch a rifle to their chest as they dash across an open space or pump their arms while holding a pistol, the Strogg move with visible menace as they make their way across the map. Again this is done not for eye candy but rather so the player can tell at a glance across the battlefield how quickly troops are moving and perhaps serve as a clue to their current level of enemy awareness. That being said, your feet are not the only transportation in game. Each side has its own set of vehicles (both ground and air) that players can use to move more rapidly around the map singly (like the Husky Quake Bike for the humans or the Icarus Hoverpack for the Strogg) or pile in more people and assault the other team (like the GDF Titan Tank or the Strogg Goliath Heavy Walker). Finally, in addition to the vehicles each side has deployables that can be used for manned or unmanned base defense.

After being wowed by the graphics the next thing that impressed me most was the fact that this is not a typical multiplayer battlefield game where each side has the same units and weapons but just slightly different skins depending on your allegiance. Each side has its own weapons, classes and vehicles but the trick here (and a large part of the work left to be done) is ensuring that neither side has an advantage in any area that tips the scales unfairly. Bear in mind, Splash Damage are the guys who brought a number of innovations to the squad-based multiplayer game with Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory that other games have 'borrowed' (such as the ability to revive fallen comrades). The team wants to ensure that everyone, regardless of which side or class they play, will be able to contribute to the team and have fun at the same time.

To that end, you don't have to worry about the 13 year old kid that spends 9 hours a day in game online in his parent's basement that has gotten enough points to unlock every weapon so that when you, Joe Sixpack logs on to play a couple of hours every night, you get your head blown off right away because you have substandard equipment. Each game is made up of several maps within a single campaign and as you fulfill your role, be it healing injured team members, repairing vehicles or taking out bad guys, you get rewards and promotions within the campaign itself. As soon as that match is over and you start another, any perks you gained in the last game are gone and everyone starts at the same base level again. Couple that with the fact that there is no commander who issues orders and can cripple your team by calling in air strikes in the wrong location or ignoring requests for supply drops and half of my complaints with Battlefield 2 are already taken care of.

That's one sweet ass sniper rifle.

Aren't I pretty?

The lack of a central commander may give you the idea that there is not much more to the game than just simple death match but that could not be further from the truth. Splash Damage is working hard to make the game accessible to casual players as well as the hard core clans. Instead of a tutorial or a single player element, players will be given the option of accepting tasks issued by the game based on what class you are playing and conditions in the current campaign. For example, a player who has just joined a game as a GDF Ranger could be offered the task to infiltrate the Strogg base and disable a Plasma mortar so that the rest of his team can overrun the base. Players can choose to accept these tasks or disregard them and follow their own agenda instead. The tasks not only help your team accomplish victory but it also teaches the player what sorts of things they should be doing when playing a particular class (such as the ability to deploy items to help you team, like radar, anti aircraft and large offensive weapons which reminded me a little bit of the old Battlezone games).

After talking with developers two things are clear: First, I am pretty happy I made the time to go out a see Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, even at this early stage in its development. The team still has a lot of balancing left and they made sure to point out several times during the demo that the classes and vehicles they were showing off could very easily be cut before the game ships if they did not add to the fun factor (this is one reason why I did not dwell too much on specifics on weapons, vehicles or classes in this article. You can expect much more on those items in the future when the game is closer to shipping). Second is that I am going to be counting the days until this title launches. I think that I have seen the future of online shooters and if Splash Damage is able to deliver like they have in the past, that future will be Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.