Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

There are easier things to do than taking a key point on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars' Island map. For starters, there's the guy with the tank blasting everyone to smithereens. Then there's the snipers. Sit still for a moment and you're getting your head blown off.

Your twitch fibers aren't under the same amount of stress as Team Fortress 2 (more on that at a later date), but it's still quality. It's just of all PC games coming out this year, this is probably the hardest to evaluate.

There's something almost disjointed about this game. The signs are there from when you crack open the manual. Scan down the credits. Most of the Splash Damage team, from bossman Paul Wedgwood down to the freakin biz dev manager (the suit who drags in the cash) has listed their game nickname. Flip over to id Software, and there's none of that kind of malarkey there, no sir.

Trivial in itself, yes, but it's reflective of the overall vibe of the game itself. Conflicted. On one hand there's id's slick technology in here - however the game is imbued by Splash Damage's hardcore gamer aesthetic and defined by their modding roots. The sense of identity and story doesn't match the action on screen. It's Humans vs the Strogg, but it could just as easily be vs anyone else. There's the ability to bolt around at light speed like Quake 3, but the methodical shooting mechanic of a Battlefield game rewards preparation more than twitch aim. And there's the fact that this is meant to be a Quake universe game...but the level of plot is very thin on the ground... even for a Quake game.

This may not matter much if you're a super elite FPS god after the next big thing in gaming; but for punters the next rung down on the first person shooter food chain, it's invaluable context. It defines why you should care about running around like a spanner while getting blatted all over the landscape. Battlefield cheated somewhat by kicking off the series back during World War II, continuing through Vietnam and onto modern times and beyond. There's an existing, rich tapestry they were able to overlay.

If you're a relative newcomer to FPS you're much less likely to know or care about the backstory to ET:QW - and the game doesn't really spend much time dwelling on it.

So be it. This is an online game; a core gamer's game. You're not going to sit your non-gamer friend behind the keyboard and watch him or her muddle to victory. This is fast, brutal and unforgiving action. If you and your opponent's teams have an equal internet connection - whoever is the better outfit will prevail. Ditto one-on-one in open ground. It's not twitch, but it's a compromise solution.

And if you're a gamer who enjoyed the Battlefield dynamic, you're going to be naturally predisposed to liking this. Vehicles are here, upgrades, ranks and focus on accumulating experience too. And despite the faster paced action and occasionally wacky weapons, the style you'll play in is very reminiscent of Battlefield as well. Not to mention even a nod of the head to real time strategy. Recent converts to the excellent World in Conflict will like the reinforcement wave approach of your respawning players, not to mention the freely deployable uber weapons as backup.

However if you're an Unreal Tournament player or Quake player hoping to lay waste with your superior twitch skills, you're going to be up against it. While there's definitely a Quake-like level of speed, weapon dispersal and the "a few bullets and you're gone" approach of Counterstrike and Battlefield are the rule here.

Unlike Quake however, ET:QW pushes balance issues quite a bit. If you thought some maps/weapons/sides in Battlefield favoured one team over another (arguably more a Battlefield 2 trait than Battlefield 2142) then ET:QW is going to raise an eyebrow. Nothing against the Strogg but if given our way, we'd roll with the Humans every time. The Strogg aren't terrible, but the weapon designs seem a trifle gimmicky and gratuitously "alien"... When you pick up a rifle with a scope and a long barrel in a videogame at least you know it's a sniper rifle, innit?

When we questioned the game's 32 player limit in our preview coverage, there was a large amount of players in the community who expressed satisfaction at this number. 64 players might well be too chaotic with the speed of play in the game, and the maps are too expansive to really make eight-a-side or less the maximum. Luckily the vehicles in-game have come a long way. Controlling them isn't as rock solid as a Halo Warthog, or as finickingly challenging as a BF2 attack chopper, but they're definitely fun. And as you'd expect - they hit hard. As a relative comparison point, the attack vehicles in game are somewhere between the dominance of Battlefield 2, and the wafty fussiness of 2142.

One thing that is innovative is the approach to what you do in game. In fact it's a sound counter-argument to any storyline criticism on one level because you always know what you're being told to do in ET:QW. Depending on the class you select, you'll be given objectives relevant to the task at hand. Anything remotely technical - repairing, taking control of objectives, whatever - is accomplished by a context sensitive system other games would do well to emulate. Just point at the object in question and press one button. Easy. You never get the feeling the game has been dumbed down to accommodate this feature, either.

In isolation, ET: QW is hands down a phenomenal game. Not necessarily the hottie that catches your eye in a club, but definitely the girl/guy next door you get serious about. The trouble is, Activision's own Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat is out soon, and it (a) smokes in the looks department and (b) isn't looking shabby in the gameplay arena either. And even more concerning and unexpected for the ET:QW team, those who have sampled Team Fortress 2 - yep, the game everyone forgot - of all things will now have new expectations of what fast, skilled teamplay FPS should be all about.

That said, the setting here is a lot less contrived than ET:QW's main current competitor - Battlefield 2142, and the twitch emphasis does make this the premier pick for punters who care less about crouching around a corner for thirty seconds at a time, and more about run and gun.