GamersInfo.net

I've been a fan of Quake since the dawn of the series in 1996 - those heady, pre-Millennial days when a PC game needed little more than a couple of eager hamsters in well-oiled wheels to run as opposed to the behemoth, quad-core monsters that modern games will soon be demanding. The long-running series, up until now, has been populated by similar themes: satanic hordes of enemies, claustrophobic corridors and spooky alien worlds. This background makes Enemy Territory: Quake Wars all the more surprising: a semi-realistic, team-based tactical shooter that takes place on earth, and largely out of doors. A departure for the series, perhaps - but a fantastic one.

Quake Wars revolves around a relentless tug-of-war between two teams: the Global Defence Force (GDF), and evil otherworldly invaders The Strogg. The members of each faction are divided into five classes: the Soldier operates most of the weaponry, including heavy explosive while Engineers can build turrets, guard towers and other buildings to help defend your team. The Medic heals your troops, a Field Ops specialist deploys artillery and missile positions and can call in spectacular air-strikes, and Covert Ops are the token stealth option: hacking control points, scouting the map for potential danger areas and deploying radar.

The Strogg are a bit more direct, even though their troops do the same jobs as the human equivalents: the Aggressor is, well, aggressive, and the rest of the names given to their various troop classes are just as descriptive. You can choose from the Constructor, Technician, Oppressor and Infiltrator to achieve your objectives. These different classes are genuinely crucial to the success of your mission, as the tasks you're given to complete require every skill in your wide arsenal - troop class is never just a cosmetic change as your blast your way to the next checkpoint.

The main modes of play - campaign and objective - are broadly similar, with the only real difference between the two coming, conversely, outside of the actual battling: campaign mode strings several geographically-linked maps together to create some modicum of a plot that revolves around the evil Strogg pouring through those Quake stalwarts - slipgates - and stripping the planet of resources. Despite this, there's little indication of plot when you're busy shooting aliens and hacking mainframes. Quake games, though, have never put storytelling before rampant, bullet-induced death, and it doesn't really matter here - the meat of the game is so succulent and juicy that you won't care about what it's sandwiched between.

Maps are divided into four or five zones that come packaged with an objective that can range from explosively removing a building to sneakily hacking computer systems. Most of the objectives are linked together to form a coherent passage through the scenario: you'll have to, for example, build a bridge to enable your MCP to trundle to a command post and deploy before you're allowed to move on and use explosives to destroy the slipgate. And for each level, the opposite can be said for your opponents - they'd have to keep you from building the bridge, disable your MCP and defend their base instead.

The maps, thankfully, are brilliant: any potential criticism that could have been levelled at sharing environments between both sides (rather than having independent campaigns for both Human and Strogg) is smashed to a pulp by the gorgeously balanced, wonderfully poised run-and-gun, tug-of-war gameplay that sees both sides evenly matched and struggling for a foothold. They're divided into four broad geographical swaths: North America, North Europe, Pacific, and North Africa encompass many typical shooter locations, like lush jungles, tropical islands, urban decay, desert towns and dank woodland.

Bots navigate with confidence, showing you the short-cuts initially and displaying proper, online FPS tactics as they weave, dodge, and bunny-hop through enemy bullets - I expected them to rocket-jump next. Each environment is superbly crafted to funnel the action down several different routes and this elastic approach spreads to your team - gung-ho heroics won't be as successful here as, say, co-operation and planning.

Playing online is where Enemy Territory: Quake Wars really excels. The defined roles and emphasis on teamwork and collaboration mean that quickly bonding with other players is essential, but the easy-to-use interface works wonders. It's typical FPS, with all of your class-specific actions - not just weapons - bound to the number keys, so you just have to press 5 or 6 to deploy a Guard Tower or call in an air-strike. Communication is context-sensitive: point your target at, say, an enemy turret and the options for talking to your team reflect that, letting you specifically call for an attack on that installation as opposed to the vague and misleading communication options that have plagued games like this for years.

As well as superb map design, they look the part - graphically, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is impressive, even though this may be a last success for an engine that was developed four years ago for Doom 3. Nevertheless, it does remarkably well at handling the vast vistas needed for Enemy Territory battles that can easily cope with 32 players at once. This proficiency with outdoor areas is largely down to the new Megatexture Technology that enables vast graphics to be 'painted' over scenery and, in the process, use fewer polygons. This new feature, whilst enabling the maps to be huge, run well, and look great, does have a downside - because, close-up, detail is sometimes lacking if you compare this game to its contemporaries. But that's nothing more than a minor complaint.

Character models, for instance, are detailed and emotive - the troops looking like proper, tooled-up soldiers ready for a fight and The Strogg appear suitably menacing. The maps - despite lacking a bit of detail - are inviting and varied, with each environment oozing atmosphere. One level, set on an island, features a beached cargo ship and an intricately-designed satellite dish; another houses a crashed Strogg spacecraft that you have to protect. Further maps revolve around generators, secret research facilities and buildings that all complement their surroundings and form the basis for great team battling. The GDF weapon models - ranging from basic knives, to rocket launchers and heavy machine guns - are decent, with The Strogg wielding a more exciting set of imaginatively-crafted armaments like the brilliantly-named 'Lacerator', 'Obliterator' and a Quake classic: the ever-present Nailgun. Alongside this potent arsenal is a diverse selection of vehicles: quick quad bikes, ponderous tanks and deadly aircraft line-up alongside a huge mech called 'Cyclops' and various armoured cars that can accommodate several players at once.

The only qualms that I can have with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars are minor and mostly inconsequential to the gameplay. It's a slight shame that more detail could not be included in the environments that tend to favour large-scale havoc over close-up intricacies. It's also a slight disappointment when a modern FPS has so little interactivity and deformable scenery: these days, a powerful tank shouldn't be halted by the ever-present supply crate - it should flatten it.

It also seems strange for a game that's so relentlessly action-packed and fast-paced to make you wait for the next reinforcement drop to respawn, although it could be a case of Splash Damage favouring the realism of troop deployment over instant respawning. Helpfully, there's a 'limbo screen' where you can count up your experience points for each troop role and examine the rewards you're given for scaling the rank ladder before parachuting back into battle. You can also re-deploy as a different type of troop, so if you're missing a certain something on the battlefield you can take the initiative and try to rectify the problem.

Despite this team-based, tactical combat game being a departure for the normally single-minded Quake series, it's an utter triumph. The gameplay is exquisitely balanced and the maps supremely well designed, so that the back-and-forth combat you engage in is exciting and, most of the time, hanging on a knife edge. The weapons are explosive, the troop roles varied and vital, and the bots intelligent - and the online client lets you enjoy the game in the multiplayer environment it deserves. Buy this game and you'll be addicted to everything about it: the combat, the maps, the characters, the objectives - everything. Team-based combat has come of age since the pre-Millennial birth of the genre - and now Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has raised the bar into the stratosphere. Just watch out for The Strogg.