Quake Wars: Really nice scenery, for Doom 3 engine
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars demo came out the other week, which is one of the most hotly talked about games for this year. It joins a few others - such as Bioshock, Halo 3, Team Fortress 2, Crysis - in this half of the year, that seem to be reviving the first person shooter genre. I was a big fan of the original Enemy Territory from Splash Damage, so much so that I actually played it with a clan (White Stripes, or something like that).
I'm also a fan of Battlefield 2142 (BF2142) with its large futuristic environments, but prefer the more objective based gameplay that games like Enemy Territory and Unreal Tournament 2004's Assault mode offers. Quake Wars is essentially BF2142 + Strogg + Unreal Tournament's Assault Mode. It is a chaotically paced game, where strategy doesn't have to play a big part, but certainly can change the tides of war.
Graphics wise, Quake Wars is surprisingly nice looking. Those who have played Doom3 or Quake 4 (or Prey) will remember that while the dark corridors looked very realistic, as dark corridors go, but outside environments were a bit…lacking in realism, from scenery, general textures and lighting. Quake Wars, on the other hand, actually does very good job of the battlefront - both inside and outside.
Gameplay, as mention, isn't entirely unfamiliar to existing games such as UT2004's Assault mode, BF2/2142, and Enemy Territory. It doesn't take long to see this game is geared towards competitive play, there are signs such as 'pings' when you've hit somebody with a weapon, which is both a good and a bad thing. Competitive based games tend to develop some really good players of the game, but at the same time, those players often belong to a single clan, which results in public servers often being no fun when one team is incredibly well coordinated, and you're a casual gamer.
Given that it is just a demo, and fairly recently released, so far there aren't too many 'uber' players (other than myself of course) which has led to some very interesting battles on the demo map, where looming doom has been undone by inexperience, turning into a surprising win. That being said, I've noticed a few tactics that cannot be described as anything but bastardly. Strogg going behind GDF spawn points as snipers, using the Icarus (jet pack sort of thing); GDF flying behind the last spawn point and shooting down Strogg as they spawn; etc.
The particular map in the demo is certainly inclined to favour the Strogg (somewhat too much one might say), which isn't really helping show off the game, but it is fun.
I'll be picking this game up on release, I think, and can Stroggly (ha, get it, Stroggly - strongly? hahaha..ha..ha..) recommend this. Given Splash Damage's track record, I'd say any inbalances will be picked up rather quickly through a series of patches. Bottom line is, this game has got some tough competition coming out, as well as existing similar games. BF2/2142 players will probably stick to that, although those disgruntled by how poorly EA/DICE have addressed the bugs/lag (which there seemed no such problems in the Quake Wars demo) will move over. UT2004 players will want something to play until Unreal Tournament 3, and this could certainly be that.
Quake Wars come out tomorrow-ish, but at a horrible price of AUD$99.95 from EBGames…I think I might import it or buy it from Steam (once I'm uncapped) since the exchange rate is so nice at the moment