Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is one of the most-anticipated PC releases of the year, and when the public beta was released, I snatched up a copy as soon as I could. Now I'm not a die-hard multiplayer shooter fan, but I've spent my time in Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, PlanetSide, Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142. ET:QW may not carry a "Battlefield" moniker but it liberally borrows from the franchise while also offering some new features that make it stand out.

You may have already read Rob's coverage of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars at E3 2007, but I wanted to discuss the public beta because it differs from the demo that was introduced at E3 this year. It's also important to note that the beta version of the game does not represent the final code (and may actually represent code that is several months old).

View the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Beta Slideshow (14 images)

In case you're completely unfamiliar with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, it's a multiplayer first-person shooter pitting two teams (the human GDF and the invading flesh-and-metal monstrosities of the Strogg army) against each other for domination of a map. Each side has a variety of classes and vehicles to choose from as well as a list of objectives to complete in order to win. In the case of the beta, the only map available is the Sewer and it places the Strogg defending their sewer base while the GDF attack. It's the mixture of tactics that accompanies multiple classes with differing specialties and a host of vehicles that make this genre of games so attractive. It's never just run-and-gun death match game play.

The maps each have unique objectives that only certain classes can accomplish. The objectives have to be met in a specific order to win the map. In addition to the map objectives, each class has secondary objectives that will show up as missions. Players get experience points for completing objectives, scoring kills and just staying alive during the battle that allow them to level up and get better weapons and gear.

One of the first things I noticed about the beta was a bug involving the server filters. When you populate a new list of servers and try to filter them down, the game will sometimes hide all of them, regardless of the filters you've left open. In order to get the filtered servers to appear, you need to go in and make a change to your existing filter setup and refresh the list. It isn't a deal-breaker by any means, but it's the kind of bug that may also show up in the retail version to be patched later. It's also only a minor annoyance.

I do like the way you can bind all movement keys at the same time. I don't remember if Battlefield 2142 did this or not, but I always hated having to bind the same set of keys to control running, ground vehicles and air vehicles one set at a time.

Vehicles play a large role in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

I didn't read any documentation before jumping in so I was a little lost at first when I got into a match. In order to really be competitive and to get some good experience points, you'll need to be somewhat familiar with the map objectives and which classes can accomplish which stages. For instance, on the Sewer map the first thing the GDF side must do is get some engineers to build the EMP disruptor to lower the Strogg shields. Once this is accomplished, GDF soldiers must make their way into the sewers and destroy the north and south grates with HE charges. After that a Covert Operative must get into the sewer control station and hack the controls. If the GDF can complete all of these objectives in the given time period they will win the map. If they fail the Strogg win.

In the case of the beta, I found it much more fun to play as the GDF since there are more interesting objectives when attacking (the Strogg objectives are all about preventing the GDF from meeting theirs so they all boil down to "kill GDF when they show up here"). The objectives are always listed on the screen and you can further select from smaller missions like building a guard tower or securing a forward spawn point if the main objectives are out of reach.

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