Review: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ET:QW) - 13/08/2008 by Andrew
First Person Shooter
When it comes to games you can buy 'off the shelf' at your local game store, the list of ones that can be installed natively (without wine) on Linux is very short. The list gets extremely short if you only want to include newer games. Thankfully, companies like id Software openly support Linux and provide not only installers for Linux, but have also open sourced some of their earlier engines (Quake 1, 2 and 3). They continue this support with their latest game; Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ET:QW).
Installation within Linux cannot be easier, with id Software providing an installable that kicks off the process (currently, this is ETQW-client-1.5-full.x86.run – try here,here, or here).
ET:QW is a first person shooter set in the future, around the time time line as Quake 4. It pits the humans (GDF) against the alien hoard that is the Strogg. There is no 'story mode', a game (called a 'campaign') in ET:QW consists of three maps, where you have to complete a series of objectives in each map before a time limit is reached (online, this is 20 minutes). It's similar in many ways to UT2004's Assault, though less linear and with extremely large maps. You start by picking a side (GDF or Strogg) and choosing a class, which there are 5 (Solider, Medic, Engineer, Field Ops, and Covert).
Depending on which class you choose, you can have a number of objectives. Smaller objectives (for example: deploy a radar) can been seen as your secondary objectives, while your primary objective is the main stuff, like destroy the generator, build a laser, hack the controls. Basically, there always needs to be a balance within the team, though slightly weighted towards whatever class can complete the current main objective.
Both sides have their opposing class, though the sides have the same abilities. I personally feel however that the Strogg is slightly better off than the GDF, as the Strogg (regardless of class) can convert ammunition to health. That being said, it's all down to your team work; Without a coherent strategy, you'll fail.
What makes this game extremely addictive is persistent statistics (check out the leaderboard here). Your online gaming (so long as you're playing on a ranked server, and the busiest servers are usually the ranked ones) is tracked in every possible way, providing you with instant in-game stats as well as promotions (check out the current top player's stats here). These promotions serve no purpose but to demonstrate to the other players a rough guide to your skill and how long you've been playing. You start with no rank, though soon you'll have your first promotion and be on your way to the final rank; Supreme Commander (no this doesn't suddenly turn the game into an RTS). I can tell you from personal experience, this makes the game very addictive. Quite often I've played for a few extra hours just to get another promotion.
The only criticisms I have with ET:QW is the amount of maps on offer. With just 4 campaigns consisting of 3 maps a piece (that's 12 in total for the mathematically challenged) the game can become quite repetitive. The only saving grace is that the maps are so large and are so open, you can play a map in numerous ways. There's also a huge modding scene, though in all honesty, the majority of players stick to the standard ranked servers.
With a copy of ET:QW setting you back around AUD$50, it's a relative bargain considering the depth of this game. There's also the option of downloading the demo, which offers a Linux natively installable version.
With everything being considered, I have no hesitation saying that this is the best natively installable game on Linux.