ETQW First ImpressionsFrom a Beta Tester ;)

Well, having played the public beta for 4 days (go FilePlanet), my first impressions are all positive.
the gameplay is much like WET (nothing to do with BF series, srry bf players )

It's fast and arcadish, very strategic on future clan wars (u need at least 3 diferent classes to make a mission, not including medics ), and very funny at publics.

I'm not surprised that most of BF Players don't like the game, IT'S NOT BF xD, maybe "Enemy Territory" and "Quake" words on the name might give u a clue , in the other hand, WET, RTCW, COD and MOH players are very glad with the results.

There is all the time a estrategic component in the game, in example, the map "Sewer" that is the only available in public beta, GDF side:

- GDF must build a anti-shield machine to avoid Strogg shields and get into base (engineers), also destroing main gate might help (soldiers). Will need air support to avoid Strogg war machines getting out of their base, and some snipers covering engs... o.c. Medics must be there, cause surely stroggs have anti-personal and anti-vehicles deployables on the zone.

-Once accessed the "flag" is captured and a new spawn point is set on shield disrupter. Then must gain forward spawn if want to access faster to the sewers. (200m ahead)

- Will need then a soldier to blow up the main and secondary sewer tunnel access. Lot of inside battle here, no way to use machines, except flying pad for strogg. Very good zone to disguise as enemy, or plant trap or proximity mines.

-Final mission to win, hack the sewers controls (cover ops), relatively easy to get with a disguised one, but u need about 30 seconds to hack it, and the alarms start to sound xDD (and u are instantly un-disguised when using hack tools).

Strogg side must defend this map, "Violator" attacks and fire support are vital here, flying pads to bomb tanks from air, and good mining inside sewer are prime objetives. Recapturing forward spawn may help also

As u can see, it's no way a single player can complete the mission (only changing his class at spawn all the time), there is no place for "rambos", but a well-coordinated team of 3 or 4 players can do a mission in a flash. Will see nice 6vs6 battles here for sure

Some things need to be adjusted still to the final game (remember IT IS a beta), but for the final player this is a first preview about a very spected game.

Tech side is powerful, EVERYTHING full (high on all and ultra on shaders) on a P4 3.2 1GB 7600GS, very adaptable to lower systems. Graphics and details are stunning, almost feel the cold when on iced parts of mountains xD, maps are HUGE, but action takes place on reduced zones, maybe snipers and field ops can take avantage of the map. Sound is great, and game reminds a lot to WET, as "Spawn shield", step sounds and some other stuff feel and are like WET.

Vehicles give some fast way to get to action zone, not very powerful except with other vehicles, a single soldier can blow up a Titan just giving it a couple of granades and machine gun... Just avoid the BIG cannon xDDD

Heavy weapons are effective just with vehicles, a soldier can survive easly to a "Panzer" hit, just avoiding explosion by centimeters, and with high charge times and guided targets just targeting only machines, there is not going to be "Panzernoobs" in this game

Finaly, easy but deep game. Fast to play and to learn, but hard to get some high level of playing, maybe specialization will be the key. Equilibrated and funny, nothing more to add.


p.d.: Sorry for my "primary school" english

Salu2

I fully agree its a lot of fun with a scope for something different. Its not quake its not ET its afun mix of them both with vehicles also. Crazy building and i managed a few revives overall really liked it!!!!

sounds like im going to have to give it a try sometime

As posted on the Jolt ETQW forum


First spawn, parachute down and boom, dead :/ - happened about 3 times before I realised those damn strogg were dealing death from above.
Got in some really good frag time after that.
Initial impression was that the gameplay was pretty smooth considering all the action going on, vehicles were nice to drive, and the complete lack of team play made each round a deathmatch type of thing.
Only once did I come across a medic who was doing what medics do best, revive and heal, for the hour that guy was on the server the GDF won every round.
Tried both GDF and Strogg and I dont know if it was coincidence but had a pretty good streak of kills when playing GDF as opposed to Strogg.
The one time I did exceptionally well on the Strogg team was when I camped the sewer controls.
Managed to stay alive for over 9 mins and took out 8 GDF attackers
the only time I got uncomfortable was when those damn covert hackers arrived, but lucky enough there were some medpacks lying about that I got to first.
Hitboxes atm seem to me as dodgy as fook and I found it nigh on impossible to hit the Strogg with the rocket backpacks who were hopping about like fleas on a dog
Spray and pray worked just as well as a measured aim.
Once I get the old binds in and working I should imagine a better style of gameplay will be attained.
summary:
For a public beta the game played surprisingly well and it looks like a winner for Activision/SplashDamage when the proper game is released.

Fozzer the tart camping surely not ;-) Have pre-ordered the game on Play but we will see

Raistlin, on Jun 25 2007, 08:30 AM, said:

When needs must Raist and lets not argue the finer points of camping and defending the primary objective its not like its never been argued before \o/

All depends mate, in your case we will allow for the zimmer frame and slow general movement ;-) Opps I just happened to be here when you nasty young men came our of the sewer. Not my fault that in my shopping bag I happen to have some heavy weapons :-)

Will be good to have some new chances to play with/against you if your still around when it becomes retail and not already too busy with something else.

I started playing the demo as soon as it got out (click here for download and info) and I'm hooked!

It's very good combination of both tactical combat aswell as oldschool run and frag action
Too bad most ppl on demoservers don't really understand the game and complain about cheats when a team has 2 verry good snipers

only 1 helicopter (GDI side) keeps me getting crashed.. but ill figure it out eventually

some screenshots i took:
 HuskyDriveInn.png   1.73MB   25 downloads  topview.png   2.02MB   24 downloads

5chaap2k, on Sep 13 2007, 07:05 AM, said:

Thus far I am somewhat depressed and somewhat not depressed. I don't like the longer load time. I suppose thats not their fault, it comes with the engine but it's just annoying compared to what I'm used to.

The game doesn't seem to be the complete disappointment I was expecting. In fact, I am surprised at just how non-sucky it seems. On the other hand, I have no real clue what I'm doing, so I can't really comment on many aspects of gameplay yet, lol.

You have to take the time to figure out what you are supposed to do, otherwise the game doesn't seem that special. Once you figure out what you need to do, the game is far more enjoyable. The only bad thing I can say about it is that the demo only has one map and I am getting bored of it. But playing it every night since it came out will do that I spose.

I don't like the BF feel to it, too many games these days have an over reliance on vehicles above and beyond the ones for objectives in ET etc.

But we will see when the full copy arrives

Raistlin, on Sep 14 2007, 03:01 PM, said:

Agree totally, I have the game on pre-order and its a matter of wait and see if its money down the drain or not.
My personal opinion is that if anything, ETQW is too team/class orientated now, gone are the days when a sneaky engineer could win a map all on his own.
Server admins need to restrict the classes to force players to choose something other than medic .. I played as a lone engineer last night on a Jolt server and was surrounded by medics whose sole intent was to keep themselves alive rather than the engineer who was building bridges / fixing MCP etc etc, needless to say the GDF lost every round.
Another major irritant on the same server was spawning and then being backstabbed by a covert Strogg .. at one point there were 3 of them in the GDF spawn just waiting for fresh spawns and going on a knifing rampage, I dont know about anyone else but this sort of thing guarantee's that I disconnect and find somewhere else to learn the game pretty damn quick.
To get the full benefit of ETQW or any other modern game released nowadays will require a pretty hard hitting pc, that, coupled with the fact that I would rather play a WW2 fps any day of the week means that I will reserve judgement on a nice looking demo that to me seems like bf2 with nobs on
There is some stiff competition coming up in the shape of cod4 etc etc and only time will tell if SD have got it right.
The one thing that has impressed me is the way beta / beta2 and then demo was released so that bugs could be ironed out before releasing the game .. it's a method that EA should be taking notice of

I've played the demo a few times now. Both against the computer and on demo servers, and have also found it to be a little to much like BF2 for my personal liking.

I'm not sure that I'll rush out and buy this game on release day, as it completely lacks the feel and the fun that I've come to love about RTCW and ET. Here's hoping they don't make a mess of RTCW2.

RoadWarrior, on Sep 14 2007, 05:02 PM, said:

Now that would truly be a disaster of catastrophic proportions

It certainly would, just itching for new servers to stream ;-)