Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory - PC
Well. We’ll start with a bit of background, shall we?
The original Wolfenstein was the very first 3D game, and revolutionised the gaming world. Yes, it was linear and VERY ugly, but it was excellent at the time, and has paved the way for the wonders we have today like Quake 4, Doom 3, and Half-Life 2.
Wolfenstein dealt with the insane. Its plot was based around a nefarious Nazi plot to take over the world; at the end you even fought a robot Hitler! Much more recently Return To Castle Wolfenstein hit the gaming world. Highly anticipated, it didn’t fail to impress. Nazis, mad plots, and supernatural opponents it was a smash hit. Enemy Territory (or ET as it is commonly known) was supposed to expand upon the story of RTCW, telling us more about the main character’s earlier years in the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, the single player mode hit upon some development problems, and was eventually dropped. Fortunately for us, the kind people over at Splash Damage decided to release the multiplayer for free. And boy, is this the mother of multiplayer games!
Firstly, I’m going to talk about graphics. ET hasn’t got the greatest graphics out there, especially compared to games such as Half-Life 2. BUT, the graphics aren’t integral to the game. Yes, it’s nice to have everything pretty looking, but if you play even slightly seriously you want to squeeze every ounce of power out of your machine, at that isn’t going to happen if you run the game with all the pretty graphics. I personally run everything on the lowest setting, apart from the textures on people – that way they stand out like a sore thumb…
If you are the sort of person who’s taken in by all the graphical wonderment, then you’ll be pretty happy with ET. Textures are detailed; it has rain, dynamic sky effects, and so on. You won’t be seeing any brightly coloured parts – it’s dark and gritty, and the game benefits from it being this way.
Now we move onto controls. For those of you who’ve played an FPS before, you should find playing ET easy as pie. All the controls are standard. WASD keys are used for movement, SPACE for jumping, numerical buttons for weapon switching, and the mouse for aiming. Pretty usual, eh?
In addition to all the standard controls, ET has one special button of its own. The ‘vsay’ button. This button (default is V, hence the ‘vsay’) brings up a list of quick chat messages that can be sent to your team or the opponent. Crushing the enemy? Shout ‘Enemy is weakened’. Accidentally teamkilled? Shout ‘Sorry!’ Somebody new joined the game? Give them a quick ‘hello!’ There are many vsays, and they sure make life easier.
Next up is the biggie. Gameplay. This makes or brakes a game. For ET, this sure as hell makes it! A lot of games nowadays are throw in the token multiplayer modes. Deathmatch. Team Deathmatch. Capture The Flag. ET shuns these antiquated (but still great if pulled off by the right people) styles. Instead, ET focuses entirely upon working as a team.
Take, for example, the level Goldrush. The Allies have to steal an Axis tank, drive it past 2 tank barriers, blow open a bank, steal the gold, and escape with it in a truck. Axis must stop this from happening. Even if the Allies had someone like Fatality on their team, they wouldn’t be able to win unless they acted like a team. If the Axis managed to keep a tight grip on the tank for most of the match then the Allies lose. Simple as that.
To help aid a team in winning a match each player must choose one of five classes to play as. First up is the soldier. A Heavy Weapons specialist, whoever plays on of these is best used in a support or suppression role. The only class that can use Panzersfausts, Flamers, Heavy Machine Guns, and Mortars, these guys can quickly rack up the kills. Next we have the Field Ops. This guy is basically a mobile ammo dump. Able to give out ammo packs, a Fops is vital to keeping your team supplied. In addition to giving out ammo, the Fops can call in artillery strikes with his binoculars, or blast an area with an airstrike. Perhaps the most useful class is the Engineer. Able to build objectives, repair vehicles, plant/defuse dynamite, and lay mines, the engineer is the only class you CANNOT do without. Without an engy on your team you literally cannot win the round. Armed with either a submachine or rifle (that can be fitted with pesky rifle grenades) the engineer can hold its own in a firefight. Now we have my favourite class. The Medic. Medics are what keep your team moving forwards. Constantly regenerating health, able to throw medics and armed with syringes to revive fallen comrades the medic can be used both offensively and defensively. Finally, we have the Covert Ops. These guys are great for infiltration and sniping. The only class with access to scoped and silenced weapons, the Covops can often turn the tide of battle. They can also deploy smoke grenades, blow up secondary objectives with satchel charges, and steal enemy uniforms.
What more can I say? It’s both free AND great. Go get it now!
