PSX Extreme: Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Review

PSX Extreme writes: "Remember the days when it used to be Quake vs. Unreal on the PC? Yeah, that was when the FPS was still coming into its own and gaining a massive following, and now, more than a decade later, the two franchises are still going strong. However, if we had to give the edge to one of them in this new generation, it would definitely have to go to Epic’s Unreal Tournament as last year’s UT3 was one of the year’s best shooters. This year, Underground Development and Splash Damage kicks in with their Quake effort, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Obviously, both series have always lived and died with the success of their online multiplayer, and that’s more than obvious with Enemy Territory, primarily because even the single-player campaign feels exactly like an online match. Unfortunately, both modes don’t really deliver, although the entertainment factor is still relatively high for online FPS aficionados.

Sadly, the graphics are mediocre and not something we’d expect from a high-line franchise like Quake. Perhaps it looked better on the PC last year, but this PS3 version is riddled with problems and remains mostly bland regardless of the map you choose. Every once in a while, we get a glimpse of sweet visuals from afar but whenever we get up close and personal, the graphics break down into a sloppy, muddy mess. Furthermore, for whatever reason, many of those nice combat effects we saw in early previews are mysteriously non-existent, as very little is happening on screen that sucks us into the battle. The atmosphere and environment is always paramount in any FPS, which is why such titles often lead the way in terms of visual achievement; the detail, design, and color can be fantastic in certain shooters. But Enemy Territory doesn’t excel in any of those aforementioned categories, and given the extreme level of competition in this genre, that’s a major downfall. They make good use of sharp, ragged edges and lots of dark greens, browns, tans, and grays, but that’s about it. We’re not sure what happened, here, but we certainly don’t want to see it happen again…these graphics simply don’t fit in this generation."