The release of Battlefield 1942 for the PC in 2002 was a milestone for online gaming, creating a highly popular middle ground between traditional first person shooters and massively multiplayer online games. Like Battlefield this new game is essentially online-only, featuring huge battles between opposing forces of humans and aliens, with each side possessing a completely different set of vehicles and weapons.

Although it???s set in the Quake universe the connections to the other games are not important. As you might imagine the overarching plotline is not the going to be winning any literary awards either, but actually the game is much better at telling a story than many of its contemporaries. Instead of just capturing flags or anonymous control points all of the game???s levels have a very complex series of interconnected objectives. For example, you might be assaulting a based requiring you to first bridge a gorge, then knock out anti-aircraft batteries, before taking down the base???s shield generators. Character classes are just as involved, with engineers, field ops and the rest all having a very different range of weapons and equipment. As complex as all that sound though you can still choose to ignore it all entirely and just play as a soldier and run around shooting bad guys.

Although developed by British team Splash Damage this includes the latest in graphical technobabble from original Quake creators iD Software, in the form of MegaTextures. The idea is that texture patterns are never repeated and there???s no fogging or pop-up at all. Whatever the technology used though the game is hugely impressive to look at and after the mild disappointment of Battlefield 2142 looks certain to become the next big thing in online PC gaming.
HARRISON DENT

This is just brilliant for the price. If you are a fan of some multiplayer shooting fun - this is your game. Excellent graphics (thanks to ID tech), smooth and balanced gameplay will guarantee long hours of fun.

This could have been great, but too many faults make it fall short - one of the more noticeable is the weapons just seem to lack power, in CoD4 you get a sense of power of the guns your firing, in QW:ET it feels like using water pistols. There's nothing massively wrong with this game but as a whole it doesn't quite gel.

Also when I first attempted to install this game I had lot of problems with Ati card, there's been a quite a few patches released that seem to have sorted out the problems but it still seems little bit temperamental - not enough to not buy the game, just beware you may have a bit of patching, updating and a bit of messing with the systems settings to get the most out of it.

Its fun but there are far better online FPS games out there.

I can;t even get the game to work properly, checked all my pc setings and they seem ok, i have over the minimum requirements and latest nvidia card.
After doing a google search i found that 1000's of other people have the same problem as me and cannot play the game due to ultra slow frame rate where by the game almost freezes constantly.

Shame!

I was looking forward to this game coming out ever since I saw the trailer for it. When I first played it offline against bots I thought it was quite fun but its not until you take this game online that it comes into its own. Bots can be predictable and not prone to human error.

The basic premise of the game is thus: One team attacks and the other defends. There are two species you can be. GDF (human) and Strogg (alien) each species has 5 different sub-classes all with their own unique skills so a good balance is needed to complete a level and different objectives need a certain class to complete it. The game will let you know which class is needed to complete the objective. The tactical map also provides you with bearings for the objective amongst other things.

The vehicles are a nice addition to the game and can aid or disrupt your attacks/defences.

There is voip support enabled with the newer versions to allow communication with team mates or a voice menu if you do not have a mic enabled. A mic is best if you have one but the voice menu is quick and easy to use.
You can also use text to type messages globally or just to your team.

The only gripe I have with the game is the number of maps. There are 12 split into 4 campaigns of 3 maps. I'm hoping that at some point in the future new maps will be brought out to keep this game fresh.

If your thinking about giving this game a go I would highly recommend it as value for money. Just stick with it and learn as you go along. your progresson can be tracked by playing on ranked servers and checking your stats online. You also achieve military ranks. This is a feature I really enjoy and helps you to find out what your best at in the game.


For the makron!!!

Actually the game-play is pretty simple. The Strogg [soulless fusions of decaying flesh, bone and metal, twisted evil by centuries of war ..etc..etc..] have finally arrived at earth, intent on harvesting the human population and turning us into them [rancid Borg style]. Naturally resistance isn't futile and the Earth armies have unified into the GDF (Global Defence Force). You can fight on either side and have an arsenal of weapons at your disposal, and of course the Stroggie ones have a pretty equal equivalent in the GDF forces: e.g. the Strogg Cyclops offers similar destructive power to the GDF's Titan tank [and both are destroyed by similar tactics/weaponry]. You can play as soldier (heavy weapons grunt), medic (yeah right), field ops (reconnaissance), undercover ops (infiltrator), or mechanic (constructor). The soldier and mechanic are probably the key players. The mechanic can construct/repair defensive guns/vehicles and plant mines. The soldier shoots [machine guns], blasts [rocket launcher] or blows up [explosives] things. The infiltrator can construct radar and hack certain Strogg mainframes, and field ops can call in airstrikes, supply ammo and release smoke granades. Everyone can drive a vehicle from their side, if you find one lying about (and operate its gun with another driving).

It is really team-play like `Quake III Arena' and [even more so] `Wolfenstien: Enemy Territory' but now with the added fun of vehicles to drive. Instead of just 'capturing the flag' you have to complete some fairly complex missions: e.g. in one mission you must prevent the Strogg fuelling up a crashed Strogg spacecraft [so the Strogg it can self-destruct it]. If the GDF succeed in holding the Strogg off for the duration of the battle [time set to say 30 minutes], the GDF get to learn the secrets of Strogg space travel [and hooray for us]. Not that it helps with the next mission, all levels are fairly stand-alone. If you do well you are promoted and rewarded with say faster reloading times. If you play on your own against the computer, it's still pretty tough in all but easy mode, mainly as your fellow PC grunts [other than medics] can be pretty gormless. The only downside with game-play is that you can't save anything; restart the game and you are put back to private, i.e. it's purely for battling it out with your mates. You can select any level [mission] or decide to go through all on one continent [Africa, USA, Northern Europe or the Pacific], with 3 map/missions per continent [12 in all]. So you have to keep playing through missions [in campaign mode] to get to field-marshal status [and that's then lost on game exit]. There's no unlocking levels, all 12 missions are available to select on loading the game. Each mission is complex enough for repeat playing without boredom setting in, particularly as you have two sides [each with many specialists, weapons and vehicles] to choose from.

The game naturally comes alive with other human players over our home LAN. Generously the game CD lets you install on multiple computers in the home, so that my son (12) and his mates can play together on our three gaming PCs. The games a lot of fun as you rush about fulfilling objectives and die within minutes only to respawn on the next wave (up to 25 seconds later) or you can wait for a medic (could be forever for the GDF in Stroggsville, although you will be assimilated by a Strogg technician pretty soon there, and so respawn anyway). Learning and using the maps is important in the game, as it gives you details of cover positions, roads, Strogg locations etc.. There's no overall commander, but you can take that role, requesting covering fire, radar deployment, ammo, a medic etc.. In some battles the GDF do the attacking and say have to capture a Strogg data disk or destroy a Strogg energy [Stroyent] plant, in another, the Strogg attack and you defend. If you progress in each mission more areas open up around you, and you must move on to attack/defend a new location. Internet play requires a server that will let you in [they are often protected by passwords, i.e. you might have to pay to play], so we stick to home network play on our LAN - besides it's more fun blasting or occasionally helping your mates. In internet play it appears you can keep your rank between games. The game's rated 15, although it is far less disturbing than Quake 4's video inter-links were.

The games a lot of fun for a few weeks, and piloting vehicles does add to the gameplay. Picking up the game is very easy, in training mode you get loads of tips, and the keyboard/mouse control keys are fine (you can reprogram any key/mouse button). The only downside is that RSI might set in after a few hours (particularly if you leave the 'run fast' as Shift+W). On a decent gaming PC and a home network [or over the internet] this is a great game, and now going for a bargain price. Just don't expect a full Quake 4 single player campaign experience.