Either race offers a plethora of toys. While I was a little disappointed that all the Strogg seem to carry the same type of gun, the side arms and artillery often made up for the lack of main firing diversity (In my head I chalked up the lack of variety to the fact that the energy rifle must be the pinnacle of evolution in portable military firing power).
You can deploy drones, throw grenades, initiate air strikes, plant explosives, lay mines, deploy turrets, launch rockets shoot and snipe your way through line after line of enemy soldiers. The sheer variety of ways you can kill and be killed is almost overwhelming. Whatever tactic you prefer, there should be something for everyone.
The primary focus for this title is online gameplay. You can play practice maps against bots, but aside from learning the controls and basic concepts, you really won’t have much fun unless you are up against the ranks of other real life human beings. Plus, smack talking seems to be half the fun for many players.
The copy I am reviewing is the limited collector’s edition. In addition to the standard game disc you also get a bonus disc with more game content to expand your gameplay. You also get a keyboard map and a package of character vehicle cards with game art and fictional “facts” and dimensions. All this is packaged in a decorative sleeved box, with a cardboard fold-out disc holder. The bonus disc is the real value in this package, as it adds quite a bit to an already fun game.
The audio in Quake Wars isn’t really that great. The voice commands are downright annoying in their repetitive nature, and the music isn’t epic or memorable. The story is almost non-existent, and you don’t have any characters to identify with at all. The part that’s weird? None of this matters.
Upon starting to review this title, I was tempted to rip it for being a rip-off of Battlefield 2, but really… it’s not. Granted, many elements are the same. You have a very similar battle system, medals and ranks to advance to, and a barrage of different character classes… but this game is it’s own.
It took quite a few hours of gameplay to really cement that fact in my mind. The more I played, the more I realized that this title is exactly what it is on the surface, and doesn’t try to be anything more than a fantastically fun multi-player online action game. Once you quit trying to dig deeper and just have fun, you realize that there is quite a bit of fun to be had.
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