Once a proud testament to id Software's creative vision, the Quake series has gone downhill for a number of years now. After a less than impressive return with Quake 4, id decided to return the franchise to the multiplayer-centric focus made so popular in Quake III: Arena. Released on the PC during last year's holiday rush, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars finally makes its way to the consoles via different developers. Sadly, what makes the PC version so enjoyable is lost on the Xbox 360.

These mask wearing weirdos don't stand a chance.Click to see more images from the game...

Following a similar tract as Unreal Tournament III, you'll spend the bulk of your play time in multiplayer matches, but there is also a single player campaign. Unfortunately, just like UTIII, this campaign amounts to little more than trouncing through the multiplayer maps with bots instead of live players. This is functionally useful, in that you'll get used to the controls and variety of weapons and classes, but after you play through it, there is little for you to consume in the multiplayer arena, except that you'll be able to ditch the artificial intelligence.

Sadly, those multiplayer matches were toned down during their transition to the 360. While PC gamers enjoyed 32-player skirmishes, that number was reduced to 16, and given the large-scale maps that you'll battle your way across, that decrease is very noticeable.

Granted, if you absolutely love multiplayer first person shooters, there's still a lot to like. There are 12 expansive maps covering the bulk of the globe (North America, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific), so there's a decent amount of scenery to take in. Unfortunately, none of it looks spectacular; the graphics took a major hit in the transition to our living rooms, with blurry textures, an overall lack of polish and choppy character animations. Games like this are built to focus more on speed than aesthetics, but for the most part this is not an attractive game, which is inexcusable given the amount of time spent working on the port.

Each mission plays roughly the same. There are five classes (soldier, medic, engineer, field ops and covert ops), each playing a distinct and strategic role in the mission, and you'll frequently redeploy as a different class in order to get a specific objective completed. If you're dependent on the artificial intelligence in the single player, good luck. The AI can feel somewhat unresponsive given the hectic nature of the warfare; playing with friends online is much more satisfying, as the game requires a real sense of teamwork and interdependency in order to be successful. If you don't have an Xbox Live Gold account, or a solid Internet connection for that matter, there's little reason to pick this one up, as the single player will only hold your interest for a few hours.

As far as furthering the Quake lore, Quake Wars is so light on story that you'll pick up more reading the instruction manual than you will playing the game. There is a brief introductory movie when you first boot up the game, and there are rudimentary mission briefings, but beyond the fact that the Strogg have come to decimate earth, and that the Global Defense Force (GDF) is our only hope, the rest is left to your imagination. Playing as either faction is cool for the different weapons and abilities, but this is a game you'll play for the trigger pulling, not the thought-inducing.

By the time you slog through the single-player campaign, or played all of the maps in multiplayer matches, you'll feel like you've already seen and done it all. Quake Wars on the PC offered fairly standard FPS gameplay that was enriched by the sheer frenzy of trying to complete team-based objectives amidst a 32-player gunfight. That sense of urgent and frantic gameplay is lost on the consoles. Quake Wars offers little means of explanation (the tutorials are mildly insightful), and the entire presentation is incredibly watered down from the PC original. If you don't have UTIII (PS3 owners) or can't wait for its release later this summer (360 owners), this game might satisfy your itchy trigger fingers, but overall, it's short on value for its $59.99 price.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Xbox 360 Game Guide

Our Final ScoreMediocre

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