Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a port of the PC game of the same name which found praise with the PC audience last year. Although the PS3 port brings over everything that made the PC version great, it doesn't do much to win over console gamers.

Overall, Quake Wars isn't a bad looking game, though it isn't a shining moment for the PS3 either. Although characters and vehicles are modeled well, nearly every texture is a blurry mess that looks bad whether you're standing next to it or a few feet away. The same is true for levels; the blurry textures create a muddy landscape that isn't much to look at. Quake Wars also deals with some major framerate issues. While not as bad when playing online, the framerate tends to sputter and drop when too much is going on. During single-player games this isn't much of an issue, but it can ruin multiplayer games.

Sound is another low point. There isn't much in the way of music, leaving most of the in-battle soundtrack to be filled in with explosions and various types of gunfire. Neither carry any impact, drastically reducing the feeling of a large-scale battle that the game is trying to convey.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is first and foremost a multiplayer game. While there is a single-player mode, it isn't much more than the multiplayer aspects with A.I.-controlled bots rather than real people. There isn't even much of an attempt to build some sort of story around the single-player content aside from a brief intro movie that sets up humanity's first encounter with the Strogg and the following war. From here, the game dumps you into a menu where you can jump into one of the two game types.

Regardless of which mode you choose, you're doing the same thing. Playing as either the Global Defense Force (GDF) or Strogg, you join a team of eight people and take part in objective-based battles over twelve maps. The mission structure that makes up each map is the game's strongest suit, so it is a shame that it wasn't built up a little more. Each map features three tasks that must be completed before time runs out. Some maps place the GDF as the aggressor while others give the honor to the Strogg. Tasks rarely get more complicated that "Build that bridge" or "Hack this mainframe" and, truthfully, they sound more exciting than they really are (most just require you to run to a spot and hit a button), but at least they give you something more to do and build up some sort of co-op camaraderie.

In fact, little emphasis is placed on personal achievement; the after-action reports highlight special commendations, though things like kill counts are absent. Quake Wars does, however, feature a ranking system and leaderboards, so players can still brag about how awesome they are. There's also an in-game ranking system that awards players with experience for completing tasks. As you hit certain experience goals, you'll earn new abilities and weapons for your current class. Unfortunately, any perks you earn are only good until the end of the match, which is a major downer since it is rare that you'll be able to use some of the higher-ranked skills in a normal match anyway.

Even if you've a hardened FPS vet, the learning curve is incredibly steep. It's almost as if it is just assumed that you'll know how to do everything in the game, shutting you out from a large amount of content. There is no tutorial (which is odd considering the 360 version features a bare-bones one) and the introductory video really doesn't tell you anything that couldn't be figured out by reading the unit load-out screen. You'll eventually figure out how to work a few things, but by then it is likely that you'll be ready to move on to the next thing, which is a shame since there are some really cool features. For instance, most classes can deploy things like radar towers and automatic machine guns and some can disguise themselves as other units.

When it comes to playing as the aggressor or defender, the defender gets a slight edge. It's much easier to just park yourself in one area and pick off attackers as they come since most maps have pretty clear choke points. The lack of communication between team members makes completing objectives even harder.

The mission-based gameplay is complimented by character classes that give players specific roles of the battlefield. For instance, medics can heal other players while engineers can repair and soldiers can plant explosives. Class skill sets play into each mission set; so if the mission calls for someone to build a bridge, it's up to the engineers to save the day. Again, this is one of the game's best aspects, though it never reaches its real potential. Playing with bots during single-player games grows old after a few matches and the lack of voice chat online makes it impossible to run any sort of strategy - something that is supposed to be one of the game's major draws. The goals keep the game from degenerating into free-for-all deathmatches, though most of the time everyone just switches to the class the mission calls for and becomes a one man army.

Besides on-foot combat, there are also a number of vehicles that you can commandeer during battles. Each side is limited to their own equipment, though that isn't such a bad thing since both sides have some pretty cool vehicles. Between the two, however, the Strogg's Cyclops Walker and jetpacks give them some advantages on the battlefield. It takes an army's worth of missiles and heavy weapons to take down one Walker and the jetpacks give the Strogg command of the skies. The GDF has its own air support, though the controls are such a mangled mess that it's hard to fly and shoot at the same time.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars does a number of really cool things that could easily make it one of the PS3's top multiplayer shooters. However, it seems to do everything it can to set up roadblocks that will keep players from really experiencing the game at its best. When combined with the lack of single-player content, the game isn't worth the $60 price tag - especially when compared to cheaper alternatives like Warhawk.