Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

"For a free game, it's pretty good."

Ah, Enemy Territory. Or, as one of my friends put it during a heated battle ''I hate this ******* **** and I wish I had a ******* jeep, nail **** *******- at least Battlefield 1942 let me run these ****** over with my ******* jeep.''

Let me say, though, that he isn't very good at Enemy Territory.

Now before you go saying that this is just another WWII online shooter, remember one thing: it's really cheap. In fact, it's so cheap that it costs NOTHING. Yeah! sounds good to me! On with the review.

Graphics

Decent. You get some DECENT outdoor areas and DECENT weapon models. Explosions are kind of ugly looking and resemble somebody lighting up a match and then six little pebbles fly out of the flame for some reason. I know, I know, bad comparison, but that really is how the explosions look.

Graphics are DECENT. Nothing will blow you away.

Sound

Sounds like you're in a battle. Woah. Gunshots in the distance, explosions, and et cetera. One little nitpick here is that the voices of squadmates on the radio make me cry. Seriously people, I heard your nasal voice the first time you said something. For God's sake, don't say it five times.

I have been on servers where the idiots constantly on the radio have made me turn my volume all the way down.

Minor issue hampers pretty good sound.

Control

Ah, the good old WASD setup, never let me down. Controls are fine, and layout makes good sense.

Gameplay

Good fun. Maps have lots of cover, turrets, and little nooks and crannies for you master tacticians. Objective-based gameplay is easily the best part of ET and the maps show that. For example, in one map the Allies will be trying to lead a tank through a snowy canyon into an enemy base to take down a fuel dump. Beneath the level are caves, and there are plenty of other bases and such for indoor warfare. To safely protect the tank, you will need a good mix of all the game's classes, such as an engineer to repair the tank, a covert op to provide covering fire, etc. etc. and it provides some great moments and neato teamwork.

Like always, there are lamers who team kill and generally hop around the map like dyslexic bunnies with autism and a hint of scurvy, with a little bit of leprosy for spice.

But don't let that get you down. Find a good server, and wallow in the excellent XP system which gives good fighters good bonuses. Pick your best class. Form a team. And from there on, it's golden.

You dig?

Word.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/18/03