This is not Battlefield 2. Its Quake Wars...and its awesome!
User Rating: 9.5 | Enemy Territory: Quake Wars PC
First of all, you have to throw away what you may know about other online shooter and accept Quake Wars for what it strives to be: A multi-player shooter with an emphasis on teamwork and objectives in the quake universe...meaning it is NOT Battlefield 2. This is not a bad thing at all. At all =) So let's jump into it shall we? The first thing you should notice (and what people seem to care for the most, seemingly over gameplay..)are the graphics. They're good. We're not talking 'Crysis' level here, but they aren't shabby in the slightest. If you have the system to run it as intended (the reqs aren't that steep), then you should have a lot of eye candy to admire. Next, the gameplay: Loads of fun. Basically it revolves around you playing one of two sides in a global conflict that pits the 'Strogg' and the 'GDF' (see the quakewars website for backstory, etc.) against one another in 12 different maps that can be played individually or as sets of 3 in a 'campaign' mode. These aren't typical 'shoot em' up' maps where all you do is mindlessly frag each other all day, but rather scenario and objective based conflicts where each team has goals to accomplish throughout the fight. You accrue experience as you play, which in turn, grants you special abilites or powerups the longer you are in a match. Note however, that once your session is done, you lose those special power-ups and begin anew the next time you play, thus keeping the balance between hardcore gamers and beginners to a fairly in check by not allowing the vets to have 'uber' weapons from the start against a bunch of green nooblets. However, the game does keep track of your basic stats (kills, deaths, ratios, how good you are with this class vs. that class, etc.), and awards you medals based on performance and overall accrued experience. You choose a class to play on your respective team, which though you can play as both sides, they are not mirrors of each other like other multiplayer games. Each side has the same relative 'stock' classes (assault, medic, etc.), but they differ in abilities and though each plays very differently from the next, they are counterweighted so as to give a varying feel, without tipping the scales on one side over the other. You may feel different going into this game if you have a lot of experience playing titles similar to Battlefield 2, because the pace is definitely more hurried (Still slower than Unreal Tournament..but faster than the Battlefield series).
As far as vehicles go, you'll notice that they are not the 'END ALL' juggernauts as they sometimes are in other games. Infantry is quite powerful and can take all the vehicles out given enough time, thus making vehicles tough, but not exposing you to the 'spam fests' and 'uber death machines' you may have been used to in other games. The controls are quite easy to learn and with a few minutes practice anyone can be a reasonably good pilot. They are varied and a blast to commandeer. In any case, if you enjoy a deep and satisfying multiplayer game (and are tired of the same old, same old), look no further. I couldn't go into as much depth in this review as I'd have liked for lack of time, but needless to say this game has a truckload of variety, tactics, firefights and weaponry to keep you gunning for a long time. Check it out! 
