For Team Based Multiplayer it is the most addicting, and rewarding.... 9.8
It has to be said though it is integral that both teams know what they are doing and even as far as skill or it is very boring. I recomend playing for the first time on an ETPRO server on the Fueldump map. This is one of the most loved and one of the few 1st party maps.
In this type of shooter you have axis allies.Each side has a spawn and objectives usually the axis defend. You will gain ranks by earning XP from frags, objective completions, hits, among other things. You have three ranks to level: Your Class Skill(medic,covert,etc.),Your primary weapon skill, and battle sense. All of these are pretty self explainitory except battle sense, You gain rank in this by staying alive and genrally knowing what you are doing and not just running around blindly. Every level of these skills will give you a reward specific for your class such as: faster reload, bullet proof vest, improved breathing, etc. Each has the pretty much same arsenal as teh other so its balanced. But depending on your class you will have limited access to weaponry specialized to your job. There are Engineers, Covert ops, Medics, Field Ops, and Soldiers.
Engineers are very powerful if played right and can climb in ranks very fast, by building objectives and planting defesive landmines. Aside from your landmines you have standard issue grenade knife and nocs. you rprimary weapon choices are mp40 automactic machin gun, or riflenade for noobs rifle nade is easy but cheap tio use and if not used correctly will more often than not kil your teamates. Engineers are better left for experienced players.
Coverts my personal fav, are equiped with a remote satchel charge for destroying objectives or truly skillfull deaths. They also are the only class that can steal enemy uniforms and sneak around but skilled players can spot a covert. they also are equiped with smoke cans to cause confusion and blindness. There are two scoped weapons and a sten wich is a powerful silenced machine gun that is capable of the fastest kills but also overheats.The k43 is scoped single shot sniper rifle with a lot of kick one shot kills though usually. The Fg42 my weapon of choice is a scoped automatic rifle of medium damage, high fire rate and hard to use accurately. Most people wont like it and they hate it even more when i pwn people close range lol.
Medics are equiped with mp40's and healing kits, as well as adrenaline needles to revive fallen comrades. Very powerful class that most people prefer.
Field ops are equiped with mp40 and fire support as well as ammo packs. Fire support can be call ed in using binoculars on a location or by throwing a smoke can on the ground. the later is more effective at destroyiong vehicles it is a one time napalm of the area. The first is to block certain choke points it will constantly shell an area for a certain time.
Soldiers have the most weapon options but the least interaction withother classes which is why every Nub should start here. You have access to machine guns flametrhrower, mobile mg which is a chain gun., and the dreaded panzefaust. panzerfaust are better left to skilled players that wont blow there teamates up and can get multikills consitently.
Now after explaining the xp and classes I can make an anology to you RPG players out there your team is like a well crafted pvp group. You should always kill a medic first and ake sure you gib the body so he cant be revived by another medic.You need to keep your healers alive, who inturn need to keep engies to alive to get things done. that is the key to this game stay together. I prefer to use Ventrillo to voicechat with my clan, to be an even more tactical unit.
The community in ET is very computer savy and as such there is a ton of free content, and mods. And since this game is open source for free to the community there is some very strange levels and very awesome levels. There is probably a level based on every major game out there fps or not.
Et is simply put a multiplayer masterpiece.