Halo who?

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Team-based multiplayer modes are supposed to be fun. But unless you're playing with a close group of friends or a clan in Halo 3, you can expect frustration, humiliation, loneliness, or all of the above when playing a round of Red vs Blue.

If we had a nicked for every time we played a CTF or Bomb match, where our entire team scattered haphazardly like they were playing a round of Rumble Pit we'd buy the rights to the Halo franchise and rename it "Console Sci-Fi Shooter: The Game Where People Don't Use Their Headset."

Who's guarding our base? Who wants to hop in the warthog for an assault on the other team? I'm on your team. Can you please stop shooting me in the back of the head? These common sense questions often fall on deaf (or uncaring) ears. In the end, team matches in Halo 3 often wind up being a solo affair, where you are the one trying to plant the bomb, and where you are the one trying to gun down the enemy player with the flag - while everyone else is just trying to score more kills.

But this phenomenon of psychic - read nonexistent - teamwork isn't exclusive to the Halo series. It happens all the time. That's why we're really psyched about the design of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Well organized teams will still steamroll the opposition in Quake Wars, but because of the way the objectives of classes are designed in its offensive/defensive campaigns, Quake Wars never has that hopelessly disorganized feel you get from pick up groups in any of the Halo games.

Even if you and your team are totally clueless, the game's clever design encourages sensible team-based decisions. You'll see how many players are using each class whenever you spawn to help see what areas your team needs the most help with. And unlike a lot of other shooters out there, camping as a sniper, being a vehicle whore, and repairing tanks and turrets as the engineer are all equally fun. Clickhere for our final word on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars in our review.