Quake Wars Preview

Sep 6, 2007

One of the maps in Quake Wars is called Slipgate. Although the map starts in Africa, in a village in the Sahara, it doesn't stay there. In a unique twist, the location suddenly changes, jumping half way around the world to an outpost in the middle of the Antarctic's long night.

We got a chance to play the map several times from both the GDF and Strogg side, playing against bots. As if you needed another reason to look forward to this upcoming team based shooter from Splash Damage, id, and Activision, here's how Slipgate's objectives break down.

1) Hack the Slipgate controls

The Slipgate itself is an angry red portal that looks like the Eye of Sauron jammed into a Stargate. The GDF have to get one of their covert ops soldiers to hack the Slipgate, which requires a combination of pushing down the open road and threading through buildings that offer choice sniping spots. There are two hacking stations, so the combined efforts of a pair of covert ops guys will certainly pay off. Once the GDF has hacked the Slipgate, a mobile construction platform (MCP) arrives just outside town.

Along the way to this objective, the GDF can capture a forward spawn point, and they can destroy a barricade that gives their vehicles a direct path to the Slipgate. With any luck, the Strogg can contest the spawn point and delay the GDF, keeping them boxed up in their spawning area. Fortunately, a pair of tanks and an Anansi gunship are on hand to help the GDF push forward.

2) Drive the MCP through the Slipgate

At this point, the map is all about vehicle defenses. The Strogg have to keep the MCP too damaged to drive, and the GDF just have to get it to the Slipgate. Here's where mines come in handy, and where the Strogg can really bottle up the GDF with a well placed anti-vehicle turret or two.

But this is where this is unlike any other map you've played. Once the MCP goes through the Slipgate, the action suddenly warps to Antarctica, on a completely different map. The Slipgate is a wide open two-way portal. You can walk back and forth through it. You can fly through it. In fact, the Strogg can boost their defenses early on if one of them spawns at their rear base, the Nexus Tower Core, and brings the map's lone Goliath into the Sahara.

A short wormhole effect plays to cover the transition, and then suddenly you're the snowy wasteland around a human outpost, with a giant Nexus Tower Core looming orangely in the background.

3) Deploy the MCP at the Outpost

Once through the Slipgate, the MCP reaches a fork in the road. Right or left? Depends on how the Strogg have decided to set up their turrets. Don't forget to deploy a new radar here, as anything back in the Sahara won't do you a bit of good anymore.

The MCP has to reach the center of a human outpost, surrounded by winterized buildings. Once the MCP reaches its destination, it will unpack and fire a missile called an SSM. The SSM takes down the shield generator that prevents the GDF from entering the next stage of the map.

4) Plant HE charge on the Nexus Tower Core

And once again, the entire tone of the battle changes. From here on out, the fighting goes indoors. Well, not entirely. There's a short dash from the GDF spawn point to the doorway of the Tower Core. A well-placed turret or Desecrator can make life hard for GDF reinforcements.

The interior of the tower is a relatively simple series of twisting corridors. A carefully positioned GDF radar, or one enhanced by an experienced covert ops soldier, can reveal Strogg positions in here and minimize the nasty surprise of turning the corner directly into the waiting sights of a Stogg's lacerator. The charge has to be placed in an area surround by elevated catwalks. It won't be easy. The GDF can't just charge in, and they have to hold the location long enough for the charge to arm, otherwise the Strogg can disarm it.