A FEW WEEKS AGO, we spoke to Splash Damage's Paul Wedgwood and id Software's Kevin Cloud, who gave us an update on how Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was progressing. Never satisifed, we infiltrated Activision HQ in Santa Monica this week, where Wedgwood and Cloud were both on hand to give us an in-engine look at the classes, vehicles and other toys we can expect in the Enemy Territory sequel.

From what we saw, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars could be best described as a collision between worlds: the class-based, objective-driven combat of Enemy Territory; the sprawling, vehicle-laden outdoor maps of the Battlefield games; the futuristic feel of the Quake universe, pitting the Earth's Global Defense Force (GDF) against an incoming Strogg invasion. In some ways, you could think of it as "Battlefield 2152."

To start, Wedgwood spent some time showing off animations for one of the GDF characters. With a pistol, the player is able to walk slowly, with sidearm raised, as well as from a crouched position. Jogging, the player will lower his weapon slightly, and full-out running will cause the character to brace his weapon against his chest. Maybe most interesting was the animation while walking backwards, as the player keeps his weapon raised while retreating. As Wedgwood explained, the emphasis on all these animations isn't just for cool factor: each stance has its place in combat, and the different animations are being designed so that they're recognizable even at a distance.

To show off these animations, we were shown the characters from a third-person view, which raised the question of whether a first-person and third-person options would be available in Quake Wars, for both infantry and vehicle combat. According to Wedgwood, the question of how and when to offer third-person views is a tricky one, since it often allows players to see around corners, and one that's still being debated by the developers. (Our hope is that Quake Wars will eventually use the solution adopted by several similar games: strictly first-person for infantry, and multiple viewing options for vehicles.) Inside the vehicles, the developers are doing everything possible to make it feel like a real interior, with useful information built throughout. The cockpit view has so much information scattered about, it almost feels like something from a Mechwarrior game than an FPS (as you can see in the screenshot below).

This exclusive screenshot shows the interior of the GDF "Trojan" APC.

With the maps in Quake Wars being so much larger than the original Enemy Territory, this raised an issue that's come up in similar games: what happens when you find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere without a vehicle? The answer: the character calls in a vehicle drop. At the moment, the procedure is a bit comical, as a supply plane flies high overhead and drops out a vehicle sans parachute, which then comes plummeting to earth and lands with a few bounces. (You'll want to move out of the way after calling for a new vehicle.) The question of how often you'll be able to call for a new vehicle has yet to be settled; it's safe to say that no one wants jeeps falling out of the sky every 10 seconds.

We were shown a number of vehicles on both sides, including the Anansi helicopter, which has a top rotor and then two thrusters used to control forward and backward movment. Although expert pilots should be able to perform complicated maneuvers with the chopper, the controls are being kept simple enough that anyone can get in fly, meaning passengers aren't at risk of their teammates killing them on every flight.

Because Quake Wars is being built on top of id Software's DOOM technology, dynamic lighting and shadows should come into play in several ways. The most obvious is when someone's shadow gives them away, which can happen when rounding corners. Wedgwood also flipped through a few lighting settings on one of the maps, simulating lighting conditions for different times of day: depending on the position of the sun, you might be able to spot someone lurking inside a tunnel, or they may be completely hidden.

The one disappointment of our demo is that we didn't get to see any actual fighting -- just a few more of the vehicles, classes and special ablilties. And while the graphics look great, we've yet to see how the engine will hold up with 24-32 players running around the server. One thing's for sure, however -- as fans of both Enemy Territory and the Battlefield series, we can't wait to see more, and we'll continue to cover Quake Wars' development over the coming months.